For Immediate Release

Minneapolis (Sept. 20, 2023) – From its award-winning airport to its neighborhoods unique as their names, Minneapolis continues to offer new and noteworthy spots for travelers to add to their itineraries (thereby ensuring return visits, because we’re clever that way). Here is some of the latest news from the City by Nature.

Airport and Air Service

• Just announced, Lufthansa will bring a new international connection to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) with the launch of its first-ever service to the airport beginning June 4, 2024. With the year-round nonstop between MSP and Frankfurt, Germany, five days a week, the German airline will become the 18th at MSP.
  
• Aer Lingus will resume year-round service between MSP and Dublin beginning April 29, 2024, and run four days per week.
  
• Delta Air Lines plans to offer nonstop service from MSP to Dublin
  starting on May 9, 2024, with five flights per week. This, along with the Aer Lingus flights, will return MSP’s air service to international destinations to pre-pandemic levels.
  
• Nationally known celebrity and local chef Justin Sutherland’s takes on southern classics opened recently on MSP's mall at Terminal 1. Northern Soul features a fried chicken sandwich plus offerings like wings, brisket and seafood also are available in downtown Minneapolis at the Nicollet Mall location.
  

Attractions and Arts

• Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis will kick off its five-month celebration of winter with the expansion of its rooftop Nordic Village that includes special offers on hotel rooms and suites, guided sauna experiences through The Spa, seasonal shopping and holiday happenings at its restaurant, Mara. Offering a Minnesota cabin experience in the middle of the city, Nordic Village is expanding the number and size of heated, cozy cabins that will be open for dinners, private events and buyouts from Nov. 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024.
  
• Many Voices, Many Stories, One Place, a new exhibit at Historic Fort Snelling's Plank Museum & Visitor Center, where visitors to the fort can experience it as a place to remember, reflect and honor the past, through the perspectives of real people, whose voices shaped Fort Snelling, including Dakota and Ojibwe people, Japanese-Americans, immigrants, enslaved African American people, soldiers and fur traders.
  
• Venture Bikes, the only Black-owned bike shop in Minnesota, now is offering a coffee shop with mechanic services for bicyclists year-round in its new Midtown Greenway location. Venture's coffee comes from Tiny Footprint Coffee, the carbon-negative roastery, and has snacks and house-made sodas (find the full menu here).
  
• ConFluence: A Cultured Multiverse, a “space for art and connection for BIPOC nerds,” will take place on Nov. 18 and 19 at Public Functionary, a multi-space exhibition, performance, studio and community cultural hub within Northeast Minneapolis’ Northrup King Building. The two-day celebration of art, sci-fi, futurisms and fantasy is centered on content by and for Black people, Indigenous people and People of Color, with everyone welcome to attend regardless of identity.
  
• “Ball-o-rama” opened Sept. 16 in Minnesota Children’s Museum, in the Special Exhibit Gallery. Visitors learn about early physics concepts through 10 interactive, hands-on stations. By questioning, analyzing and testing, kids explore velocity, gravity, friction and more by sending balls on a looping, rolling race to the finish.
  
• A new adults-only mini golf venue opened recently in downtown.
  Puttery Minneapolis, features over 20,000 square feet with three, nine-hole themed courses, three bars and several lounge areas. Guests can drink craft cocktails and order from a chef-inspired culinary menu while they golf in either the art museum, conservatory or library themed courses.
  
  

Dining and Bars

• North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NĀTIFS) announced its acquisition of the James Beard Best Restaurant Award-winning Owamni. Through this acquisition, NATIFS will expand its reach and impact, furthering Chef Sean Sherman's vision to promote Indigenous culinary heritage and commitment to reclaim Indigenous food sovereignty and transform North American Indigenous food systems. Earlier in 2023, NĀTIFS’ Indigenous Food Lab Market, a professional Indigenous kitchen and training center located in the Midtown Global Market on Lake Street in Minneapolis, opened with grab-and-go and made-to-order Indigenous food.
  
• Porzana, Chef Daniel del Prado’s new Argentinian steakhouse, opened Aug. 20 in the North Loop space, while cocktail bar Flora Room will reside in the basement. Porzana's menu features woodfired meats like prime beef and wagyu beef, including a shareable three-pound wagyu tomahawk, as well as pastas, small plates, vegetarian options and Argentinian dishes with Italian influences.
  
• Union Hmong Kitchen’s chef Yia Vang has opened a second location on Minneapolis’ Lake Street. The new spot will offer a similar menu along with new specials, platters and desserts by the James Beard Award-nominated chef.
  
• Sanjusan: James Beard Award-winning chef Tim McKee is taking up residency the popular Japanese-Italian restaurant in Minneapolis' North Loop. In addition to collaborating with Sanjusan chef Peter Thillen on new menu items, McKee will host intimate eight-seat omakase dinners through mid-December.
  
• Baba's Hummus House & Mana'eesh Bakery’s hummus bowls became popular at the Minnesota State Fair. Now, they can be enjoyed year-round in a new Lyndale Avenue café featuring an expanded menu with dishes such as spinach tabbouleh and falafel sandwich inspired by the owners’ Palestinian heritage.
• Goorgoorlu chef Mo Kebbeh is serving Gambian dishes like chereh couscous, shawarma with fries and fragrant lamb afra with grilled onions alongside American cuisine like catfish, chicken tenders and Philly cheesesteaks on Minneapolis’ Broadway Avenue.

There’s always something new happening. To keep tabs on it all, from How to Spend a Fall Weekend in Minneapolis to how to support our Minneapolis Black community, visit Meet Minneapolis.

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ABOUT MEET MINNEAPOLIS
Meet Minneapolis is a private, not-for-profit, member-based association. It actively promotes and sells the Minneapolis area as a destination for conventions and meetings, works to maximize the visitor experience and markets the city as a desirable tourist destination to positively impact the economic and social prosperity of the Minneapolis community. Meet Minneapolis is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) of Destinations International.

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MEDIA CONTACTS
Kristen Montag, Meet Minneapolis Senior PR and Communications Manager, 612-767-8038, KristenM@minneapolis.org (primary)

Kevin Kurtt, Meet Minneapolis PR and Communications Manager, 612-767-8118, KevinK@minneapolis.org