ozens gathered as local leaders spoke and acknowledged the 10th Avenue Bridge’s official reopening and ribbon cutting on Tuesday, Nov. 16. Referred to as a true “pandemic project,” since it began in March of 2020 and coincided with the state lockdown, the new bridge design has added a bike lane, repaired the deteriorated concrete components brought on by leaking drainage elements and replaced a water main originally suspended under the bridge with a new one in a tunnel running underneath the Mississippi River.

Hennepin County is the lead agency behind the Hennepin and 1st retrofits, in partnership with the City of Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, MetroTransit and the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The improvements will focus on traffic signal upgrades, lane line adjustments, bike lane additions and handicapped accessibility. In addition to the stretches of each road between Main and 8th, the part of Main Street that connects the two corridors is also included in the planned improvements. Because this project is classified as a retrofit, the scope of the work is limited to spot fixes and upgrades rather than a complete overhaul like we’ve seen downtown.

When the sale of the Northrup King Building was made public in 2019, artists who occupied the building’s studio, gallery, and retail spaces took a wait-and-see attitude, said Loretta Bebeau. She has had a studio in the building for 19 years, served on the board of directors of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association and volunteered with the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District.

Fair Anita, located in the Thorp Building, 1620 Central Avenue NE, was one of the first public benefit corporations created in 2015. Seven years later, the company is set to earn more than $1 million in annual revenue. Since the pandemic began, they donated 100% of the proceeds from the sale of face masks (over $110,000) to the communities where their products are made.

When is a wall more than a wall? Through art, a community can make a utility shed or an outhouse into a symbol of themselves. The latest examples of this have popped up in three Northeast neighborhoods: Logan Park, Beltrami, and Northeast Park, the latter of which hosted a celebration unveiling the newly minted artwork adorning a bathroom facility on the far side of its baseball fields. These three neighborhoods collaborated to put together funding to commission new public art in their parks. The celebration on Nov. 6 featured live music, free pizza, and a chance to meet the artists who brought their artistry to the walls of our parks.

The 77-acre rectangle that contains the city of Hilltop was once the site, at various times, of a dairy farm, a riding academy, a golf course, and most recently, several trailer parks. The city limits, which lie entirely inside Columbia Heights, are the west side of Central Ave on the east, Monroe Street on the west, 49th Avenue NE on the north and 45th Avenue NE on the south. The city, the highest point in southern Anoka County, chose its name from a drive-in theater on the Columbia Heights side of Central.

Like just about every holiday that comes in contact with American culture, Día de los Muertos, the Mexican celebration of ancestors, has become commercialized. Traditional sugar skulls have been recast as colorful glass Christmas ornaments and the fancy female skeleton, La Catrina, has become a Halloween costume.

Roundup: Slice Pizza reopening, Buttered Tin and PILLLAR Skateboard Co. opening, and Sammy's Sammy’s Avenue Eatery closing

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has temporarily taken over the management of Twin City Gardens Nursing Home, 2309 Hayes Street NE. MDH announced the takeover on Oct. 25.

Did you know there are two libraries in the former Grain Belt buildings? On the other end of the block from the Hennepin County Library, the elevator beyond an unassuming entrance will lead you up to the second floor, where the American Craft Council Library cloisters a repository of art history. Since the March 2020 COVID restrictions the Library has had its doors shut to the public, but it celebrated its grand reopening with an open house on the evening of Oct. 28.