Culture of Minnesota
Encyclopedia
The culture of Minnesota is a subculture
of the United States
with influences from Scandinavian Americans
, Irish Americans, German Americans
, Native Americans
, African Americans, Polish Americans and numerous other immigrant groups. American culture, in general, is largely based on Western
and British
culture.
Stereotypical
Minnesotan traits include manners known as "Minnesota nice
", Lutheranism
, and a strong sense of community and shared culture. Potluck
s, usually with a variety of hotdish
casseroles, are popular at community functions, especially church activities. Movies such as Drop Dead Gorgeous, the radio show A Prairie Home Companion
and the book How to Talk Minnesotan
lampoon (and celebrate) Minnesotan culture, speech and mannerisms.
The Minnesota State Fair
, advertised as The Great Minnesota Get-Together, is an icon of state culture. In a state of 5.1 million people, there were nearly 1.7 million visitors to the fair in 2006. The fair covers the variety of life in Minnesota, including fine art
, science
, agriculture
, food preparation, 4-H
displays, music, the midway
, and corporate merchandising. It is known for its displays of seed art, butter
sculptures of dairy princesses
, and the birthing barn. On a smaller scale, these attractions are also offered at the state's many county fairs.
Other large annual festivals include the Saint Paul Winter Carnival
, the Minneapolis Aquatennial, the Mill City Music Festival, and Detroit Lakes'
10,000 Lakes Festival
and WE Fest, and Moondance Jam
& Jammin' Country, both held every summer in Walker.
, as depicted by films such as Fargo
; it has been lampooned as an "odd, sing-songy Scandinavian manner of speech, full of laconic sentences ending in Yah".
The media has made it appear that the local vocabulary is sprinkled with Scandinavian-sounding words such as uff da
and terms such as "you betcha" and "yah sure," though particularly among older populations these phrases are still relatively frequent.
Some common wild edibles include wild rice
, serviceberry
, chokecherry
, blueberry
, raspberry
, blackberry
, thimbleberry
, and hazelnuts. A variety of fish, such as trout
and walleye
, are available in the multitude of state lakes. Many of these foods have long been staples of Native communities prior to the Industrial Revolution
and before white settlement in the region. Items such as fry bread, bison
meat, and jams
have been eaten by indigenous groups for centuries. The Ojibwa
, for example, consider wild rice not only to be an important foodstuff but an "object of veneration, and an important ingredient of social and ceremonial life."
With an increase in immigration from abroad, Minnesota's culture appropriated traditions from its parent Scandinavia
n and German
heritages, adopting traditional cuisine items such as lefse
, lutefisk
, rosettes
, gravlax
, krumkake
, lingonberries, kransekake
, sausage
s, and sauerkraut
. Minnesota is also known for hot dish and jello salad
s.
Immigrants in the late 20th and 21st century are more likely to have come from Vietnam
, Somalia
, Laos
, and Mexico
, bringing with them traditional food items such as cha-lua
, summer roll
s, cymbopogon
, thai basil
, ginger
, padek, taquito
s, tortilla
s, and poblano
s. A significant Northeast African
presence has also developed in recent years, with the Somali Resource website listing a total of twenty "restaurants of the Somali
community."
The relatively short growing season demanded agricultural innovation. The Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station's Horticultural Research Center at the University of Minnesota
developed three new apple varieties, the Haralson
, Honeycrisp
, and very recently the Sweetango. These fare well in the harsh Minnesota climate and produce popular fruit.
At the Minnesota State Fair
dozens of foods are offered "on a stick", such as Pronto Pup
s and deep fried candy bars. Although not actually typical Minnesota Cuisine, these are archetypal fair foods. Minnesota is also home to several beers including Hamm's Brewery
, Summit Brewing Company
, Surly Brewing Company
, Lift Bridge Brewing Company, and August Schell Brewing Company
, which also produces Grain Belt
.
The music of Minnesota has played a role in the historical and cultural development of Minnesota
. The state's music scene centers on the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, and most of the Minnesotan artists who have become nationally popular either came from that area or debuted there. Rural Minnesota has also produced a flourishing folk music scene, with a long tradition of traditional Swedish
, Finnish
and Norwegian music
. Minnesota's modern local music scene is home to thousands of local bands, many of which perform with some regularity. Some performers from nearby regions of neighboring states, such as western Wisconsin and Fargo, North Dakota, are often considered a part of the Minnesota music scene.
Minneapolis has produced a number of famous performers, such as Bob Dylan
, who was born in Duluth and raised in Hibbing, began his musical career in the Minneapolis area, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
, who eventually formed The Time
and produced
for Gladys Knight
and Janet Jackson
. Minneapolis' most influential contributions to American popular music
began in the 1970s and 1980s, when the city's music scene "expanded the state's cultural identity" and launched the careers of acclaimed performers like the multi-platinum soul
singer Prince, and cult favorites The Replacements and Hüsker Dü
. More recently, the Twin Cities has played a role in the national hip-hop scene with record labels Rhymesayers Entertainment
and Kamorra Entertainment, and artists such as Atmosphere
, Brother Ali
, and P.O.S. Other musicians of many genres have been popular over the years, including harmony singers The Andrews Sisters
and Semisonic
, an alternative rock group, and the cult favorites Motion City Soundtrack
.. One such band, Something For Diamonds, was founded in 2006 by two youths from Minneapolis, Breck School alumni Avery Henderson and Robert Fuller. The band enjoys reasonable success locally. Cloud Cult is a local eco-responsible band that has been enjoying some national success.
Sports in Minnesota include professional teams in all major sports, Olympic Games
contenders and medalists, especially in the Winter Olympics
, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations, and active amateur teams and individual sports. The state of Minnesota
has a team in all four major professional leagues (MLB
, NFL
, NBA
, and NHL
); the University of Minnesota
is one of the founding members of the oldest major college athletic conference still running, the Big Ten
.
Minnesota's warm summers provide its natives and tourists with a variety of outdoor activities, though it is mostly known for its winters. Many Minnesotans embrace winter. The state has produced curlers
and skiers
who have competed in the Winter Olympics, pioneers who invented the snowmobile
, Rollerblade
s, water skiing
and legions of ice fishing
enthusiasts. The state is also known for enthusiastic ice hockey
players, both at the amateur and professional levels. Eveleth, Minnesota
, home to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
, boasts of the number of quality players and the contributions of the city (and the rest of the Mesabi Range
) to the growth and development of hockey in the United States. The abundance of both indoor and outdoor ice rink
s in the state provides ample opportunities for learning and practicing several winter sports, which in turn produces accomplished athletes in those sports.
Minnesota's more than ten thousand lakes naturally play an important role in the state's recreation patterns. Minnesota has the highest per-capita boat registration figure of any state in the country.
The Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area is considered to be the arts capital of the Upper Midwest. Its major fine art
museums include the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
, the Walker Art Center
, and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum. The Minnesota Orchestra
and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
are prominent full-time professional musical ensemble
s that perform concerts and offer educational programs to the community. Attendance at theatrical
, music
al, and comedy
events in the area is strong, which may be attributed to the cold winters, the large population of post-secondary students, and a generally vibrant economy. The nationally renowned Guthrie Theater
moved into a new building in 2006, boasting three stages and overlooking the Mississippi River. In the United States, the number of theater seats per capita in Minneapolis-Saint Paul ranks behind only New York City
; in 2000, 2.3 million theater tickets were sold. The Minnesota Fringe Festival
is an annual celebration of theatre
, dance
, improvisation
, puppetry
, kids' shows, visual art, and musicals. The summer festival consists of over 800 performances in 11 days, and is the largest non-juried performing arts festival in the United States. The Children's Theatre Company
, Minneapolis, and the SteppingStone Theatre for Youth Development
, Saint Paul, are leading youth theaters.
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Minnesota's climate has done much to shape the image and culture of the state. Minnesotans boast of their "theater of seasons", with a late but intense spring, a summer of water sports, a fall of brilliantly colored leaves in the state's parks and hardwood forests, and a long winter made bearable by outdoor sports and recreation.
"Summer at the lake" is a Minnesota tradition. Water skiing
was invented in Minnesota by Ralph Samuelson
, and the Minneapolis Aquatennial features a milk carton boat race. Contestants build boats from milk cartons
and float them on Minneapolis area lakes, with recognition based more on colorful and imaginative designs than on actual racing performance.
To many outsiders, Minnesota's winters appear to be cold and inhospitable. Even among Minnesotans, a common expression is that there are only two seasons, Winter and Road Construction. This is due to long winters that damage road surfaces, and short summers in which a frenzy of repair work causes severe congestion. A World War II
newscaster, in describing the brutally cold conditions of the Russian front, stated that at least Minnesotans could understand it. A New York journalist visited St. Paul and declared that the city was "another Siberia, unfit for human habitation." In response, the city decided to build a huge ice palace in 1886, similar to one that Montreal
had built in 1885. They hired the architects of the Canadian ice palace to design one for St. Paul, and built a palace 106 feet (32.3 m) high with ice blocks cut from a nearby lake. This began the tradition of the Saint Paul Winter Carnival
, which spawned a legend with a mythical king, "King Boreas". Each winter, King Boreas declares a ten-day celebration with feasting, fun, and frolic, along with the "Queen of the Snows" and singer "Klondike Kate". Ice sculpture
s are featured, and periodically ice palaces are built; one was the setting of St. Paul native F. Scott Fitzgerald
's story The Ice Palace, published in Flappers and Philosophers
. On the tenth day of the festival, "Vulcanus Rex", the King of Fire, storms the castle with his Vulcan Krewe, compelling Boreas to relinquish winter's hold on the land until he returns again.
Twins Brandon and Brenda Walsh were from Minneapolis on the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210
. The character of Marshall Eriksen from How I Met Your Mother
is a Minnesota native and some of the show's episodes are located in Minnesota. The main characters of Nickelodeon
's Big Time Rush
are branded as "four hockey players from Minnesota." American Idol
held auditions for its sixth season in Minneapolis in 2006 and Last Comic Standing
held auditions for its fifth season in Minneapolis in 2007. The winner of season 4 was Josh Blue
, a St. Paul native. The actor winning the role of "Sandy" on the televised Grease: You're the One that I Want! competition was Laura Osnes
, an Eagan
native; she played Sandy in the 2007 Broadway
run of Grease. A statue of Mary Tyler Moore
downtown on the Nicollet Mall commemorates the 1970s television situation comedy Mary Tyler Moore
, awarded 3 Golden Globe
s and 31 Emmy Award
s.
Minnesota's winters are the setting of several Hollywood films, including the ice fishing comedies of Grumpy Old Men
and Grumpier Old Men
, set in Wabasha
and filmed in the state.
The Coen Brothers
' 1996 film noir
Fargo
also features the backdrop of a Minnesota winter, but like most of the characters in the movie, the climate is portrayed as bleak and inhospitable.
Another Coen Brothers' film, 2009's A Serious Man
is set in their hometown of St. Louis Park
.
Although never directly stated, it is implied that the 2007 film Juno
takes place in Minnesota. The character of Juno presumably lives in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul as she regularly takes trips to visit the adoptive parents of her unborn child in the nearby city of St. Cloud. The title character also makes a direct reference to the Ridgedale Center
, a popular mall in Minnetonka
. Although none of the characters in the movie speak with a "Minnesotan" accent
, the vehicles in the film clearly have Minnesota state plates.
Summer resorts on Minnesota's "10,000 lakes" may prefer to emphasize warm-season activities, but from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
's Frostbite Falls, Minnesota to Fargo, the popular image of the state's climate is defined more by the state's winters than by its other three seasons.
The small town of Walnut Grove
is the setting for Laura Ingalls Wilder
's book On the Banks of Plum Creek
and the loosely based TV series Little House on the Prairie
.
Television series The Big C starring Laura Linney
is set in Minnesota.
organizations such as SF Minnesota
, MISFITS
, and Mnstf who annually hold Diversicon
, CONvergence
, and Minicon
, respectively. These are each large gatherings of fans interested in science, speculative, and fantasy fiction; panels are held where authors, publishers, and scientists interact with readers, viewers, and fans of filk music
with the goal of increasing enlightenment of the topics discussed.
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with influences from Scandinavian Americans
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, Irish Americans, German Americans
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, African Americans, Polish Americans and numerous other immigrant groups. American culture, in general, is largely based on Western
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
and British
Culture of the United Kingdom
The culture of the United Kingdom refers to the patterns of human activity and symbolism associated with the United Kingdom and its people. It is informed by the UK's history as a developed island country, major power, and its composition of four countries—England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and...
culture.
People
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
Minnesotan traits include manners known as "Minnesota nice
Minnesota nice
Minnesota nice is the stereotypical behavior of long-time Minnesota residents, to be courteous, reserved, and mild-mannered. The cultural characteristics of Minnesota nice include a polite friendliness, an aversion to confrontation, a tendency toward understatement, a disinclination to make a fuss...
", Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
, and a strong sense of community and shared culture. Potluck
Potluck
A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food prepared by the person or the group of people, to be shared among the group...
s, usually with a variety of hotdish
Hotdish
Hotdish is a variety of baked casserole that typically contains a starch, a meat or other protein, and a canned and/ or frozen vegetable, mixed together with canned soup. The dish is popular in Minnesota...
casseroles, are popular at community functions, especially church activities. Movies such as Drop Dead Gorgeous, the radio show A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
and the book How to Talk Minnesotan
How to Talk Minnesotan
How to Talk Minnesotan is a book lampooning stereotypical Minnesotan speech and mannerisms written by Howard Mohr, a former writer for A Prairie Home Companion...
lampoon (and celebrate) Minnesotan culture, speech and mannerisms.
The Minnesota State Fair
Minnesota State Fair
The Minnesota State Fair is the state fair of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its slogan is "The Great Minnesota Get-Together." It is the 2nd largest fair in the United States, and the largest state fair in the United States in terms of average daily attendance, though the State Fair of Texas runs...
, advertised as The Great Minnesota Get-Together, is an icon of state culture. In a state of 5.1 million people, there were nearly 1.7 million visitors to the fair in 2006. The fair covers the variety of life in Minnesota, including fine art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, food preparation, 4-H
4-H
4-H in the United States is a youth organization administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture , with the mission of "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development." The name represents...
displays, music, the midway
Midway (fair)
A midway at a fair is the location where amusement rides, entertainment and fast food booths are concentrated....
, and corporate merchandising. It is known for its displays of seed art, butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
sculptures of dairy princesses
Princess Kay of the Milky Way
Princess Kay of the Milky Way is the title awarded to the winner of the state-wide Minnesota Dairy Princess Program, an annual competition organized by the Midwest Dairy Association. During her one year term, the Princess Kay of the Milky Way serves as official good-will ambassador for the...
, and the birthing barn. On a smaller scale, these attractions are also offered at the state's many county fairs.
Other large annual festivals include the Saint Paul Winter Carnival
Saint Paul Winter Carnival
In 1885, a New York reporter wrote that Saint Paul was "another Siberia, unfit for human habitation" in winter. Offended by this attack on their Capital City, the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce decided to not only prove that Saint Paul was habitable but that its citizens were very much alive during...
, the Minneapolis Aquatennial, the Mill City Music Festival, and Detroit Lakes'
Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
-Demographics:As of the official census of 2000, there were 7,348 people, 3,319 households, and 1,845 families permanently residing in the city. The population density was 980.4 people per square mile . There were 3,782 housing units at an average density of 504.6 per square mile...
10,000 Lakes Festival
10,000 Lakes Festival
The 10,000 Lakes Festival was an annual four-day music festival in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, at the Soo Pass Ranch that was held since 2003. 10KLF is currently on hiatus due to financial losses and was not held in 2010. Its name refers to Minnesota's nickname, "The Land of 10,000 Lakes"...
and WE Fest, and Moondance Jam
Moondance Jam
Moondance Jam is an annual rock and classic rock festival held in mid-July in the Leech Lake/Chippewa National Forest Area near Walker, Minnesota. It is recognized as Minnesota's largest rock festival and the premier classic rock festival in the United States...
& Jammin' Country, both held every summer in Walker.
Minnesotan accent
The Minnesotan accent is a slight variation of North Central American EnglishNorth Central American English
North–Central American English is used to refer to a dialect of American English. The region is also known as Upper Midwest among some linguists. It is also sometimes called the Minnesota Accent or Great Lakes Accent. It is widely spoken in the Upper Midwest and the northern portion of the...
, as depicted by films such as Fargo
Fargo (film)
Fargo is a 1996 American dark comedy-crime film produced, directed and written by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Frances McDormand as a pregnant police chief who investigates a series of homicides, William H...
; it has been lampooned as an "odd, sing-songy Scandinavian manner of speech, full of laconic sentences ending in Yah".
The media has made it appear that the local vocabulary is sprinkled with Scandinavian-sounding words such as uff da
Uff da
Uff da is an expression of Norwegian origin adopted by Scandinavian-Americans in the 19th century...
and terms such as "you betcha" and "yah sure," though particularly among older populations these phrases are still relatively frequent.
Cuisine
Wild rice
Wild rice is four species of grasses forming the genus Zizania, and the grain which can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both North America and China...
, serviceberry
Serviceberry
Amelanchier , also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry, wild pear, juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum or wild-plum, and chuckley pear is a genus of about 20 species of deciduous-leaved shrubs and small trees in the Rose family .Amelanchier is native to temperate regions...
, chokecherry
Chokecherry
Prunus virginiana, commonly called chokecherry, bitter-berry, or Virginia bird cherry, is a species of bird cherry native to North America, where it is found almost throughout the continent except for the Deep South and the far north.-Growth:It is a suckering shrub or small tree growing to 5 m tall...
, blueberry
Blueberry
Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...
, raspberry
Raspberry
The raspberry or hindberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus; the name also applies to these plants themselves...
, blackberry
Blackberry
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by any of several species in the Rubus genus of the Rosaceae family. The fruit is not a true berry; botanically it is termed an aggregate fruit, composed of small drupelets. The plants typically have biennial canes and perennial roots. Blackberries and...
, thimbleberry
Thimbleberry
Rubus parviflorus, commonly called thimbleberry or salmonberry, is a species of Rubus, native to western and northern North America, from Alaska east to Ontario and Michigan, and south to northern Mexico...
, and hazelnuts. A variety of fish, such as trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
and walleye
Walleye
Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...
, are available in the multitude of state lakes. Many of these foods have long been staples of Native communities prior to the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
and before white settlement in the region. Items such as fry bread, bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
meat, and jams
Jams
Jams is a line of clothing produced by Jams World. Jams shorts, a popular clothing item in the 1960s and 1980s, were closely associated with the surf scenes in California and Hawaii.-History:...
have been eaten by indigenous groups for centuries. The Ojibwa
Ojibwa
The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...
, for example, consider wild rice not only to be an important foodstuff but an "object of veneration, and an important ingredient of social and ceremonial life."
With an increase in immigration from abroad, Minnesota's culture appropriated traditions from its parent Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n and German
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
heritages, adopting traditional cuisine items such as lefse
Lefse
Lefse is a traditional soft, Norwegian flatbread. Lefse is made out of potato, milk or cream and flour, and cooked on a griddle. Special tools are available for lefse baking, including long wooden turning sticks and special rolling pins with deep grooves.-Flavoring:There are many ways of...
, lutefisk
Lutefisk
Lutefisk or Lutfisk is a traditional dish of the Nordic countries and parts of the Midwest United States. It is made from aged stockfish or dried/salted whitefish and lye . It is gelatinous in texture, and has an extremely strong, pungent odor...
, rosettes
Rosette (cookie)
A rosette is a thin, cookie-like deep-fried pastry of Scandinavian origin. Rosettes are traditionally made during Christmas time. They are made using intricately designed irons. The iron is heated to a very high temperature in oil, dipped into the batter, then re-immersed in the hot oil to create...
, gravlax
Gravlax
Gravlax or gravad lax , gravet laks , gravlaks , graavilohi , graavilõhe , graflax is a Nordic dish consisting of raw salmon, cured in salt, sugar, and dill...
, krumkake
Krumkake
Krumkake or Krum kaka is a Norwegian waffle cookie made of flour, butter, eggs, sugar, and cream. Krumkake are traditionally made during the Christmas season....
, lingonberries, kransekake
Kransekake
The kransekake is a traditional Norwegian and Danish dessert, usually eaten on special occasions such as weddings, baptisms, Christmas, or New Year's Eve. Kransekakes take the form of a series of concentric rings of cake, layered on top of each other in order to form a steep-sloped cone shape...
, sausage
Sausage
A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
s, and sauerkraut
Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut , directly translated from German: "sour cabbage", is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid...
. Minnesota is also known for hot dish and jello salad
Jello salad
Jell-O salad, also called gelatin salad, jelly salad, and congealed salad is the common name for salad made with flavored gelatin, fruit and sometimes grated carrots or, more rarely, other vegetables...
s.
Immigrants in the late 20th and 21st century are more likely to have come from Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, bringing with them traditional food items such as cha-lua
Cha-lua
Giò lụa or Chả lụa is a Vietnamese food, also known as Vietnamese ham or Vietnamese sausage. The term giò lụa is part of the northern Vietnamese's dialect while chả lụa is part of the southern Vietnamese dialect.-Production and consumption:...
, summer roll
Summer roll
A gỏi cuốn, summer roll, Vietnamese salad roll, or fresh roll is a Vietnamese dish consisting of pork, prawn, herbs, bún , and other ingredients wrapped in Vietnamese bánh tráng . They are served at room temperature, and are not deep fried...
s, cymbopogon
Cymbopogon
Cymbopogon is a genus of about 55 species of grasses, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Old World and Oceania. It is a tall perennial grass...
, thai basil
Thai basil
Thai basil is a type of sweet basil native to Southeast Asia that has been cultivated to provide a distinctive set of traits. It has an identifiable licorice flavor not present in sweet basil, and its flavor is more stable under high or extended cooking temperatures than that of sweet basil...
, ginger
Ginger
Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family . Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal....
, padek, taquito
Taquito
Taquito or flauta is a Mexican food dish consisting of a small rolled-up tortilla and some type of filling, usually beef or chicken. The filled tortilla is crisp-fried...
s, tortilla
Tortilla
In Mexico and Central America, a tortilla is a type of thin, unleavened flat bread, made from finely ground maize...
s, and poblano
Poblano
The poblano is a mild chili pepper originating in the State of Puebla, Mexico. Dried, it is called a chile ancho . The ripened red poblano is significantly hotter and more flavorful than the less ripe, green poblano. While poblanos tend to have a mild flavor, occasionally and unpredictably, they...
s. A significant Northeast African
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
presence has also developed in recent years, with the Somali Resource website listing a total of twenty "restaurants of the Somali
Somali people
Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
community."
The relatively short growing season demanded agricultural innovation. The Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station's Horticultural Research Center at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
developed three new apple varieties, the Haralson
Haralson (apple)
The Haralson is a cultivar of apple that is medium-sized and has a round-conic shape. It has a red color and large, moderately conspicuous dots. Haralson apples are crisp and juicy, having a tart flavor. They are good for eating, cooking, and are an excellent choice for pies...
, Honeycrisp
Honeycrisp
Honeycrisp is an apple cultivar developed at the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station's Horticultural Research Center at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities...
, and very recently the Sweetango. These fare well in the harsh Minnesota climate and produce popular fruit.
At the Minnesota State Fair
Minnesota State Fair
The Minnesota State Fair is the state fair of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its slogan is "The Great Minnesota Get-Together." It is the 2nd largest fair in the United States, and the largest state fair in the United States in terms of average daily attendance, though the State Fair of Texas runs...
dozens of foods are offered "on a stick", such as Pronto Pup
Pronto Pup
The Pronto Pup Company is a company based in Portland, Oregon that manufactures the Pronto Pup corn dog mix.-History:The Pronto Pup was invented by the husband and wife team of George and Versa Boyington in the late 1930s in Rockaway Beach, Oregon. The Boyingtons ran a small hot dog stand on the...
s and deep fried candy bars. Although not actually typical Minnesota Cuisine, these are archetypal fair foods. Minnesota is also home to several beers including Hamm's Brewery
Hamm's Brewery
Hamm's is the name of a former American brewery in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Hamm's breweries were also found in other cities, such as San Francisco.-History:...
, Summit Brewing Company
Summit Brewing Company
Summit Brewing Company is a regional craft brewery in St. Paul, Minnesota that brews a wide selection of popular beers. It is sometimes mistakenly believed to be a microbrewery, even though Summit's output is in the top 50 of breweries in the United States, approximately 80,000 barrels of beer per...
, Surly Brewing Company
Surly Brewing Company
The Surly Brewing Company is a Brooklyn Center, Minnesota-based craft brewery. Surly has a projected production of over 15,000 barrels in 2010...
, Lift Bridge Brewing Company, and August Schell Brewing Company
August Schell Brewing Company
The August Schell Brewing Company is a brewing company in New Ulm, Minnesota. It was founded by German immigrant August Schell in 1860 and passed into the possession of the Schell family in 1866. It is the second oldest family-owned brewery in America and became the oldest and largest brewery in...
, which also produces Grain Belt
Grain Belt (beer)
Grain Belt is a brand of beer brewed in the American state of Minnesota, by the August Schell Brewing Company. The beer has been produced in Three varieties: Grain Belt Golden, the original style introduced in 1893, and Grain Belt Premium, first introduced in 1947, and the brand new Grain Belt...
.
Music
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. The state's music scene centers on the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, and most of the Minnesotan artists who have become nationally popular either came from that area or debuted there. Rural Minnesota has also produced a flourishing folk music scene, with a long tradition of traditional Swedish
Music of Sweden
Sweden shares the tradition of Nordic folk dance music with its neighboring countries including polka, schottische, waltz, polska and mazurka. The accordion, clarinet, fiddle and nyckelharpa are among the most common Swedish folk instruments. This instrumental genre is the biggest one in Swedish...
, Finnish
Music of Finland
The music of Finland can be roughly divided in the following three categories.Folk music is typically influenced by Karelian traditional tunes and lyrics of the Kalevala metre. Karelian heritage has traditionally been perceived as the purest expression of Finnic myths and beliefs, thought to be...
and Norwegian music
Music of Norway
Music based on traditional Norwegian form usually includes minor or modal scales , making a sober and haunting sound. Pure major key dance music forms also exist. Prior to the 18th century, there is scant written record of what kind of music was played in Norway, but there is a large aural tradition...
. Minnesota's modern local music scene is home to thousands of local bands, many of which perform with some regularity. Some performers from nearby regions of neighboring states, such as western Wisconsin and Fargo, North Dakota, are often considered a part of the Minnesota music scene.
Minneapolis has produced a number of famous performers, such as Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, who was born in Duluth and raised in Hibbing, began his musical career in the Minneapolis area, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III and Terry Steven Lewis are an American R&B and pop-music songwriting and record production team...
, who eventually formed The Time
The Time (band)
The Time is a funk and dance-pop ensemble formed in 1981. They are close Prince associates and arguably the most successful artists who have worked with him.-Prince, Formation and Success:...
and produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
for Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
and Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
. Minneapolis' most influential contributions to American popular music
American popular music
American popular music had a profound effect on music across the world. The country has seen the rise of popular styles that have had a significant influence on global culture, including ragtime, blues, jazz, swing, rock, R&B, doo wop, gospel, soul, funk, heavy metal, punk, disco, house, techno,...
began in the 1970s and 1980s, when the city's music scene "expanded the state's cultural identity" and launched the careers of acclaimed performers like the multi-platinum soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
singer Prince, and cult favorites The Replacements and Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü was an American rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer Grant Hart....
. More recently, the Twin Cities has played a role in the national hip-hop scene with record labels Rhymesayers Entertainment
Rhymesayers Entertainment
Rhymesayers Entertainment is an independent hip hop record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, co-founded in 1995 by Sean Daley, Anthony Davis, Brent Sayers and Musab Saad....
and Kamorra Entertainment, and artists such as Atmosphere
Atmosphere (music group)
Atmosphere is an American hip hop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group is composed of rapper Slug and DJ/Producer Ant...
, Brother Ali
Brother Ali
Ali Newman , better known by the stage name Brother Ali, is an American hip hop artist signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment.-Personal life:...
, and P.O.S. Other musicians of many genres have been popular over the years, including harmony singers The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters were a highly successful close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews , soprano Maxene Angelyn Andrews , and mezzo-soprano Patricia Marie "Patty" Andrews...
and Semisonic
Semisonic
Semisonic is an American alternative rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1995. The band consisted of three members: Dan Wilson , John Munson , and Jacob Slichter...
, an alternative rock group, and the cult favorites Motion City Soundtrack
Motion City Soundtrack
Motion City Soundtrack is an American rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 1997. The band consists of founding members Justin Pierre and Joshua Cain , along with keyboardist and moog synthesist Jesse Johnson, bassist and backing vocalist Matthew Taylor, and drummer, percussionist and...
.. One such band, Something For Diamonds, was founded in 2006 by two youths from Minneapolis, Breck School alumni Avery Henderson and Robert Fuller. The band enjoys reasonable success locally. Cloud Cult is a local eco-responsible band that has been enjoying some national success.
Sports and recreation
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
contenders and medalists, especially in the Winter Olympics
Winter Olympic Games
The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...
, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations, and active amateur teams and individual sports. The state of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
has a team in all four major professional leagues (MLB
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
, NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
, NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
, and NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
); the University of Minnesota
Minnesota Golden Gophers
The Minnesota Golden Gophers are the college sports team for the University of Minnesota. The university fields both men's and women's teams in basketball, cross country, gymnastics, golf, ice hockey, swimming, tennis, and track and field. Men's-specific sports include baseball, football, and...
is one of the founding members of the oldest major college athletic conference still running, the Big Ten
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
.
Minnesota's warm summers provide its natives and tourists with a variety of outdoor activities, though it is mostly known for its winters. Many Minnesotans embrace winter. The state has produced curlers
Curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...
and skiers
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
who have competed in the Winter Olympics, pioneers who invented the snowmobile
Snowmobile
A snowmobile, also known in some places as a snowmachine, or sled,is a land vehicle for winter travel on snow. Designed to be operated on snow and ice, they require no road or trail. Design variations enable some machines to operate in deep snow or forests; most are used on open terrain, including...
, Rollerblade
Rollerblade
Rollerblade is a brand of inline skates owned by Nordica, part of the Tecnica Group of Trevignano, Treviso, Italy.The company was started by Scott Olsen and Brennan Olson in Minneapolis as Ole's Innovative Sports; when they sold the company, it became Rollerblade, Inc...
s, water skiing
Water skiing
thumb|right|A slalom skier making a turn on a slalom waterski.Waterskiing is a sport where an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation on a body of water, skimming the surface.-History:...
and legions of ice fishing
Ice fishing
Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice anglers may sit on the stool in the open on a frozen lake, or in a heated cabin on the ice, some with bunks and amenities.-Locations:It is a popular pastime...
enthusiasts. The state is also known for enthusiastic ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
players, both at the amateur and professional levels. Eveleth, Minnesota
Eveleth, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,865 people, 1,717 households, and 971 families residing in the city. The population density was 611.0 people per square mile . There were 1,965 housing units at an average density of 310.6 per square mile...
, home to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
United States Hockey Hall of Fame
The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the rich history of the game in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials and teams....
, boasts of the number of quality players and the contributions of the city (and the rest of the Mesabi Range
Mesabi Range
The Mesabi Iron Range is a vast deposit of iron ore and the largest of four major iron ranges in the region collectively known as the Iron Range of Minnesota. Discovered in 1866, it is the chief deposit of iron ore in the United States. The deposit is located in northeast Minnesota, largely in...
) to the growth and development of hockey in the United States. The abundance of both indoor and outdoor ice rink
Ice rink
An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or hardened chemicals where people can skate or play winter sports. Besides recreational ice skating, some of its uses include ice hockey, figure skating and curling as well as exhibitions, contests and ice shows...
s in the state provides ample opportunities for learning and practicing several winter sports, which in turn produces accomplished athletes in those sports.
Minnesota's more than ten thousand lakes naturally play an important role in the state's recreation patterns. Minnesota has the highest per-capita boat registration figure of any state in the country.
Fine and performing arts
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
museums include the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is a fine art museum located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a campus that covers nearly 8 acres , formerly Morrison Park...
, the Walker Art Center
Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...
, and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum. The Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra , based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the United States' only full-time professional chamber orchestra...
are prominent full-time professional musical ensemble
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
s that perform concerts and offer educational programs to the community. Attendance at theatrical
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
al, and comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
events in the area is strong, which may be attributed to the cold winters, the large population of post-secondary students, and a generally vibrant economy. The nationally renowned Guthrie Theater
Guthrie Theater
The Guthrie Theater is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the result of the desire of Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler to create a resident acting company that would produce and perform the classics in...
moved into a new building in 2006, boasting three stages and overlooking the Mississippi River. In the United States, the number of theater seats per capita in Minneapolis-Saint Paul ranks behind only New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; in 2000, 2.3 million theater tickets were sold. The Minnesota Fringe Festival
Minnesota Fringe Festival
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...
is an annual celebration of theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
, puppetry
Puppetry
Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects...
, kids' shows, visual art, and musicals. The summer festival consists of over 800 performances in 11 days, and is the largest non-juried performing arts festival in the United States. The Children's Theatre Company
Children's Theatre Company
The Children's Theatre Company is a regional theatre established in 1961 in Minneapolis, Minnesota specializing in plays for families and young audiences and the recipient of a 2003 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre...
, Minneapolis, and the SteppingStone Theatre for Youth Development
SteppingStone Theatre for Youth Development
SteppingStone Theatre for Youth Development is the largest performing theatre for youth in the greater Saint Paul area. Their Mainstage season, which runs annually from October to July, features six all youth cast productions, many written on commission by emerging local playwrights...
, Saint Paul, are leading youth theaters.
Weather
"Summer at the lake" is a Minnesota tradition. Water skiing
Water skiing
thumb|right|A slalom skier making a turn on a slalom waterski.Waterskiing is a sport where an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation on a body of water, skimming the surface.-History:...
was invented in Minnesota by Ralph Samuelson
Ralph Samuelson
Ralph Wilford Samuelson was the inventor of water skiing, which he first performed in the summer of 1922 in Lake City, Minnesota, just before his 19th birthday. Samuelson was already skilled at aquaplaning—standing on a board while being pulled by a powerboat—but he hoped to create something like...
, and the Minneapolis Aquatennial features a milk carton boat race. Contestants build boats from milk cartons
Carton
Carton is the name of certain types of containers typically made from paperboard which is also sometimes known as cardboard. Many types of cartons are used in packaging. Sometimes a carton is also called a box.-Folding cartons:...
and float them on Minneapolis area lakes, with recognition based more on colorful and imaginative designs than on actual racing performance.
To many outsiders, Minnesota's winters appear to be cold and inhospitable. Even among Minnesotans, a common expression is that there are only two seasons, Winter and Road Construction. This is due to long winters that damage road surfaces, and short summers in which a frenzy of repair work causes severe congestion. A World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
newscaster, in describing the brutally cold conditions of the Russian front, stated that at least Minnesotans could understand it. A New York journalist visited St. Paul and declared that the city was "another Siberia, unfit for human habitation." In response, the city decided to build a huge ice palace in 1886, similar to one that Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
had built in 1885. They hired the architects of the Canadian ice palace to design one for St. Paul, and built a palace 106 feet (32.3 m) high with ice blocks cut from a nearby lake. This began the tradition of the Saint Paul Winter Carnival
Saint Paul Winter Carnival
In 1885, a New York reporter wrote that Saint Paul was "another Siberia, unfit for human habitation" in winter. Offended by this attack on their Capital City, the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce decided to not only prove that Saint Paul was habitable but that its citizens were very much alive during...
, which spawned a legend with a mythical king, "King Boreas". Each winter, King Boreas declares a ten-day celebration with feasting, fun, and frolic, along with the "Queen of the Snows" and singer "Klondike Kate". Ice sculpture
Ice sculpture
Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative...
s are featured, and periodically ice palaces are built; one was the setting of St. Paul native F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
's story The Ice Palace, published in Flappers and Philosophers
Flappers and Philosophers
Flappers and Philosophers was the first collection of short stories written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1920. It includes eight stories:* "The Offshore Pirate"* "The Ice Palace"* "Head and Shoulders"* "The Cut-Glass Bowl"...
. On the tenth day of the festival, "Vulcanus Rex", the King of Fire, storms the castle with his Vulcan Krewe, compelling Boreas to relinquish winter's hold on the land until he returns again.
Popular culture
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
. The character of Marshall Eriksen from How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
is a Minnesota native and some of the show's episodes are located in Minnesota. The main characters of Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
's Big Time Rush
Big Time Rush
Big Time Rush is a Nickelodeon television series created by Scott Fellows about the Hollywood misadventures of four hockey players from Minnesota—Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos, after they are selected to form a boy band. The series premiered with an hour-long pilot episode, "Big Time...
are branded as "four hockey players from Minnesota." American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
held auditions for its sixth season in Minneapolis in 2006 and Last Comic Standing
Last Comic Standing
Last Comic Standing is an American reality television talent show that has aired from 2003 through 2010.The goal of the program is to select a comedian from a group, who will receive a development contract with the NBC network, and a television special first to air on the cable-TV network Comedy...
held auditions for its fifth season in Minneapolis in 2007. The winner of season 4 was Josh Blue
Josh Blue
Josh Blue is an American comedian. He was voted the Last Comic Standing on NBC's reality show Last Comic Standing during its fourth season, which aired May–August 2006...
, a St. Paul native. The actor winning the role of "Sandy" on the televised Grease: You're the One that I Want! competition was Laura Osnes
Laura Osnes
Laura Ann Osnes is an American stage actress, and the winner of the role of "Sandy" on the televised Grease: You're the One that I Want! competition. She played Sandy in the 2007 Broadway run of Grease, which opened August 19, 2007, starring alongside the other winner, Max Crumm, who played the...
, an Eagan
Eagan, Minnesota
Eagan is a city south of Saint Paul in Dakota County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies on the south bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from the confluence with the Mississippi River. Eagan and nearby suburbs form the southern portion of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the fifteenth largest...
native; she played Sandy in the 2007 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
run of Grease. A statue of Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...
downtown on the Nicollet Mall commemorates the 1970s television situation comedy Mary Tyler Moore
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
, awarded 3 Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
s and 31 Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s.
Minnesota's winters are the setting of several Hollywood films, including the ice fishing comedies of Grumpy Old Men
Grumpy Old Men (film)
Grumpy Old Men is a 1993 American romantic comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Ann-Margret, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ossie Davis, and Buck Henry. Directed by Donald Petrie, the screenplay was written by Mark Steven Johnson, who also wrote...
and Grumpier Old Men
Grumpier Old Men
Grumpier Old Men is a 1995 romantic comedy film, and a sequel to the 1993 film Grumpy Old Men. The film stars Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, and Sophia Loren, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ann Morgan Guilbert...
, set in Wabasha
Wabasha, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,599 people, 1,062 households, and 665 families residing in the city. The population density was 318.4 people per square mile . There were 1,166 housing units at an average density of 142.9 per square mile...
and filmed in the state.
The Coen Brothers
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
' 1996 film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
Fargo
Fargo (film)
Fargo is a 1996 American dark comedy-crime film produced, directed and written by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Frances McDormand as a pregnant police chief who investigates a series of homicides, William H...
also features the backdrop of a Minnesota winter, but like most of the characters in the movie, the climate is portrayed as bleak and inhospitable.
Another Coen Brothers' film, 2009's A Serious Man
A Serious Man
A Serious Man is a 2009 dark comedy written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film stars Michael Stuhlbarg as a Minnesota Jewish man whose life crumbles both professionally and personally, leading to questions about his faith...
is set in their hometown of St. Louis Park
St. Louis Park, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 44,126 people, 20,782 households, and 10,557 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,122.5 persons per square mile . There were 21,140 housing units at an average density of 1,975.0 per square mile...
.
Although never directly stated, it is implied that the 2007 film Juno
Juno (film)
Juno is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Ellen Page stars as the title character, an independent-minded teenager confronting an unplanned pregnancy and the subsequent events that put pressures of adult life onto her. Michael Cera, Olivia Thirlby, J. K....
takes place in Minnesota. The character of Juno presumably lives in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul as she regularly takes trips to visit the adoptive parents of her unborn child in the nearby city of St. Cloud. The title character also makes a direct reference to the Ridgedale Center
Ridgedale Center
Ridgedale Center is a large regional shopping mall in Minnetonka, Minnesota a western suburb of the Twin Cities. Built in 1974, it is owned and operated by General Growth Properties and anchored by JCPenney, Macy's Women's and Childrens, Macy's Men's and Home, and Sears. Ridgedale Center was...
, a popular mall in Minnetonka
Minnetonka, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 51,301 people, 21,393 households, and 14,097 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,893.0 persons per square mile . There were 22,228 housing units at an average density of 818.9 per square mile...
. Although none of the characters in the movie speak with a "Minnesotan" accent
North Central American English
North–Central American English is used to refer to a dialect of American English. The region is also known as Upper Midwest among some linguists. It is also sometimes called the Minnesota Accent or Great Lakes Accent. It is widely spoken in the Upper Midwest and the northern portion of the...
, the vehicles in the film clearly have Minnesota state plates.
Summer resorts on Minnesota's "10,000 lakes" may prefer to emphasize warm-season activities, but from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 28, 1964 on the ABC and NBC television networks...
's Frostbite Falls, Minnesota to Fargo, the popular image of the state's climate is defined more by the state's winters than by its other three seasons.
The small town of Walnut Grove
Walnut Grove, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 599 people, 291 households, and 178 families residing in the city. The population density was 577.7 people per square mile . There were 341 housing units at an average density of 328.9 per square mile...
is the setting for Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of books based on her childhood in a pioneer family...
's book On the Banks of Plum Creek
On the Banks of Plum Creek
On the Banks of Plum Creek is a children's book written in 1937 by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The fourth of nine books written in her Little House series, it is based on Laura's childhood at Plum Creek near Walnut Grove, Minnesota in late 19th Century....
and the loosely based TV series Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...
.
Television series The Big C starring Laura Linney
Laura Linney
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...
is set in Minnesota.
Fandom
The Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area is the long-standing home of several fandomFandom
Fandom is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest...
organizations such as SF Minnesota
SF Minnesota
SF Minnesota is a nonprofit organization dedicated to speculative fiction education. Founded in February 1992 in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, it describes itself as "a multicultural, multimedia organization...
, MISFITS
MISFITS
MiSFiTS was the acronym for the Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy. This organization has now changed its name to GPS, an acronym for Geek Partnership Society. It was founded in 1999 and was the parent non-profit organization for the CONvergence speculative fiction...
, and Mnstf who annually hold Diversicon
Diversicon
Diversicon is an annual speculative fiction convention held the first weekend of August in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, area. Diversicon provides programming and social opportunities to encourage the multicultural, multimedia exploration and celebration of SF by those within and outside...
, CONvergence
Convergence
-Mathematics:* Convergence , refers to the notion that some functions and sequences approach a limit under certain conditions* Convergence , the notion that a sequence of transformations come to the same conclusion, no matter what order they are performed in.-Natural sciences:*Convergence ,...
, and Minicon
Minicon
Minicon is a science fiction and fantasy convention in Minneapolis usually held on Easter weekend. Started in 1968 and running approximately annually since then, it is one of the oldest science fiction conventions in the midwest United States...
, respectively. These are each large gatherings of fans interested in science, speculative, and fantasy fiction; panels are held where authors, publishers, and scientists interact with readers, viewers, and fans of filk music
Filk music
Filk is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction/fantasy fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has been active since the early 1950s, and played primarily since the mid-1970s. The term predates 1955.-Definitions:As the Interfilk What Is Filk page demonstrates, there is...
with the goal of increasing enlightenment of the topics discussed.