Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Damn, Grrrl: Grrrl Scout Calls it Quits
After 13 years spent throwing some of the funnest queer parties around, Grrrl Scout announced last month that the series was coming to an end.
"It is with a heavy, but full heart, that we have decided to conclude our GRRRL SCOUT: Queer Dance Party event," organizers wrote in an Instagram post. "What was intended to be a short term, pop-up event, extended for 13 incredible years. We are constantly in awe of this community and feel so lucky to have created a space that resonated with you for so long."
The post goes on to explain that Grrrl Scout is not completely disappearing. Specifically, its Mature Content nights will continue into 2026, and organizers hint at the possibility for "new offerings on the horizon." But your last chance to check out one of these regular bangers (for now) will be GS's That's a Wrap party on December 13 at Green Room in Uptown. Tickets went on sale today; snag yours here before they're gone for good.
Meet the Company That Killed Downtown St. Paul
Downtown St. Paul is in trouble, and the fall of Madison Equities is a big reason why. Today at the Star Tribune, Katie Galioto looks into the history of that company, owned by the husband and wife team of Jim Crockarell and Rosemary Kortgard. Madison once laid claim to 1.6 million square feet of downtown office space, to the dismay of longtime critics like outgoing St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, who was frustrated with their refusal to maintain their buildings.
Before Crockarell’s death in 2024, Madison had a record of maintenance issues and wage theft. Yet it kept aggressively expanding, with the help of multiple banks who wouldn’t comment on the story. “Crockarell’s ability to repeatedly finance such deals mystified several other building owners and brokers,” Galioto writes. The rickety corporate structure they built might have collapsed on its own, but Covid gave Madison the push that brought it down.
Deadline for EPNI to Buy Roof Depot Is Nigh
It’s not looking good for the East Philips Neighborhood Institute’s efforts to buy the Roof Depot warehouse from the city of Minneapolis, reports Estelle Timar-Wilcox for MPR News. The group, which wants to establish an urban farm and community center, is still $5.7 million short of the asking price, with a Monday deadline looming. Timar-Wilcox retraces the long dispute over the property, one marked by protests and negotiations and legislative backsliding—the state pledged to put up $7.7 million toward the $11.4 million asking price, but ponied up far less. For a persuasive plea on the need for urban farming at this site, read Janya Dieringer for Sahan Journal.
RIP Douglas Flanders, Longtime Gallery Owner
For over 50 years, Douglas Flanders managed Douglas Flanders Associates, a business that hosted monthly gallery shows (often group exhibitions) while also brokering deals for hundreds of artists and collectors. In an email sent to media yesterday, DFA Art Director Syril McNally confirms that Douglas died Thursday afternoon after suffering a heart attack. He was 75.
"He's helped establish so many artists' careers locally here,” McNally told WCCO in February, as well as “international artists from China, from Italy, from Spain that he finds or gets to know somehow and then brings them here for their first show. And they then just blossom."
A brief perusal of artists on DFA’s website demonstrates the wide range of artists featured at the gallery over the years, which is in the hundreds (works are in the thousands). Originally from Willmar, Flanders came from an artist family. He opened the first iteration of Douglas Flanders in 1972 in an artist building along Harmon Place. Eventually, he made his way to Uptown along Lake Street until the gallery moved again to 50th & France in Edina about five years ago.
“We started off just trying to diversify everything that we had, [and] I love pretty much everything that we have,” Flanders told Zephyrus in May. “If I like it, and if I can afford to buy it, I’ll buy it.”
In the email McNally confirms that she will be stepping into the role of director and there are no plans to close the gallery.
