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MPR, Walker pull the plug on 'Rock the Garden' music festival

In a letter to supporters, MPR President Duchesne Drew said the 2022 festival was the final installment, and vowed to dream up something "new and exciting."

ST PAUL, Minn. — Editor's note: The video above first aired on May 28, 2021.

A familiar event on the Twin Cities musical landscape is no more, after MPR and Walker Art Center announced Wednesday that their long-running Rock the Garden festival will not return in 2023.

MPR President Duchesne Drew and Walker Executive Director Mary Ceruti made the announcement in a joint statement, saying the 2022 festival held in June (featuring Sleater-Kinney and Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats) would be the final installment. 

“Rock the Garden has always been focused on bringing people together through music," read the statement from Ceruti and Drew. "We are grateful to go out on a high note as a team. This is now a fresh opportunity to conjure up new ways to serve ambitions that drive each institution in new ways.”

In a separate letter to supporters of 89.3 The Current, Drew also promised to keep subscribers "in the know" as the station moves forward with new ideas and initiatives. 

Rock the Garden debuted on the grounds of the Walker Art Center in 1998, with local alt-country-rock heroes The Jayhawks headlining. The Current assumed co-partnership of the one-day musical party in 2008 with Eau Claire's Bon Iver holding top spot. Other groundbreaking artists to grace the Rock the Garden stage include Sonic Youth, Wilco, David Byrne, OK Go, My Morning Jacket and Lizzo. 

The festival was scrapped in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID.

“Over the years, Rock the Garden empowered connections across the community, and now MPR and the Walker will dream up new events that enable those connections,” said The Current Managing Director David Safar. 

Both MPR and Walker Art Center promise to work together in the future, but did not provide any hints as to what those projects would entail. 

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