2015 Hamline Midway Spring Festival planned June 16

By KYLE MIANULLI

Gather your friends and family and join your community for the Hamline Midway Spring Festival Tues., June 16, 4-8:30pm in the fields behind Hancock Recreation Center and Hamline Elementary, 1599 Englewood Ave.

Come explore and enjoy all that makes Hamline Midway such a vibrant and thriving urban community. Fun and festivities for all ages and interests will abound. The event is free and open to the public. Explore, discover and connect with more than 60 exhibitors at the Community Expo, including area businesses, nonprofits, schools, artists, neighborhood groups and more.

There will be three opportunities for you to do some good deeds at the festival:

—bring a non-perishable food item to donate to the food shelf with the Franciscan Brothers of Peace;

—scrounge up your old electronics to donate with Tech Dump; and

—drop off your old shoes for Shoe-Away Hunger.

Whether you bring one or all three, you’ll get a voucher for a free hot dog donated by Clayton Howatt of Verus Builders, LLC.

Music

The main stage will be alive with music all evening. Ashley DuBose will headline the performances from 7:30-8:30pm. A St. Paul native, DuBose gained national recognition as a contestant on NBC’s The Voice in 2013. She has since gone on to build a local and national following and continues to bring her image-positive R&B, funk and jazz stylings to fans.

Other performances will include:

—the Irish Music Group Tipper Road, known for bringing new life to traditional songs from the Emerald Isle;

—the award-winning Americana powerhouses Urban Hillbilly Quartet;

—African drumming and dance from Babatunde Lea;

—the neighborhood all-star jazz and Brazilian duo Mira and Tom Kehoe with Maliya Gorman Carter Juggling and performing;

—spoken word and performing artists with the CANVAS Teen Arts Center, and more.

Acoustic blues-folk singer and guitarist Daniel Rumsey and the Arborators will also be roaming the festival grounds with even more music to enliven your evening.

Food

Bring your appetites and sample the traditional Spanish cuisine of A La Plancha food truck. Seasonal and fresh ingredients are the backbone of the fair from this truck. Just look for the orange truck featuring a picture of a Mexican Wrestler, or “Luchador.” With vegetarian, as well as meat-eater options, A La Plancha will satisfy all appetites.

Fry Mama’s Fry Bread—the only food truck owned and run by Midway residents—brings a delicious twist to traditional native fry bread. With both sweet and savory options, you’ll have a choice of delicious toppings to adorn your fluffy flying saucer of fry bread. Owned by Barbara Ritt, former proprietor of Cookie’s by Barbara on Snelling Ave., Fry Mama’s Fry Bread bridges the old world with the new in a delicious fusion of Midway and Native pride.

Urban Farm & Homestead Fair

Whether you tend a plot at a community garden, keep a window box of herbs, or are just looking for new ways to bring the best of the country to your own urban oasis, you’ll find tons of resources and information at the Urban Farm and Homestead Fair.

Plant some seeds and watch them grow with the North Country Food Alliance. The University of Minnesota Bee Squad will be on hand with information about pollinators and what you can do to help make the Midway a “pollinator paradise.” Learn everything you need to know to start your backyard chicken coop with resources and supplies from Eggplant Urban Farm supply, who will bring a couple of their feathery friends for you to meet. You can also bring a soil sample to have tested by the University of Minnesota Soils Lab.

Catch up with all that’s happening at the urban farmstead over at Frogtown Farm. Ramsey County Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer all your home gardening questions. The Midway Green Spirit Community Garden will also be present with tips and tricks and to share what’s up this year at the garden. Are you trying to reduce your waste? Try your hand at the Zero Waste Sorting game from Eureka Recycling!

Kids Activities

The parents of our two community schools, Hamline Elementary, and Galtier Community School, have teamed up to host enough kid-friendly activities, crafts and games to keep every member of the family busy and creative. From arts and crafts, to face painting, lawn games and more, everyone is likely to leave with at least some glitter in their hair and big smiles on their faces. Get your bounce on in the bouncy house, provided by St. Paul Parks and Recreation, or test your mettle on the Climbing Tower and grab a glimpse of the community festivities from on high.

Issues & Opportunities Forum

Hamline Midway is full of passionate, informed and hard-working people who want to see our community and city thrive. What better way to discuss the issues that matter to you, and the opportunities to address them right here in our community, than in an outdoor living room. This space is specially designed to be conducive to passionate and constructive dialog focused on solutions and education.

Pull up a seat and hear what’s happening to alleviate the risk associated with train cars carrying Bakken Oil through our communities. Learn about the work being done to advocate for high-speed fiber optic internet as a public good in the city with Connect St. Paul. Connect with the Hamline Midway Environmental Group, and learn about the exciting environmental initiatives they have underway in the neighborhood. Learn more about the Hamline Midway Neighbors for Peace, and the Midway Progressive Women’s Network, as well.

Movie Theater Showings

If you’re looking to take a break and cool down during the festivities, hop inside the Hancock Rec. Center gym and pull up a seat for select neighborhood documentaries by Hamline University Students in David Davies’ Visual Anthropology Class.

And then, at 8:30pm, unwind with a special movie theater showing of the hit movie, “Paddington.” which will play on the Parks and Recreation Movie Theater Screen in the gym.

Bake Sale

After you fill up on dinner from one of the delicious food trucks, head to the Hamline Midway Community Bake Sale. Expert home-bakers, as well as area businesses,  will have a wide variety of delectable sweets for sale. Gluten-free, or gluten-full—there will be baked goods for all! Proceeds will be donated to a fund for next year’s festival and to support various neighborhood initiatives and programs.

Our Sponsors and Partners Make this Event Possible

This year’s Hamline Midway Spring Festival is made possible entirely by the generosity of our sponsors and the dedication of our partner organizations. Special thanks go to our major sponsors Hamline University and the Turf Club. The partnership of St. Paul Parks and Recreation and the CANVAS Teen Arts Center in organizing and producing this event has been integral to the scale and success of the planning process, as well.

This event would also not be possible without our Neighborhood Supporter sponsors: Neighbor Works, Greg’s PC Repair, the Melo Family: Mim, Fred & Baby Zoe, Chuddwerks, Verus Builders, LLC, The Friends School of Minnesota, Hamline Elementary, Galtier Community School, Tech Dump, Lloyd’s Pharmacy and the UPS Store.