Aquatennial: The Ultimate Summer Block Party

As the Aquatennial celebrates its 80th year this week, read up on what led to the official party of the summer in Minneapolis.

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The 1930s were a dark time for Minneapolis: Violent labor strife tumbled into the streets. And St. Paul owned the self-promoting party of the year with its Winter Carnival. A cabal of businessmen decided Minneapolis needed its own 10-day festival, celebrating its glorious lakes. They’d call it Fiestifete! Erm, no. The Aqualand Sun Party! Nah. How about . . . Aquatennial?

This week, the Aquatennial celebrates its 80th anniversary between July 24 and 27 with parades, fireworks, and plenty of other events that serve as a reminder as to why Minnesota is so spectacular in summer. 

1911 

Minneapolis toasts a new water connection between Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles with  a “Linking of the Lakes Celebration.” A parade of illuminated boats passes through the new channel. 

1934 

All summer, tensions mount between the Teamsters, the union-busting Citizens Alliance, and the Minneapolis police. The conflict erupts July 20 in a violent downtown street brawl known as “Bloody Friday.” 

1936

A crowd of some 20,000 cheers on the Teamsters' victory picnic, an event featuring relay races, balloon-blowing contests, and a tug-of-war, at Webb’s Place, on Bass Lake.

1939

The Minneapolis Labor Review intercepts a document proposing a committee with the goal of “perpetuating the original spirit of America.” That is, an anti–victory picnic. Its agenda? “Offset the bad publicity” with a “pleasant event.” 

1939

A group of Minneapolis businessmen travels to Winnipeg to see King George VI and Queen Elizabeth march in a parade. This event becomes the official Aquatennial origin story.  

1940

The inaugural Aquatennial commences with Gene Autry (picked over Shirley Temple) as grand marshal. The Winter Carnival loans out its 500-person drum corps for a Torchlight Parade.   

1941

A permanent stage rises on Wirth Lake to hold the Aqua Follies. The revue becomes increasingly extravagant, and introduces the Aqua Dears. This synchronized swimming troupe imposes strict size requirements: 5'4'' and 125 pounds. 

1950

WCCO televises the Grande Day Parade for the first time. 

1959

Howard Thompson and Gordon Kossow win the 450-mile Paul Bunyan Canoe Derby. Paddlers gripe when the post-race steakhouse banquet serves cold cuts. 

1960

Barbara Flanagan—Minneapolis Star editor and Aquatennial Queen of the Lakes chaperone—introduces Queen Gail Nygaard to Coco Chanel at a photo shoot in Paris.

1964

Bob Hope serves as grand marshal, joking, “It’s nice to visit in this nice weather—and I’m glad I brought my long underwear.” 

1967

Aquatennial appeases the hippie contingent with “The Happening”: a concert featuring Jefferson Airplane, Buffalo Springfield, and the Electric Prunes. Meanwhile, a wig-snatching incident at the Torchlight Parade touches off a riot on the North Side that lasts three days.  

1971

To increase dairy sales, Campbell Mithun proposes a milk-carton boat race on Calhoun. Ad execs twirl their milk mustaches as 1,000-plus yachts hit the water. 

1976

The Aqua Jesters, a clown club founded by Star and Tribune newspaper executives in 1946, finally invites women to squeeze into their clown car. 

1983

The new sand-castle competition gives each builder a 12'-X-12' plot on Lake Calhoun’s north beach. (Enjoy your ice sculptures in July, St. Paul!)

1991

Thrasher Magazine covers the AquaJam, a massive, proto–X Games Aquatennial skateboarding contest. Twin Cities Skate Oasis builds the ramps, spines, and valleys. Gnarly!

1995

Dayton’s sponsors the largest Aquatennial fireworks display to date, hiring the Zambellis, “the first family of fireworks,” to detonate more than 10,000 pounds of explosives.

1998

The Smashing Pumpkins party like it’s 1979, performing a free concert for 100,000 fans at the Aquatennial Block Party, in downtown Minneapolis. 

2015

The cash-strapped Aquatennial discontinues the Beach Bash, Milk Carton Races, and Sandcastle Competition at Lake Calhoun, and cuts the schedule to four days. The Aquatennial becomes an Aquafourial?  

2017

The Milk Carton boat race returns to the shores of Thomas Beach—on what Minneapolis once again calls “Bde Maka Ska.”