Rondo Days is an annual festival held the 3rd Saturday in July in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that commemorates the Rondo neighborhood, an African-American community that was split in two by the construction of Interstate 94 in the mid-1960s. The festival has grown since its inception in 1983, by co-founders Floyd G. Smaller and Marvin R. Anderson, to become the largest African American sponsored festival in Minnesota. [1]
The construction of Highway 94 through St. Paul in the 1960s destroyed several neighborhoods including Rondo - the backbone of the black community in the Twin Cities. Every June, Rondo days celebrate that community via an annual multi-cultural reunion, started in 1983. [2] [3]
With officials scrapping the 2020 festival caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 37th was deferred to 2021.
The Rondo Days Grande Parade begins promptly at 10AM, on the 3rd Saturday of July, at St. Claver Church and ending near the MLK Rec Center Park. [4] There is live music and food, and a drill team contest with participants from around the region. [5] [6] Other activities have included pony rides, a bike clinic, and petting zoo. Community partners include churches, sports teams, schools and others. [7] [2] [3]
Saint Paul is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center of Minnesota's government. The Minnesota State Capitol and the state government offices all sit on a hill close to the city's downtown district. One of the oldest cities in Minnesota, Saint Paul has several historic neighborhoods and landmarks, such as the Summit Avenue Neighborhood, the James J. Hill House, and the Cathedral of Saint Paul. Like the adjacent city of Minneapolis, Saint Paul is known for its cold, snowy winters and humid summers.
Falcon Heights is a suburb of Saint Paul and a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 5,321 at the 2010 census. It became a village in 1949 and a city in 1973.
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre is a puppet company and nonprofit organization from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company has written and performed scores of full-length puppet plays, performed throughout the US, Canada, Korea, and Haiti and toured the Mississippi River from end to end. The theatre is best known for sponsoring the annual May Day Parade and Ceremony that is seen by as many as 50,000 people each year.
Como is a neighborhood within the University community of Minneapolis. It is sometimes referred to as Southeast Como, due to many of its streets ending in SE, and possibly to differentiate it from the Como neighborhood in neighboring Saint Paul. Its boundaries are East Hennepin Avenue to the north, 33rd Avenue Southeast to the east, the Southeast Industrial Area to the south, and Interstate 35W to the west.
The Minnesota Fringe Festival is a performing arts festival held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, every summer, usually during the first two weeks in August. The eleven-day event, which features performing artists of many genres and disciplines, is one of many Fringe Festivals in North America. Minnesota Fringe is the largest nonjuried festival in the United States and the third-largest Fringe festival in North America. In 2013, Minnesota Fringe ran August 1–11 and featured 176 shows with a total of 895 performances in multiple venues around the city and distributed 50,007 tickets over the eleven-day event. In 2007, attendance and box office revenue were adversely affected by the collapse of the I-35W bridge the day before the festival opened.
Interstate 94 (I-94) in the US state of Minnesota runs 259 miles (417 km) east–west through the central portion of the state. The highway connects the cities of Moorhead, Fergus Falls, Alexandria, St. Cloud, Minneapolis, and Saint Paul. Authorized in 1956, it was mostly constructed in the 1960s.
Ayd Mill Road is a road in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It runs diagonally through Saint Paul, connecting with Interstate 35E at its southeast terminus, and feeds into Selby Avenue at its northwest end. Indirect access to I-94 is possible via Selby and Snelling Avenues. Originally known as the Short Line Road, it was renamed in 1987 for John Ayd, a German settler who maintained a mill and residence in the area in the mid-to-late 19th century.
Adath Jeshurun Congregation is a Conservative Jewish synagogue located in Minnetonka, Minnesota with about 1,200 members. Founded in 1884, it is a founding member of the United Synagogue of America, a founding member of the Women's League for Conservative Judaism, and "the oldest affiliate of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism west of Chicago.
Saint Paul, Minnesota, consists of 17 officially defined city districts or neighborhoods.
Gordon Parks High School is a public alternative learning center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The school, founded in 1991, was originally the Saint Paul Area Learning Center. It was then called Unidale Alternative Learning Center for several years, after the local strip mall it operated in; this was often shortened to ALC Unidale. In 2007, a permanent building was built for the school and it was again renamed. The school serves high-school-age students categorized as "at risk" or far behind in grade level. It is the largest of seven alternative day school programs in the Saint Paul Public Schools district.
Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) is the largest and most comprehensive independent nonprofit book arts center in the United States. Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, MCBA is a nationally recognized leader in the celebration and preservation of traditional crafts, including hand papermaking, letterpress printing and hand bookbinding, as well as the use of these traditional techniques by contemporary artists in creating new artists' books and artwork.
Frogtown is a neighborhood in Saint Paul in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Built around University Avenue, the Thomas-Dale neighborhood is colloquially known as Frogtown. Historically, Frogtown was a subsection of the current Thomas-Dale neighborhood. It is bordered by University Avenue on the south, the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks to the north, Lexington Parkway on the west and Rice Street on the east.
The Minnesota Museum of American Art is an American art museum located in the Historic Pioneer Endicott building in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The museum holds more than 5,000 artworks that showcase the unique voice of American artists from the 19th century to the present. Guided by the belief that art should reflect the constantly shifting landscape that defines the American experience, the museum desires to celebrate the work of artists from the 19th and 20th centuries as well as new voices that have emerged from communities of color, immigrants, their children and grandchildren.
Selby Avenue is a street in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that runs east–west from Summit Avenue near downtown toward the Mississippi River. The street runs through the Summit-University and Union Park neighborhoods. The street, especially between Dale Street and Snelling Avenue, has been associated with Saint Paul's black community. The far eastern end of the street has historically been more densely developed and architecturally significant.
The Unidale Mall is a shopping mall located at the intersection of University Avenue and Dale Street in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The mall is in the Summit-University neighborhood just across from the Frogtown neighborhood. The Rondo Community Outreach Library is west across Dale Street. The Dale Street station on the Green Line is also at the intersection.
Union Park is a neighborhood in Saint Paul in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Created as a merger of several historic neighborhoods including Merriam Park, Snelling-Hamline, Parts of Midway, Densoyer Park, and Lexington-Hamline, it is bordered by University Avenue on the north, Lexington Parkway on the east, Summit Avenue on the south, and the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area on the west. Despite the merger, many of the historic neighborhoods hold onto their original identity, especially in Lexington-Hamline and Merriam Park.
The Rondo neighborhood, or simply Rondo, is located within the officially designated Summit-University district in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The boundaries of the historically black neighborhood are sometimes referred to as Old Rondo. For much of the 20th century, Rondo was the an important cultural and residential center of the black community in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan region. The core of Old Rondo was demolished between 1956 and 1968, to make way for the construction of the Interstate 94 freeway. At least 650 families were displaced from the neighborhood, as well as many businesses and community locations. The neighborhood, although scarred by highway construction, remained a notable area in Saint Paul with a strong sense of cultural identity. Popular media and historians have the explored the impacts of highway construction and gentrification on Rondo residents past and present. In the 2000s, residents and public officials have discussed ways to reconnect the former community.
Hallie Q. Brown Community Center is an African American not-for-profit social service agency located in the Rondo neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota, US, founded in 1929. Its slogan is 'Lighthouse of the Community'. The Hallie Q. Brown Community Center (HQB) is one of the largest African American non-profit organizations in the state of Minnesota. The center is named for Hallie Quinn Brown (1849–1950) a famous Black educator, activist, orator and writer agitating for civil rights, and women's rights. She also called out the injustices of the convict lease system. The organization supports the community with a full range of services including early childhood education, before and after school care, basic needs, senior programming, historical archives, and anti-racism and equity programming. HQB administers the Martin Luther King Service Center which consists of a little over half of the building and houses other agencies and organizations providing programming in the arts, recreation and other social and civic issues, including the nationally recognized Penumbra Theater Company. The City of Saint Paul administers the Martin Luther King Recreation Center, which consists of the remaining part of the overall building.