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‘Midwestern Cool’ in the Twin Cities

Como Regional Park

Since 1891, Como Regional Park has served as the recreation hub for St. Paul and the surrounding area with amenities that reach far beyond the typical barbecue pits and walking trails. The Twin Cities are known for having some of the top park systems in the United States, but St. Paul’s Como Regional Park, surrounding Lake Como, includes attractions as varied as a historic streetcar station, an amusement park, and both miniature golf and a full 18-hole course.

The park’s biggest draws are its conservatory, which features everything from tropical to bonsai collections, and its zoo, home to denizens of the Galapagos, the Amazon and the Arctic. Groups can enjoy a signature experience before the site opens to the public and feed the polar bears and giraffes as they meet the zookeepers.

www.stpaul.gov

Walker Art Center

Focused on contemporary art in all media, from visual arts exhibitions to dance performances to a more-than 40-piece sculpture garden, the Walker Art Center features a groundbreaking contemporary wing designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog and de Meuron. The campus is now undergoing a renovation, with the new grand entrance set to open in the fall of this year and the extensive sculpture garden renovation debuting in summer 2017.

The Walker Art Center also offers a signature experience with a member of its curatorial team in which groups can learn about the decisions that go into curating a collection before having their creating their own work of art in the center’s art lab.

www.walkerart.org

Mill City Museum

Though flour seems to be a bland, mundane item, in the right circumstances, flour dust can be explosive, and shortly after the Washburn A Mill opened on the banks of the Mississippi as the world’s largest flour mill, a dust explosion wiped it and several other nearby mills out, leaving a modern ruin that the city has turned into an homage to its milling history.

The museum offers a variety of tours for groups, both of its own facility and along the historic, railroad and hydroelectric power routes on  the riverfront. Admission to the museum also includes access to the ninth-floor observation deck overlooking St. Anthony Falls.

www.millcitymuseum.org