Minneapolis from the River

I recently had the opportunity to spend a full day on the Mississippi River as it meanders through Minneapolis. I toured the waterfront by boat above St. Anthony Falls in the morning (from the downtown Minneapolis Central Riverfront to the Upper Harbor), and spent the afternoon below the Falls in the lower gorge. Activities on and along the river as it passes through Minneapolis remain a series of somewhat isolated hidden gems - with rare exception, we haven’t yet placed the river at the center of our civic life and identity, nor have we fully connected the dots on how it functions as a whole system of experiences. Can we design new ways to bring the river into our lives, and make access to it easier for urban dwellers? Or will we continue to perceive and experience the Mississippi as an edge… a formerly industrial blue frontier accessible to those adventurers who seek it out, but lying just outside the awareness of most citizens and visitors? My advice: Get on a boat. You’ll discover the potential for night docking at the Sample Room for dinner, or see day-trippers sunbathing on the hidden beach near the Lake Street Bridge. It’s not entirely clear to visitors or even residents how to engage with the Mississippi River, but as the St. Anthony Falls Lock in downtown Minneapolis moves ever closer to reuse and redevelopment (pending the US Army Corps of Engineers’ recommendations), and as Water Works Park gets underway, the potential grows for a real center of gravity for people-river relations. A desire for greater access to watercraft beyond kayaks and canoes may soon take hold, and is already evident in the new Minneapolis Water Taxi that is plying the waters of the upper river this summer out of Boom Island. The Lock, which until 2015 enabled barges to traverse the 49-foot elevation change between the river above the Falls and below, is a unique asset in the context of a return to the River. The site is already on the radar of the National Park Service, who provides tours of the Lock, and Meet Minneapolis, the convention and visitor association. Both see it as a desirable location for visitor services and programming in the heart of downtown. Over the coming years, we may have a generational opportunity to place one of the world’s great rivers at the center of our urban experience and identity, situating Minneapolis squarely in public consciousness as a great waterfront city. (Kjersti Monson is managing an initiative of Friends of the Lock & Dam to repurpose the St. Anthony Falls Lock to a world class visitor and interpretive center seamlessly integrated with Water Works Park)