Art Sled Rally!

A winter variety of the Minnesota mosquito

The Powderhorn neighborhood of Minneapolis really knows how to do it up right when it comes to community art events. They are home to the May Day Parade, the Empty Bowls fundraiser, the Powderhorn Arts Fair and, for the 4th year running, the Art Sled Rally! I think that exclamation point is required, but I would have put it there anyway.

You might want to click this photo to make it bigger. The guy's face is so happy!

I think that is his kid in the castle.

Thanks to Jerri, Paul and I found out about the rally this year and had a great time with Jerri, Mark, Zoe and a slew of other friends we bumped into at this fun outdoor party.

I was especially glad to have found out about the rally because I was feeling a hole in the heart of my Minnesota winter where the Art Shanties used to reside. We've really enjoyed our past visits to the shanties (art shanty posts here, here and here) and look forward to future years of the project. It was great to find out about another creative and playful winter event. The turnout to this outdoor event in the dead of winter made me feel quite proud of my fellow Minnesotans.

The event was 3 hours long, so there were many sleds we didn't get to see. The range of materials, concepts and effectiveness was thoroughly amusing. I also appreciated that safety did NOT come first. This sled emitted fire out of the back of it!

The part of the hill that we were on was not too steep, but just past us, it was became really steep. The sleds went down that section fast and furiously. Very few sleds made it down the hill without a crash and/or partial destruction. In fact, we watched a Canadian goose sled get decapitated. The head was knocked clean off in a collision with a hay bale.

Snow plows do not make for effective sleds! Luckily there were lots of volunteers along the hill to help people get moving, back on course or to alert onlookers to the impending danger of a sled about to crash into the barriers.

The London Bridge was quite a spectacle and, from what I saw, did not fall down! It did need a good bit of help to stay on the straight and narrow. All of the sleds had people in them and some of the people were hard to spot. In this sled, the towers on either side of the bridge house skiers...brave, brave skiers!

After the sleds made their journey down the hill, they were displayed in a viewing area for all to behold. Unfortunately, our feet became blocks of ice before all of the sleds went down the hill, so we headed to a coffee shop for a hot beverage. This photographer has posted a huge assortment of pictures if you'd like to see more of the sleds.