Minneapolis Axes the Holidazzle Festival, Rebrands as a Months-long Initiative

It appears the Holidazzle is gone for good. I'm so sad! The Minneapolis Holidazzle has been around since 1992, and now, the Minneapolis Downtown Council has officially axed it.

Minneapolis Holidazzle Struggled After COVID

The Holidazzle used to be this huge celebration that lasted 4 days, including a parade. I was a part of the parade one time, it was so fun!

But after COVID, they had a hard time getting the sponsors back and getting the event back to the popularity it once was, which is surprising to me. I went to the Holidazzle a couple of years ago, and it was super busy and a great time.

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But nevertheless, the downtown council has decided to get rid of the Holidazzle tradition...

They have decided to, instead, do a months-long initiative to try and get people to come to downtown Minneapolis in the wintertime. They're calling it Winterapolis.

Minneapolis Gets Rid of Holidazzle, Replaces it With Winterapolis

Winterapolis will take place from November through February and, as CBS writes, "events would include 'arts, culture, markets and activations citywide.'"

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The downtown council says:

By bringing together such partners such as arts organizations, cultural institutions, hospitality venues, retailers, city parks, and others, Winterapolis will showcase winter in Downtown Minneapolis as a full season of vibrancy rather than a single event.

Will Winterapolis actually be more successful than the Holidazzle? Only time will tell, but I know for a fact people are upset about them getting rid of the Holidazzle. Couldn't they have kept the Holidazzle, or some form of it, and lumped it into this Winterapolis idea? Have maybe a mini Holidazzle plus some of these new events?

The Minneapolis Aquatennial May be Going Away, Too

The council is also discussing the future of the Minneapolis Aquatennial, which has been going on since the 1930s. If they get rid of the Aquatennial, too, I'll be really upset. I have great memories from both events, you can't take both of them away!