News

It’s the week for the 2015 Saint Paul Almanac“To the Nines” Book Release Party at The Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar. We are glad you are with us this week. We hope to see you in Lowertown for the party, and a few other places, even if it’s just in your heart.

The Minnesota State Fair is something that draws a lot of people into Saint Paul. It makes traveling up Snelling Avenue a challenge, but there is something about the trail of vehicles that delights me with wonder—wonder about who is in those cars, who is part of the parade streaming into the gates, pausing at the cotton candy stand outside, in what part of the state their travels began that day, or even if they live in Minnesota.

The Minnesota State Fair is in full swing. The throngs are just part of the spectacular fest. There are lots of opportunities for art, whether it is the music, the 4H building art competition, seed art, or the juried art show, and more. Don’t forget, there is one more day to join fellow artists of every skill level for the The Sixth Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out on Tuesday, August 26.

I have noticed the State Fairgrounds getting busier and busier. Folks have been breaking in the place and the anticipation is enough to stave off the pangs that come with the last gasp of summer. Over the next two weeks, a lot of people, young and old, will be back to school. Something will be different, soon, if nothing else than a temporary reprise from the change of scenery staving off the fits of boredom that visit youngsters and some of us grownups who insist to a parent or caretaker, “There’s nothing to do!”

The most important thing you do this week is something that is happening on Tuesday, August 12, all over Saint Paul at a place close to you. In fact, it is happening all over Minnesota. It is primary election day. In spite of the many efforts to encroach on voting rights, Minnesota still remains one of the less problematic places to exercise that legal and moral entitlement.

We have about a month of summer left. Folks who bring us all the State Fair fun have been breaking in the fairgrounds and getting ready for the great get-together. The summer has not been lazy for a lot of us, especially the young people who have been pedaling around Storymobile, which has been a great way for us to meet even more neighbors than we’ve collected through the years of publishing the Saint Paul Almanac.