UtePaLooza, a Mini State Fair, Twin Cities Taqueria: This Week’s Best Events

Welcome to Event Horizon, your weekly roundup of the best events in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and beyond. 

WEDNESDAY 5.20

Skyline Mini Golf

Walker Art Center

Warmer weather means it’s putt-putt season in Minnesota. Yeah sure, you can play mini-golf year-round in the North Loop, but it’s just not as whimsical an experience when you drop a course into a dimly lit bar with a “hot young singles only” vibe. The Twin Cities’ only putt-putt in the sky is back at the Walker, featuring 10 quirky holes made by local artists. New this year is Indhaha Dayaxa–Eyes of the Moon by Ifrah Mansour, a Minneapolis-based Somali artist who you may have seen performing at the Minnesota State Fair, featured on TPT’s Minnesota Original, or exhibiting works at the Mia. Return holes this year include the hot dog one, the one where you race via color, the one with ping-pong paddles, and the pool-hall one. Bring sunscreen and enjoy those views of Loring Park, downtown Minneapolis, and the endless Hennepin-Lyndale traffic jam. $12. 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis; reserve a time and find more info here. Through October 4—Jessica Armbruster

THURSDAY 5.21

Kickoff to Summer at the Fair 

Minnesota State Fairgrounds

Need a fair fix before the real deal returns in August? This mini version of the Great Minnesota Get-Together is a perfect dry run for the real thing. Well, maybe not dry. There will be beer, hard seltzers, and Minnesota wines on tap. There will also be food, of course, with 40-plus vendors serving up donuts, churros, cheese curds, cheese curd tacos, and burgers (maybe with cheese curds, you never know). Did the line for last year’s seed art show scare you away? You might have better luck this weekend at the “Second Glance Crop Art Exhibit.” The giant slide will be open, local merchants will be selling their wares, and there will be lots of live music. There will also be horses: Tickets include free admission to the Hunter & Jumper Horse Show, which is also clomping around the fairgrounds this weekend. $14-$17. 4-9 p.m. Thu.-Fri.; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sat.-Sun. 1265 Snelling Ave. N., St. Paul; find tickets and more info here. Through Sunday—Jessica Armbruster

MN Aurora FC Home Opener

TCO Stadium

“Forty-eight regular-season games played and zero losses. While a championship eludes them, this team has their eyes on a much bigger prize: going pro.” So begins a December CNN story about MN Aurora FC, the community-owned amateur women’s soccer team that “consistently play[s] in front of crowds larger than some professional teams in the top flight of women’s soccer.” If you’ve never found yourself in one of those crowds, make this the season you do so. Maybe even tonight, for example, when the Aurora face off against Rochester FC in their 2026 home opener! The Aurora's season is short; if you can't make it to the season kickoff, you'll have just five other chances to catch 'em at home. GA tickets start at $20. 7 p.m. 2685 Vikings Circle, Ste. 050, Eagan; find more info here.—Em Cassel

Movie Night at the Green

North Loop Green

This summertime movie series, located on the grassy area near Target Field, is kicking off its 2026 season with last year’s smash (but also mega crash) hit Wicked: For Good. (Click here to see the full season lineup.) But why limit yourself to just one outdoor film series? Last week, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board dropped its list of 47 screenings that’ll go down all summer at parks around the city, beginning June 3 with Grease at the most half-baked park in town, the Commons. St. Paul also has free movies planned. Its schedule starts up in July. Check out all the itineraries as you wait for it to get dark enough for Glinda, Elphaba, and the gang. Free. 7 p.m. 350 N. Fifth St., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jay Boller

FRIDAY 5.22

UtePaLooza

Utepils Brewing

Is Memorial Day weekend the start of summer? Not according to the Gregorian calendar by which we order our days! But spiritually speaking, it does feel like the season’s kickoff, especially with UtePaLooza, Utepils’s summer music festival, taking over the Minneapolis brewery all weekend long. The live music begins on Friday with “Midwest Britpop” band Pullstring and continues with Pierre and Buried Animals among the performers on Saturday’s lineup and acoustic guitarist Dillon Spurlin finishing things off on Sunday. When you get hungry, a bunch of food trucks—Cuchillo, Gerhard’s Brats, Red Rocket Pizza—will be parked outside all weekend long. Free. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 11 a.m.. to 9 p.m. Sun. 225 Thomas Ave. N., Minneapolis; find more info here. Through Sunday—Em Cassel

SATURDAY 5.23

The Kickoff: A Summer Kickoff Party

The Cedar 

OK, wait, have they updated the Gregorian calendar since I last checked? Like Utepils, the Cedar is celebrating summer in spring with this outdoor patio party. Will there be live music? Will there ever! Catch veteran local DJ Miguel Vargas, electronic musician Nectar, hip-hop from Portuguese rapper D. Santos, and experimental music from one time Picked to Click winner Papa Mbye, all totally free (though you can RSVP here). All ages. Free. 6 p.m. 416 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Em Cassel

Twin Cities Taqueria

Insight Brewing

Memorial Day weekend is usually focused on backyard grilling, but this taco party sounds pretty rad, too. This Saturday, Insight will be hosting four taco food trucks serving up eats all day: Rosa Frida, Habanero Taco, La Cochenita, and Que Tal. Pair that with special brews and cocktails from the bar, including horchata slushies, spicy Mexican lagers, and micheladas, the (often superior) Bloody Mary of the Mexican world. Latin bands taking the stage include Calavrosa, Panasueco, Solana and the Sunsets, Tufawon, and Yuca Frita. There will also be a makers’ market and a concert ticket giveaway. Free. 1-8 p.m. 2821 E. Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis.—Jessica Armbruster

Flop: A Small Press Comix Show

Odd Mart

For the third year, Odd Mart is celebrating the local (and less local) small-press comix scene with this two-day fest. Nearly 80 artists and publishers will be present, and this year there are also panel discussions at nearby vegan restaurant Dreamstate Cafe (where you can order a special FLOP-tail that comes with an exclusive comic). Pizza LLC and Boba Hello Boba will be slingin’ food and drinks both days, and there’s an “all-star” reading that doubles as a benefit for Autoptic Festival on Friday night at 6:30. Free. Noon to 4 p.m. Sat.-Sun. 2520 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis; find more info here. Also Sunday—Em Cassel

The Oddities & Curiosities Expo 

Minneapolis Convention Center

That’s right, freaks. Your expo is back this weekend for four days of macabre revelry. So gather up your goth, crustpunk, carny, and metal friends to explore the badass things weirdos are making these days—and maybe get some DIY inspiration as well. During the next two days artists and makers will be selling their wares, be it bone jewelry, possum portraits, horror-themed tchotchkes, or dead things preserved in fluid. Speaking of dead things, there will be a variety of taxidermy classes offered throughout the weekend; check online for availability. Other fun includes music, live body mutilation, and freak-show acts onstage. This is proclaimed to be an AI- and dropship-free zone, both of which are a plague on traveling markets. $16.83/$22.11 at the door; kids 12 and under are free. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sat.-Sun. 1301 Second Ave. S., Minneapolis; find more info here. Through Sunday—Jessica Armbruster

Break the Bubble

Minnehaha Regional Park

Meeting people in these parts if you didn’t attend kindergarten with them? Famously and/or infamously difficult! We published a damn feature story about the icy exteriors one must breach to kinda, sorta get to know native Minnesotans. Break the Bubble is here to help. The group “exists to help you meet new people and make friends in a purely social setting,” organizers write, and that means low-key hangs like this one at the reserved Minnehaha Falls shelter, where interested parties can mingle while enjoying coffee and pastries. Maybe you’ll meet a fellow D&D friend. Perhaps you’ll encounter new bird-watching buddies. Maybe you’ll find the love of your life, though it is stipulated that BtB is not a matchmaking service—it’s just a way to be social without it being weird. $5-$10 suggested donation. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 4801 S. Minnehaha Dr., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jay Boller

Shrek Rave

First Avenue

“It’s dumb just come have fun.” So reads the promotional pitch for Shrek Rave, a dance night themed around everyone’s favorite Scottish ogre. For irony-soaked millennials who spend too much time online (hello!), the 2001 animated film has sprouted a cottage industry of memes and in-jokes, a phenomenon that L.A. host/artist Jordan Craig first translated into a dance night few years ago. By 2022, the Grey Lady was writing about his lime-green party. “When people say there’s a Shrek rave, where else are you going to go?” Nick, a 28-year-old raver, told the New York Times. “I found out about this a day and a half ago. I wish I knew earlier, I would have brought earwax.” In what trippy, bass-throbbing ways will Shrek, Donkey, Lord Farquaad, and the gang manifest in the Mainroom, which’ll be rebranded as “The Swamp,” tonight? You gotta see for yourself. (P.S. Did you know the late, great Chris Farley was originally planned to voice Shrek? Check out these fantastic early recordings.) 18+. $28.37. 9 p.m. 701 N. First Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jay Boller

SUNDAY 5.24

Celebration for Conrad

First Avenue

Conrad Sverkerson, the longtime First Avenue stage manager, died last October, a few hours after a CaringBridge page for him began circulating online. He was 66. Just about every Twin Citian out there, from Fancy Ray to Christy Costello, started sharing their remembrances of Conrad as soon as the news broke. Over at the Current, Reed Fischer penned this lovely obituary, and you can read Chris Riemenschneider's comprehensive Strib obit here (gift link). Details are slim about tonight’s celebration of life, but you can bet there’ll be plenty of kickass bands cranking their amps to his memory. We should know more when Racket publishes this week’s feature story: a sprawling oral history about Sverkerson’s massive impact on the local music scene; Craig Finn, Jeff Tweedy, and John Darnielle are all quoted, to name drop just some of our (non-local) sources. All ages. Free; but email First Ave for ticketing accommodations. 3 p.m. 701 N. First Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jay Boller and Em Cassel 

ONGOING

“Legacy: The Women of WARM” 

Kickernick Gallery

Fifty years ago, a group of feminists came together in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis with the goal of creating a slideshow registry of Twin Cities women artists. Over the next 15 years WARM (Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota) morphed into a cooperatively run gallery—the largest women’s art collective in the country. After closing the space in 1991, it continued to show work around town and be a resource for local women artists until fully shuttering in 2021. For its 50th anniversary, Kickernick Gallery will host a show reflecting on and highlighting the 73 artists of WARM, its impact, and place in local art history. 430 N. First Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here. Through June 13—Jessica Armbruster 

“Illusive Objects”

Goldstein Museum of Design

Our human eyeballs are not the greatest in the animal kingdom. We can’t see at night like felines, we don’t see for miles like eagles, and reptiles probably detect movement better. But we sure do love looking at stuff. And, when the mood strikes, we especially love looking at stuff that tricks our eyes and our brains, whether it’s a Magic Eye poster, a cake disguised as a grilled steak, or a candle that looks like a bowl of cereal. The Goldstein’s latest show celebrates our appreciation of stuff that looks like other stuff with 50 or so examples from its permanent collection. Items include tricks of texture, like a Schiaparelli dress that looks like bark; tricks of the trade, such as fake designer handbags; and double-take tricks, like kitchenware designed to look like corn. 12 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Ave., St. Paul. Through July 2—Jessica Armbruster

“Cats and Dogs in Soviet Art: Workers, Teachers, Friends”

The Museum of Russian Art

Pet obsession is nothing new. Pre-internet, folks were just as into their animals, relying on them for comfort, amusement, and help with everyday work tasks. For this show at TMORA, there’ll be 40 paintings on display celebrating cats, dogs, and other animal companions, as well as a collection of porcelain cat and canine figurines. Stevens Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here. Through July 12—Jessica Armbruster 

FLUID Table Tennis Mondays

Minneapolis Cider Co.

Has Marty Supreme got you wanting to go pro in table tennis yourself? This could be your in. Minneapolis Cider Co. may be known for its pickleball courts, but that’s not the only paddle sport you can play here. On Mondays, Twin Cities Table Tennis takes over the cidery’s Haralson Room. Organizers promise a casual open play-format (nice and lowkey), but add that “games are recorded and tracked through our ratings database” (hmmmm, sounds a lot less lowkey…). Beginners through advanced players are welcome and, on the plus side, there’s no way you can make as many enemies as Marty did in such a short time. $10. 6-10 p.m. 701 SE Ninth St., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Em Cassel