Friends,

I hope you all had spectacular long holiday weekends. Regardless of where ever you were the weather was perfect! Our short week this week is leading into another fantastic weekend of events: Lowertown Sounds kicks off tonight!, festivals — the two-day Flint Hills Family Festival and Grillfest! — and so many other things to do around downtown. Train Days! Brooks and Dunn! The Farmers Market or Cyn City Tours, just to name a few! Heck, just this once I'll tell you to venture beyond downtown and welcome the return of Grand Old Day on Sunday.

I could go on and on, but I'll let you keep reading for more info on all these events and more, and leave you with a reminder to bookmark our downtown event calendar to see what's coming up.

-Joe

Free Lowertown Sounds concert series starts June 1 in Mears Park

Nur-D, the New Standards and Run Westy Run are among the acts booked to play the free Lowertown Sounds concert series, which starts Thursday, June 1, at Saint Paul’s Mears Park.

The series, which runs from 6-9:30 p.m. most Thursdays through Aug. 24, features more than 20 bands.

Guests are welcome to bring blankets and chairs and enjoy food and drink from a rotating mix of food trucks and local craft beverage-makers.

See the full story from the Pioneer Press.

The sidewalk poetry of Saint Paul writes a city's story underfoot

It's easier to get into Harvard than to get one of your poems immortalized as Sidewalk Poetry in Saint Paul. Last week, as warm weather lured everyone outside again, the city announced the next 15 poets who will be added to the concrete pages of the story.

Just 88 poems have been selected for the project since 2008, when Saint Paul Public Works first started stamping poems into wet cement as they moved around town, repairing cracked sidewalks. Fifteen years later, they appear in almost every neighborhood in almost every corner of town.

Review: SPCO displays masterful musicianship with Mozart, Jean-Philippe Rameau and Joseph Haydn

A longtime selling point for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra has been that it usually performs music written for an ensemble of approximately its size. For example, the symphonies of Mozart and Joseph Haydn were generally premiered by groups of two to three dozen musicians or so, which fits quite well with the SPCO's numbers, not to mention its skill with that repertoire.

See the full story from the Star Tribune.

Here's a glance at what's happening downtown this week.

A full look at what's coming up can be found on our event calendar. Check it out!

June 1	Riffs, Rails and Cocktails	Station 81
June 1	Lowertown Sounds	Mears Park
June 2-3	Grand Re-Opening	Landmark Jewelers
June 2-3	Official Grand Opening	DG Pilot
June 2-3	Flint Hills Family Festival	Rice Park
June 3-4	Train Days	Union Depot
June 3-4	Grillfest	CHS Field
June 3-4	Gangsterland Walking Tour	Infor Commons
June 3	Brooks & Dunn	Xcel Energy Center
June 3	John Early	Fitzgerald Theatre
June 5	Love and Rockets	Palace Theatre
June 7	Farmers' Market	Union Depot
June 7	Food Truck Wednesday	Rice Park

Food Truck Wednesdays - June 7

This summer you'll be able to enjoy lunch and music in Rice Park at Food Truck Wednesdays. Each week will feature multiple different trucks as well as live music.

Mark your calendars and tell your coworkers - on Wednesdays we dine al fresco!

WHAT: Food trucks and live music

WHERE: Rice Park

WHEN: Wednesday June 7

Food trucks from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Kabomelette
Cave Café
Yum Yum Food Truck
Music from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Follow the Alliance on Instagram to get the latest updates on trucks and musicians.

2023 Flint Hills Family Festival

Kick off your summer in Saint Paul at this affordable, fun-filled family event on June 2-3. The 23^rd annual festival offers many exciting outdoor and indoor performances, music, interactive artmaking activities, food, and more.

Highlights include:

Strings and Salsa Night – Friday, June 2, from 6-10 p.m.: The nationally renowned musical group The String Queens will perform in the Ordway Concert Hall at 7 p.m., and in Rice Park, there will be a free salsa dance party at 7 p.m. with Salsa del Soul performing from 8-10 p.m.

Arts and Culture Day – Saturday, June 3, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.: Enjoy free performances and interactive artmaking activities in Rice Park and Landmark Plaza all day. The event will close with an exciting performance from KOO KOO KANGA ROO at 3:15 p.m.

Flint_Hills_2019_1995_Photo_by_Laura_Alpizar image

This festival is made possible through a partnership between the Ordway and Flint Hills Resources, which began in 2001 with one shared vision: Making the performing arts accessible to all. We encourage you to engage with the festival in the following ways:

Plan your festival experience.

Visit Ordway.org/festival for the festival schedule, parking tips and free Metro Transit passes.

Get tickets to an indoor show.

Tickets are still available for the festival’s performances inside the Ordway. Book your tickets here!

Tell others about the festival.

Engage with festival content on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Share this video. Use the #FHFamilyFestival hashtag, and encourage the people in your network to join in the fun!

Are you following the Alliance on Facebook? What about Instagram?

Event season is in full swing! Make sure you're following the Downtown Alliance on social media to stay up to date on all the latest downtown events and news. Plus, we do love giveaways, so you never know when you could end up with tickets, swag or other great downtown prizes.

@StPLdowntown

stpdowntownalliance.org

Have questions?

Drop us a line!

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