Skip to content

🐾 Mid-June rundown: Plan to decommission Minnehaha Dog Park gaining momentum

Longfellow Whatever
— 8 min read
🐾 Mid-June rundown: Plan to decommission Minnehaha Dog Park gaining momentum

The Park Board will vote next week on whether to begin the process of "decommissioning" the popular Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park over concerns that it infringes on sacred Dakota land.

The proposal would convert the off-leash dog park to standard publicly-accessible parkland, where dogs would still be allowed but would be required to be leashed. The board's planning commission unanimously approved the proposal last week, and the full board will vote on it June 17.

Though it's reportedly been discussed between commissioners and members of the Park Board's Native American Advisory Council for the past year, word of the plan only began trickling out to the public in April. Supporters on the Park Board say it's in response to new information about the prevalence of burial grounds and other sensitive Indigenous history in the sprawling woods at the south end of Minnehaha Regional Park. At a presentation last month, archaeologists and officials hinted at new discoveries, but explained that the specifics are being held confidential under laws meant to deter unauthorized digging for graves and artifacts.

Some park users have begun organizing against the closure, emphasizing the uniqueness of the wooded floodplain among the region's dog parks, which are typically smaller and more open. The June 17 meeting is expected to be a contentious affair featuring more impassioned public comments from both supporters and opponents.

There have been recurring tensions over how to use and share the large forested area surrounding the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, which has deep Indigenous history and is currently divided among the Park Board, National Park Service, Minnesota Historical Society, Veterans Affairs, and Department of Natural Resources. Camp Coldwater Spring, also known by its Dakota name Mni Owe Sni, sits on the bluff above the dog park. It was used as a storage facility for the federal Bureau of Mines for much of the twentieth century, until the National Park Service took over the site in 2010 and restored the spring and surrounding prairie in partnership with several Indigenous tribes. It remains a frequent site of Native American gatherings and in 2023 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a "Traditional Cultural Place."

Camp Coldwater Spring, also known by its Dakota name Mni Owe Sni

Much of the area currently used as the dog park is outside of the Park Board's actual land, spilling out onto Coldwater Spring and Historical Society land. In 2024 the Board announced a controversial plan to install fencing that would limit the off-leash park to the Park Board's land, shrinking it significantly.

That fencing project hasn't yet happened, but may now be moot if the entire off-leash area is removed. The resolution directs the board to pursue opening another off-leash park elsewhere to offset the loss, though commissioners acknowledged it will be difficult to replicate the idyllic character of the riverside land.

The plan appears to have broad support from park board commissioners, including Kay Carvajal Moran, whose district includes Longfellow and the park. If passed, park staff would have until the end of the year to come up with a plan for the change. This will coincide with work on a new master plan for Minnehaha Park.

🏗️ MPS approves concept for Anishinabe Academy

On Tuesday the school board voted unanimously to proceed with design for the new Anishinabe Academy on the site of the former Cooper School. While the board won't vote on whether to actually build the project until the fall, Tuesday's vote formally endorses the most extensive construction option proposed for the site — demolishing the existing schoolhouse and replacing it with a K-8 school — and commits $2.3 million for detailed architectural planning. Two neighbors spoke in opposition to the plan at the meeting. The vote keeps the project on track for potentially opening in fall 2028.

🗳️ Speaking of Minneapolis Public Schools: Candidate filings for the 2026 school board election are in, and two people have filed to take over for outgoing Lori Norvell in District 5, which encompasses Longfellow. Becca Dryden is an organizer with the parent group Minneapolis Families for Public Schools, and has the endorsement of the Minneapolis DFL, the teachers' union, and progressive members of the Minneapolis city council and congressional delegation. Molly Chase is a nonprofit finance consultant who recently served on the board of Perpich Center for the Arts. Both candidates have students in MPS. It will be one of five school board seats on the ballot in November.

💸 The Greater Longfellow Neighborhood Relief Fund is hosting a rent relief fundraiser at the Hook and Ladder tonight (Thursday) from 6-10. The volunteer group of neighbors is still providing rent relief in the neighborhood even as many of the other mutual aid funds that cropped up during Operation Metro Surge have ended, and says that more help is needed to stave off mass evictions. The "Still on the Hook" event features music from Lucy Michelle and Jack Klatt, with appearances from the Singing Resistance. You can still donate to the fund here.

🏷️ The annual Longfellow Neighborhood Garage Sale is this weekend, Friday-Sunday. There are more than 125 sales registered throughout the neighborhood. You can check out the full listings here.

A few other sales are timed with the weekend. Time Bomb Vintage is holding a "nothing over $2" sale in the parking lot on Saturday from 9-4. Audrey Rose Vintage is hosting its annual AudreyRose Fest on Saturday and Sunday. Organizers of Longfellow's Buy Nothing groups are holding their annual Buy Nothing Boutique at Sanford Middle School on Saturday from 10-noon.

🎨 Speaking of neighborhood crawls: Artists can sign up to be part of the annual League of Longfellow Artists (LoLa) Art Crawl until June 27. The crawl will take place September 19-20.

⚽️ The World Cup, the most-watched event in the world, begins today. The Lake Street Council is hosting a series of watch parties in the vacant-lot-turned-soccer-field at 27th and Lake, where games will be projected onto a large screen all day from June 23-27. Arbeiter Brewing will host a beer garden on the site each day from 4-9.

Merlins Rest will show matches on a big screen for the duration of the Cup, and says the restaurant will be seated "pub style," meaning people sit wherever there is an open chair, even if it's at a table with people they don't know (yet). Galapagos, Habanero Grill, and Longfellow Grill are also planning to show games during open hours.

The quasi-park known as "El Nuevo Campo" at 27th and Lake

☕️ Ward 12 councilmember Aurin Chowdhury will host her monthly-ish "office hours" at Arya Coffee on Friday from 9-10:30. She typically posts the time and location of the office hours on her Instagram and Facebook pages.

🚊 The entire Blue Line LRT will close from June 29 to August 19 for track repairs and will be replaced by buses. The reconstruction of the Lake Street station, which was originally scheduled to begin this year, has been delayed at least a year after no design firms bid on the project. The Blue Line is scheduled to be closed again for most of next summer to finish the track work.

☕️ Wildflyer Coffee is hosting its annual Brewing Brighter Futures fundraiser on June 17 at Arbeiter Brewing. The nonprofit shop, which hires and trains homeless youth, relies on grants and donations for more than half of its revenue.