St. Paul’s Grand Old Day is back on this year
Published 7:32 am Saturday, May 4, 2019
- One of the Pianos on Parade gets special attention during a community painting event on June 5, 2011, at Grand Old Day in St Paul. Euan Kerr/MPR News 2011
The Grand Old Day celebration in St. Paul is back on for 2019, after all.
In April, organizers of the 45-year-old street festival announced its cancellation this year, citing cost.
A last-minute effort to raise funding to save the tradition quickly followed the announcement.
“Since our cancellation announcement on Tuesday we have been amazed and inspired by the outpouring of support for our organization from local businesses, the city of St. Paul and from the community at large,” the event’s organizer, the Grand Avenue Business Association, said in the statement on Facebook Thursday.
Allison Penner-Hurst, interim president of the association, earlier said “the costs this year to produce an event of this magnitude were just not at the pace that matched the dollars that were coming in.”
The annual celebration regularly draws a quarter million people to Grand Avenue over the first weekend in June.
This year, the festival will be held on Sunday, June 2.
