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Your last-week-of-September Twin Cities weekend guide: Open Streets Lyndale, Powderhorn Porchfest, Chroma Zone murals in St. Paul, Lynx clinch the WNBA No. 1 seed, Twins vs. Rangers at Target Field, Godot at the Guthrie, and new eats at Mall of America's Culinary on North.
It's the last full week of September in the Twin Cities and the calendar is stacked. George and Laura run down the weekend — street festivals, porch music, murals, ballgames, brunch, and a big-picture look at cannabis and community investment.
In this episode:
Sources:
Subscribe: mplsvegan.com
George: —and I'm telling you, Laura, the light on the Stone Arch this morning was UNREAL.
Laura: George, every morning the light on the Stone Arch is unreal to you.
George: Okay, fair.
Laura: You'd stop mid-jog for a sunrise on a parking ramp.
George: I have. I absolutely have.
Laura: I know you have.
George: But this one had that... you know that gold September thing? Where it's not summer light anymore, it's got a little edge on it?
Laura: Yeah. That's the good stuff. That's the "run don't walk to the patio" light.
George: Exactly. Which — hi, everybody, welcome back. It's the last full week of September in the Cities and it is GORGEOUS out.
Laura: Genuinely gorgeous. Like, don't-waste-it gorgeous.
George: Highs mid-seventies, cool nights, that little crisp thing in the morning.
Laura: The kind of week where if you don't have plans by Wednesday, you're doing it wrong.
George: Okay so let's fix that for people. Let's talk weekend.
Laura: Let's talk weekend.
George: Because there is a LOT going on, and I want to actually be useful for once.
Laura: Oh, a useful episode. New format.
George: Rude.
Laura: Deserved.
George: Alright, first thing — Open Streets Lyndale is Saturday.
Laura: Yes. Yes yes yes.
George: Eleven to five, they close a big stretch of Lyndale Ave, vendors, music, kids' zone, the whole deal.
Laura: That one is my favorite of these. Lyndale hits different when the cars are gone.
George: Doesn't it? You realize how wide the street actually is.
Laura: And how many little businesses you drive past without ever stopping.
George: Right! You're always at forty going, "I should check that place out sometime."
Laura: And "sometime" is Saturday.
George: Sometime is Saturday.
Laura: I'm gonna walk the whole thing. I always say I'll bike it and then I don't.
George: Bike it! It's flat! It's Lyndale!
Laura: George, I know it's flat, I grew up on it.
George: Ope. Sorry. Mansplaining Lyndale.
Laura: Mansplaining Lyndale to a South Minneapolis kid. Bold move.
George: Genuinely, my bad.
Laura: You're forgiven. Barely.
George: Okay — also Saturday, Powderhorn Porchfest is actually Friday, four to ten.
Laura: Wait, Friday?
George: Friday night. Seventeenth Ave between 32nd and 34th.
Laura: Ohhh. Okay. So you do porchfest, then you sleep, then you do Open Streets.
George: That's the itinerary.
Laura: For folks who haven't done a Porchfest — it's exactly what it sounds like. Bands, on porches. You walk the block.
George: It's such a Minneapolis thing.
Laura: It really is. Like, "let's just do music on the porch and everybody comes." And people DO come.
George: And nobody's trying to sell you anything. It's just... neighbors.
Laura: Do you think that's a Minnesota thing, though? Or is it just a neighborhood thing?
George: Uh. Genuinely don't know. I've never lived anywhere else.
Laura: Same. So we're both useless on that one.
George: We are deeply provincial and we're okay with it.
Laura: Skol.
George: Skol.
Laura: Okay what else.
George: Over in St. Paul — Chroma Zone. The mural festival.
Laura: In the Creative Enterprise Zone, right? Raymond and University area?
George: Yeah. It's been going since the 17th and it wraps up the 27th, so this weekend's the closing push.
Laura: Which means live painting. Which is the best part.
George: The best part. Watching somebody put up a two-story mural in real time is just... unreal.
Laura: It's meditative! You just stand there with a coffee going, "how."
George: "How." Yeah.
Laura: There's studios open too, right? Like a crawl?
George: Studio crawl stops, yeah. So you can pop in and out.
Laura: Perfect fall Saturday.
George: And speaking of coffee — if you're over there, you're not that far from J. Selby's.
Laura: There it is. There's the plug.
George: I mean, come on. St. Paul. Vegan. Do the mural thing, get a Twin Cheese, live your best life.
Laura: The Twin Cheese is genuinely one of the best sandwiches in the metro. I don't care that it's plant-based, I don't care about any of that, it's just GOOD.
George: That's the thing. It's not a lecture, it's a sandwich.
Laura: It's a sandwich.
George: Which is a good segue actually — food segment.
Laura: Food segment.
George: Because there's been some little movement on the food scene worth flagging.
Laura: Hit me.
George: So — Sweetgreen opened its fifth Twin Cities spot earlier this month.
Laura: In the Mall.
George: In the Mall. That new food hall — Culinary on North.
Laura: Which, honestly, is a nice food hall. Whether or not you're a Sweetgreen person.
George: Are you a Sweetgreen person?
Laura: I am a "it's fine and it's fast" person.
George: That's a review.
Laura: Put it on the window.
George: The other one — Bar Eloise is starting Sunday brunch late this month.
Laura: Oh interesting.
George: I don't have a firm date on the first Sunday, but it's happening this month.
Laura: Okay noted. Adding it to the list.
George: The list keeps growing, doesn't it.
Laura: The list NEVER shrinks. That's the thing about the Cities. You cross one off, three new ones show up.
George: It's a good problem.
Laura: It's a spendy problem.
George: It's a very spendy problem.
Laura: But since we're on food — can I do my vegan pitch real quick?
George: Please.
Laura: Okay because we get asked this constantly. "Where do I take my vegan friend who's visiting?"
George: Every week.
Laura: So — J. Selby's in St. Paul, we said. Herbivorous Butcher in Northeast for the deli thing.
George: The best.
Laura: Reverie in South. Trio Plant-Based. Hello Pizza if you want pizza.
George: The Herbalist. Hard Times if you want the vibes.
Laura: Hard Times has a VIBE.
George: Hard Times has ALL the vibes. It's got vibes it hasn't invented yet.
Laura: It's got surplus vibes.
George: And this is all on mplsvegan.com, by the way. Which is one of our sponsors and also just genuinely useful.
Laura: Genuinely useful. Like, before we ever partnered with them I was on that site all the time.
George: Same. It's a real map. It's not a listicle from 2019.
Laura: Which... a lot of vegan guides are.
George: A LOT of them are.
Laura: So — mplsvegan.com. Bookmark it, use it.
George: Send it to your visiting friend.
Laura: Or your visiting sister-in-law who "just started eating plant-based," you know that person.
George: I AM that person for my family.
Laura: You are! Oh my god you ARE.
George: They text me like I'm a search engine.
Laura: "George, my coworker is vegan, where do I—"
George: "—where do I take her for lunch." Yeah. Every time.
Laura: And now you can just send them the link and be free.
George: And be free. Uff da, the freedom.
Laura: Alright — sports. Can we do sports for a sec?
George: Please. Because I have FEELINGS about the Lynx.
Laura: I KNEW you did.
George: Number one seed. Home court all the way through.
Laura: The best team in the league.
George: Round one starts Sunday at Target Center.
Laura: Which — if you can get in, get in.
George: If you can get in, GET IN. Because this team has a chance to do something historic.
Laura: They've had a chance to do something historic all year, honestly.
George: All year. And they've just kept... doing it.
Laura: They've been steady. That's the thing that impresses me. Not flashy, just steady.
George: Minnesota nice, championship edition.
Laura: Don't you dare.
George: Too much?
Laura: A little much.
George: Okay, retracting.
Laura: Twins are home Thursday too, right?
George: Twins vs. Rangers, Thursday, 7:10. Final homestand of the year.
Laura: Which is bittersweet. Even in a rough year, that last homestand hits you.
George: It really does. It's the end of something.
Laura: The stadium empties out and it's like... okay, winter's coming.
George: Winter's coming. But we've got a few good weeks yet.
Laura: A few good weeks. Get outside.
George: Which — farmer's markets are still going, by the way.
Laura: Yes! Mill City's still open Saturdays.
George: Mill City, 8 to 1, right by the Guthrie and the Mill Ruins.
Laura: One of the great Saturday mornings in this city.
George: One of the great Saturday mornings, period.
Laura: And Midtown, Kingfield, Northeast, the Nicollet Mall one on Thursdays — all still running.
George: Late September is actually one of the BEST market times.
Laura: The apples show up.
George: The apples show up. The squash starts showing up.
Laura: The last of the tomatoes are still hanging on if you're lucky.
George: I got a last-of-season tomato last weekend that was the size of my face.
Laura: George.
George: I'm not exaggerating!
Laura: You always exaggerate.
George: This one time I'm not.
Laura: Sure.
George: Fine. Size of my fist. Fair.
Laura: Thank you.
George: Okay — Guthrie has "Waiting for Godot" running right now.
Laura: Which — big deal casting on that.
George: David Strathairn. First time on the Guthrie stage in fifty years.
Laura: FIFTY years.
George: Fifty.
Laura: That's wild.
George: It's running through mid-October, so you've got time, but I would not sleep on it.
Laura: I need to see it.
George: Have you ever seen Godot?
Laura: George, I was a theater kid, of course I've seen Godot.
George: I was NOT a theater kid.
Laura: I know you weren't.
George: I don't think I've ever seen it, actually.
Laura: George!
George: I know! I know.
Laura: Homework. Homework for you.
George: Homework for me.
Laura: Okay, and music — First Ave, Saturday, BERTHA: Grateful Drag.
George: The name alone.
Laura: The name is the pitch.
George: Grateful Dead songs, drag show, First Avenue. It's SO Minneapolis.
Laura: It's SO Minneapolis. Only here.
George: And Varsity's got shows tonight and tomorrow. Hail the Sun tonight, Holding Absence tomorrow.
Laura: I don't know either of those bands, if I'm being real.
George: Same. But if that's your thing, they're there.
Laura: "If that's your thing, they're there." Cool endorsement.
George: I'm just being honest!
Laura: I respect the honesty.
George: Okay — cannabis corner.
Laura: Cannabis corner.
George: So this is kind of a big moment, actually. Minnesota's legal adult-use market just turned one.
Laura: A whole year!
George: A whole year. And the numbers are... they're real.
Laura: Hit me.
George: 369 licensed cannabis businesses across the state.
Laura: Statewide.
George: Over 230 active dispensaries, in more than 120 cities.
Laura: In a hundred and twenty cities. That's not just the Cities.
George: That's the whole state. Up north, everywhere.
Laura: That's a real rollout.
George: And here's the part I actually love — almost 75 percent of the cultivation licenses are microbusinesses.
Laura: Really?
George: Really. And 43 percent of the licensees are social equity applicants.
Laura: Okay THAT is the number that matters.
George: That's the number.
Laura: Because that was the promise, right? That was the deal. That this wouldn't just be big corporate weed rolling into Minnesota.
George: Right. And so far, the state's actually holding to it.
Laura: I'm not gonna say "I'll believe it when I see it" because the numbers are the seeing.
George: The numbers ARE the seeing.
Laura: But I'll keep watching year two.
George: The OCM director had a line — Eric Taubel — he said, "If 2025 was about launching the market, 2026 is about market growth across the state."
Laura: Growth across the state. Which is what those numbers are showing.
George: Exactly.
Laura: So if you're a local — support the local shops.
George: Support the local shops. Wildflower in the North Loop.
Laura: Simply Crafted in Northeast.
George: Green Goods down in Bloomington.
Laura: Edina Canna if you're on that side of town.
George: And if you're more of a beverage person — Stigma THC Beverages.
Laura: Which is genuinely a great option if you're doing a patio thing and you don't wanna be day-drunk by three.
George: Yeah. It's a totally different vibe.
Laura: Totally different vibe.
George: And mncannabishub.com — our other sponsor — is basically the map for all of that.
Laura: It IS the map. Shops, product info, what's actually good.
George: What's actually good is the key part. Because if you walk into this cold you're gonna be overwhelmed.
Laura: You're gonna be VERY overwhelmed.
George: There's a lot of shelf now.
Laura: There's a LOT of shelf.
George: mncannabishub.com. Go check it out.
Laura: One more thing before we get out of here — I wanna flag a person, not an event.
George: Do it.
Laura: Houston White.
George: Oh, YES.
Laura: North Minneapolis. You know him from the menswear, from Get Down Coffee.
George: Serial entrepreneur, community guy.
Laura: He just got named creative director of the GroundBreak Coalition.
George: Which — for people who don't know — is the initiative aiming to direct five BILLION dollars in community investment by 2034.
Laura: Five billion. B.
George: To close Twin Cities racial wealth gaps. Launched after George Floyd's murder.
Laura: And they picked Houston to be the creative director.
George: Which is such a good pick. Because he actually builds things.
Laura: He actually builds things.
George: He's not a theory guy. He's a "here's a coffee shop, here's a clothing line, here's a block" guy.
Laura: Which is what that job needs.
George: That's the job.
Laura: I'm rooting for it hard.
George: Me too.
Laura: Okay — takeaway.
George: Takeaway.
Laura: If you do ONE thing this weekend, what is it?
George: Okay. Mine — Open Streets Lyndale, Saturday, walk it end to end, get lunch somewhere you've never been.
Laura: That's a good one.
George: What's yours?
Laura: Same day, different move. Mill City Farmers Market in the morning, then over to Chroma Zone in St. Paul in the afternoon for the last-weekend murals.
George: Oh that's a great day.
Laura: Right?
George: You get your market, you get your art, you cross a river.
Laura: You cross a river. That's a full Minneapolis-St. Paul Saturday.
George: That's the whole Cities in one day.
Laura: Between the two of us, we've booked people's whole weekends.
George: We really have.
Laura: You're welcome, Twin Cities.
George: You're welcome.
Laura: Okay — sponsors one more time, warmly.
George: Warmly. mplsvegan.com if you want the plant-based side of the Cities done right.
Laura: And mncannabishub.com for everything on the cannabis side — shops, products, what's actually worth your money.
George: Both of them are the real deal. We wouldn't be here otherwise.
Laura: We wouldn't.
George: Get outside this week. Seriously.
Laura: These days go fast. Don't spend the whole weekend on your couch.
George: The couch will be here in January.
Laura: The couch will be here FOREVER in January.
George: Forever in January.
Laura: Take the walk. Get the sandwich. Go see the mural.
George: Go watch the Lynx if you can get a ticket.
Laura: Go watch the Lynx.
George: We'll catch you next week, folks.
Laura: Catch you next time. Be good to each other.
George: Be good to each other. Bye now.
Laura: Bye.
Three times a week, the Twin Cities in 12 minutes. Real restaurants you should try, real local business news, real events worth your weekend. Sponsored by mplsveganhub.com and mncannabishub.com — for serious Minneapolis business owners, also brought to you by Quiet Coyote (quietcoyotemn.com).