MINNEAPOLIS — This weekend Minneapolis hosted two major events that brought an estimated 500,000 people to the downtown area between the two Taylor Swift concerts at U.S. Bank Stadium and Twin Cities Pride in Loring Park.
Tourism experts say the initial feedback from hotel and restaurant owners has been positive.
“We really demonstrated that the community is ready to host major events,” Meet Minneapolis President and CEO Melvin Tennant said.
This weekend kicked off a busy summer in Minneapolis, with several big-name acts coming to town, including Ed Sheeran, Beyonce, Metallica, Billy Joel and others.
This summer will also mark the return of the Taste of Minnesota.
Tennant says Minneapolis was starting to make a name for itself back in 2018 and 2019 as a go-to destination for big events.
“We had the Super Bowl in 2018 and then the Men’s Final Four a year later,” Tennant explained.
And then COVID came along a year later.
"It did derail us. If you think back to early 2020 in March, we were supposed to host the NCAA wrestling championships at U.S. Bank Stadium. The NCAA canceled all their championships if you recall. So, it took us some time to recover from that,” Tennant said.
Tennant added that the city is now building momentum again with a slate of big concerts and conventions and the return of Taste of Minnesota.
And these days big events aren’t just nice things to have; Tennant said big events are essential when it comes to the survival of many downtown hotels and restaurants.
“When COVID came along and really shut everything down we just had no idea that the business travel wasn’t going to return. So, we have really suffered from that, but we are working on a lot of initiatives. We’re working on ways to replace that,” Tennant said.
"We want to be the destination of choice so that when there's an event, we want to be on that shortlist. Whenever there is a Final Four or a Super Bowl, or an X-Games, we've been on that list. Our job is to make sure we’re on that short list every time and I believe that maybe short of the Olympics, at this point we are on every short list that is out there.”
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