Let’s have some fun.
Artists have flocked to central Minnesota for decades to train with celebrated locals, get inspired by the rich, ever-changing landscape, and enjoy space and tranquility to dive deep into their medium. As a result, Greater St. Cloud has become home base for many talented individuals who frequently share their work in galleries, fairs, colleges and coffee shops around the community.
In warmer months, musicians and music lovers enjoy weekly outdoor concerts at Summertime By George, an award-winning event in downtown St. Cloud that regularly draws crowds upwards of 5,000 people, and Wood-fired Wednesdays, which serve up made-from-scratch pizza and live music in a picturesque barnyard setting. Annual festivals such as Common Roots, MN Bluegrass Festival, Joetown Rocks and FireFest Country Music Festival are always a summer highlight, while Pioneer Place on Fifth, Jules’ Bistro and The Local Blend host local and regional acts year-round. Recently, Waite Park opened The Ledge, an amphitheater built to hold large-scale shows.
Prepare to be ‘wowed’ by locals partaking in GREAT Theatre and visiting performers stopping at Paramount Center for the Arts and Fine Arts Programming. Stroll through the Historic Downtown St. Cloud Art Crawl multiple times per year or the annual Millstream Arts Festival, where popular artists such as Mary Bruno and Joel Cherrico can be found working their booths and conversing with attendees. Just down the road at St. John’s University resides Richard Bresnahan, who leads the annual firing of the Johanna Kiln, the largest wood-burning kiln of its kind in North America.
Color and vibrancy fill the city every September for St. Cloud Pride. Movie buffs from around the world devour films for days on end at the Saint Cloud Film Festival every November. Thousands of craft beer and cider connoisseurs sip from small glasses at the Craft Beer Tour every January and Ciderfest every September. County fairs, city-wide celebrations and philanthropic fundraisers fill the days in between.