Welcome to Event Horizon, your weekly roundup of the best events in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and beyond.
MONDAY 11.25
Winter SKOLstice
Viking Lakes
Winter—make it sports, but also festive. That’s the vibe at this annual Vikings-hosted winter wonderland. Should you make your way out to their Eagan facility, you’ll find holiday light installations great for photo ops, live rock acts most weekends, and a warming house offering a stacked lineup of brews, eats, and cocktails. The ice rink is free and open to all, so bring your skates or rent a pair for $5. Magic of Lights, a winding holiday light installation, is available to drive through at $25 to $30 a car. In January, they’ll add an ice maze and more skating rinks. Free. 2685 Vikings Circle, Eagan; find more info here. Through January 5—Jessica Armbruster
Winter Lights
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum
It’s not just the holiday season right now—it’s also sparkling lights season. For winter, the Arboretum has festooned its many trees with the twinklers, creating a special one-mile stroll with plenty to see and do along the way. That includes a winter woods camp scene, a giant lit-up honeycrisp apple you can walk through, and live music most nights from chorale and orchestral groups. The warming house will have s’mores and other treats for sale, including a bar with warm drinks. At $30 a ticket it’s a bit spendy, but kids under 15 get in free on regular non-event nights. Check online for times, but the lights mostly run from 5 to 10 p.m. on weekends and 5 to 9 p.m. weekdays. 3675 Arboretum Dr., Chaska; find more info here. Through January 5—Jessica Armbruster
TUESDAY 11.26
We Miss You George Floyd Community Event
Minneapolis College
Shannon Gibney’s latest picture book, We Miss You, George Floyd, out recently via University of Minnesota Press, tells the story of George Floyd’s murder and the 2020 uprisings from the perspective of a young Black girl, who is based on Gibney’s own daughter. Featuring beautiful illustrations from Leeya Rose Jackson, the book portrays the young girl’s questions, confusion, emotions, and abolitionist dreams. An all-around Minnesota literary treasure. Both Gibney and Jackson will discuss the book tonight, and for a taste of what to expect, you can read our recent interview with Gibney. Free, but registration is required. 7 p.m. 1501 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Deborah Copperud
FRIDAY 11.29
European Christmas Market
Union Depot
It’s the big one, folks. Every year, Union Depot hosts a huge holiday market featuring local makers and crafters selling traditional gifts, including thick wool sweaters, giant beer steins, cured meats, wood toys, and tin ornaments. Each weekend there’ll be live music and traditional dance, as well as appearances from Krampus, sled dogs, Santa, and reindeer. Food options include savory brats, subs, and pretzels, as well as sweet treats like hot donuts and pies. Also important to know: There will be beer and gluhwein. Find more info at stpaulchristmasmarket.org. Free. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sun. 214 Fourth St. E., St. Paul. Through December 22—Jessica Armbruster
Cloud Nothings
7th St Entry
Rock writers love to cosplay as promoters and deploy the term “underplay”—gigs where artists intentionally perform at smaller venues than they’d typically command—at every opportunity. This is no exception: Cloud Nothings, the noisy Cleveland indie-rock band, will crank their amps in the cozy Entry for tonight’s Black Friday underplay. Frontman Dylan Baldi & Co. are celebrating their third and arguably most popular album, Here and Nowhere Else, by playing it back-to-back; the LP scored an 8.7 Best New Music on Pitchfork, back when that really meant something. Expect to hear some cuts from the latest Cloud Nothings release, April’s Final Summer. With Armlock and Farmer’s Wife. 18+. $26-$30. 7 p.m. N. Seventh St., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jay Boller
Leftovers Bike Ride
Fulton Beer
It’s the 10th anniversary of the Leftovers Ride, Joyful Riders Club’s annual Black Friday ride celebrating “community, silliness, and a bit of low-key debauchery.” Meet up at Fulton’s North Loop taproom, bike a leisurely-paced six-mile loop, and don’t forget your leftovers! The ride involves a stop at the picnic area in Bohemian Flats Park, where Joyful Riders will build a big fire and burn a table. (What can we say? It’s tradition.) Then you’ll all head back to the taproom to indulge in a free beer, THC bev, or NA drink thanks to Fulton. Free. 3 to 6 p.m. 424 N. Sixth Ave., Minneapolis; more info here.—Em Cassel
Home For The Holidays with Ben Katzner
Sisyphus Brewing
Each and every Thanksgiving, comic/author Ben Katzner organizes a killer local showcase that wrangles transplants and expats alike for a big ol’ homecoming comedy bash. This year, that means welcoming new Twin Citians like Benji Nate (from Philly), Hunter Donaldson (NYC), and Riley Cosgrove (Chicago), while greeting old friends who got the hell outta here like Sam Dicke, now a Chicagoan, and Joey Hamburger, now a New Yorker. Racket contributor Pearl Rose and Comrade Tripp are on the bill, and expect special guests to pop in for each show. Hard to argue with this promotional promise: "a night of standup comedy so funny it'll make you forget you're still hungover from Thanksgiving.” $15. 8 p.m. Fri. & Sat. 712 Ontario Ave. W., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jay Boller
SATURDAY 11.30
Choreographers’ Evening
Walker Art Center
For the past 52 years, the Walker Art Center has brought together a collection of choreographers, movers, and creatives for this evening showcase of Twin Cities dance. This year’s event is curated by jess pretty, Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Minnesota. “I am moved by work that considers pleasure, joy, memory, archive, liberation, risk, vulnerability, reorientation, and transformation,” she says in a release. Folks taking the stage include Gabriel Anderson, Dane Cree, Juliet Irving, Tumelo Khupe, D. Jinza Thayer, Vy Nguyen, and Leslie O'Neill. $15. 4 and 7:30 p.m. 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jessica Armbruster
Back to the Future with the Minnesota Orchestra
Orchestra Hall
Do professional classically trained musicians, virtuosi who poured everything into mastering their instruments, enjoy performing the scores to Gen X popcorn flicks like Back to the Future? Impossible for me to say, but as a plebeian-eared rock and pop listener who’s a lil classical curious, the combination does sound like a real hoot. And the Minnesota Orchestra players at least get some respectable source material from Grammy winner Alan Silvestri, who has composed music for just about every Robert Zemeckis movie, including this 1985 classic, which’ll be screening as the orchestra saws and toots away. Here’s hoping conductor Sarah Hicks belts out at least one “Great Scott!” $60-$119. 7 p.m. Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun. 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; find more info here. Through Sunday—Jay Boller
World Oddities Expo
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Yes, this week you could peruse any number of quaint holiday markets, or enjoy the season’s Arboretum lights, or just unwind in the fuzzy post-turkey haze surrounded by friends and loved ones. Or, you could go see some freaky shit! The traveling World Oddities Expo is in town this weekend, bringing live music, circus arts, burlesque, guest speakers, tattooing, and more to downtown Minneapolis. You will, of course, also be able to do some shopping on the showroom floor… does your holiday gift-buying include the need for taxidermy, or insects, or “macabre art”? $20-$175. Noon to 8 p.m. 1300 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis; more info here.—Em Cassel
Guante & Big Cats
Hook and Ladder
As Guante, Kyle Tran Myhre has been crafting politically engaged rap for 15 years in collaboration with producer Big Cats (Spencer Wirth-Davis). But some topics, such as police violence, blend more easily with a hip-hop ethos than others. Their new album together, All Dressed Up, No Funeral, tackles climate change, and Guante knows what a hard sell that is—the opening track is called “Whatever You Do, Don’t Put the Words ‘Climate Crisis’ in the Title.” The album addresses the end of the world and our range of emotional responses to impending crises, while searching for ways to avoid despair. It's inspiring in a way even a downtrodden cynic can relate to. As Guante raps, “So it looks like this is the end. But I mean that in a good way.” The album also asks the big question: How do we make art about issues without either offering easy answers or alienating listeners by preaching? We got some answers from Guante and Big Cats here; find out how that translates live at tonight’s album release show. With Lydia Liza. $10-$15. 8 p.m. 3010 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Keith Harris
SUNDAY 12.1
Guatemalan Holiday Market
La Doña Cervecería
It’s officially December, folks, and that means the time to start quietly panicking about what gifts you’re getting everyone this year is now. Luckily Common Hope Familias de Esperanza and La Doña are teaming up to bring back this market, where you can shop handcrafted wood goods, jewelry, clothing, chocolate, and even volcanic-grown coffee made by artisans in Antigua, Guatemala. And, of course, you can do it all with a Doña Fría Mexican lager or Enmolada molé stout in hand. Free. Noon to 5 p.m. 241 Fremont Ave. N., Minneapolis; more info here.—Em Cassel
ONGOING
The Defiant Roles of Anna May Wong
Trylon
The first Hollywood star of Chinese descent has been increasingly celebrated over the past few years. Her face has been minted into a quarter, her image molded into a Barbie, and her story recounted in two recent biographies with somewhat overstated subtitles: Katie Gee Salisbury’s Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong and Yunte Huang’s Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong’s Rendezvous with American History. Wong’s film career itself is one of hard-fought partial victories against racist compromises, and this series collects many of its high points. Wong holds her own against Marlene Dietrich in Josef Von Sternberg’s Shanghai Express (1932) and demonstrates her star appeal in the silent Pavement Butterfly (1929), with original accompaniment by the great Katie Condon. In Daughter of Shanghai (1937) she heads a cast of East Asian actors (a rarity in the era of yellowface); in King of Chinatown (1939) she does not—her father is played by a white guy who made his name as Charlie Chan—but she still busts stereotypes through her performance. $8. 2820 E. 33rd St., Minneapolis Find complete listings and more info here. Through November 26—Keith Harris
Art & Artifact: Murals From the Minneapolis Uprising
Katherine E. Nash Gallery
When George Floyd was murdered by police on May 25, 2020, Minnesotans took to the streets in protests, building owners boarded up their doors and windows, and artists created art. “I just felt so hopeful seeing the boards, seeing the plywood murals coming up, seeing the art around 38th and Chicago,” Leesa Kelly of Memorialize the Movement told Em Cassel at the time. As businesses reopened, she and her org have worked on collecting these pieces made from humble plywood and spray paint, which otherwise would have ended up in the trash, destroyed from outdoor exposure, or crassly sold online. The collection is now at over 1,000 boards; this fall you can view a selection of artworks in their archives, curated by former MM intern Amira McLendon, at the U of M. 405 21st Ave. S., Minneapolis. Through December 7—Jessica Armbruster
Minneapolis Christkindl Market
North Loop Green
No, you’re not at the Union Depot in St. Paul or Holidazzle in downtown Minneapolis. You’re in the North Loop, silly, and they have their own mega-Christmas market thing this year. Here 30 or so vendors will sell traditional holiday ornaments, wooden toys, nutcrackers, steins, felt dolls, hand-knit hats, beeswax candles, moss art, and more, with a weekly lineup of entertainment onstage, and Santa and Krampus stopping by most weekends. Food and hot drinks will be plentiful, including German brats and glühwein, Polish and French pastries, raclette, Turkish treats, and Nordic waffles on a stick. Free. 4-9 p.m. Fri.; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sat.; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sun. 350 N. Fifth St., Minneapolis. Through December 22—Jessica Armbruster
Kara Walker: Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)
Weisman Art Museum
First published in 1862, Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War collects numerous contemporary maps, portraits, and other illustrations from Winslow Homer that appeared in the magazine during the conflict. As you might expect, there’s a genteel coffee-table stateliness to the proceedings, ideal for Kara Walker to disturb with her trademark cut-paper silhouettes. Walker’s style, which draws upon exaggerated Black stereotypes and other crude graphics, has become so familiar over the years that it may no longer be as immediately startling as it once was, but this 2023 exhibit, organized by the New Britain Museum of American Art and The Museum Box, showcases her continued vitality. Free. 333 E. River Pkwy., Minneapolis; find more info here. Through December 29—Keith Harris
Night Trains
Twin City Model Railroad Museum
Halloween is over, and you know what that means: It’s Night Trains season at the Model Railroad Museum! If you’ve never been to the Model Railroad Museum, this is the way to experience it. They’ll turn down the house lights and let the miniature train models show off their cozy glow while they weave through towns that are buried in blizzards or lit up with holiday decorations. It’s quaint as hell; you’re gonna love it. There are some special nights on the books—we hear Santa shows up on December 14 and 21—and did we mention that the museum turns 90 friggin’ years old this year? No better time to visit this St. Paul gem. $15; free for children four and under. 3-7 p.m. Saturdays (check online for bonus nights). 668 Transfer Rd., Suite 8, St. Paul; tickets and more info here. Through February 22—Em Cassel
Unveiling 1,000 Nesting Dolls
The Museum of Russian Art
Did you know that the largest collection of Russian nesting dolls in the U.S. is located right off the Diamond Lake entrance to I-35W? Now that you know, how do you feel about that? The Museum of Russian Art will begin presenting its Matryoshka dolls (to use the proper Russian term) to the public; they’ll be on display until March 9. And since it’s likely been a while since you popped in at TMORA (I myself am always overdue for a visit), while you’re there, be sure to take in Alexander Viazmensky’s watercolors of Russian mushrooms, a recently opened exhibit. 5500 Stevens Ave, Minneapolis; find more info here. Through March 9, 2025—Keith Harris
