Minneapolis is marking the 80th year of one of its truly unique traditions this week with Aquatennial.
The idea was hatched in the summer of 1939 after a few local businessmen traveled to Winnepeg to witness their summer celebration, but it was not until January of 1940 that they organized their first official planning meeting. "Close to 300 people showed up, mostly businessmen of course," says Ken Hafften who is a long time Aquatennial volunteer and archivist for the Hennepin History Musuem, which owns the largest Aquatennial memorabilia collection in the world.
Just months later in the summer of 1940, the first Aquatennial was held and right from the start, it was a huge success.
Perhaps the most enduring event of the last 80 years has been what is now known as the Torchlight Parade, which from the start was a huge success. In 1962, it's estimated that 750,000 attended the parade.
By the mid 1960’s organizers made an effort to grab a younger audience. 1967’s Aquatennial featured a concert that included Jefferson Airplane and Buffalo Springfield known as “The Happening”
In 1971, the American Dairy Association began to sponsor an event known as the Milk Carton Boat Races. The boats were made out of milk cartons. They were dropped from the official festival in 2015, although it has been ressurected as part of Beach Bash at Thomas Beach on Bde Mka Sa the Sunday prior to Aquatennial.
Those Queens of the Lake, and later on Princesses, have demostrated amazing leadership for young women across the state. But there are two stories of those "crowns" that stand out from the crowd.
With the threat of extinction, the Minneapolis Downtown Council absorbed the Aquatennial Association in 2003, while a new organization, The Aquatennial Ambassador Organization (AAO) was born to run the Queen of the Lakes program. Its focus has changed as well. "Our mission now is the growth of young women in the state of Minnesota. (Now) its scholarship, community volunteerism, we focus on those things," says Haften.
The Queen of the Lakes candidates participate now in things such as the Women's Expo, first held in 2017 with professional development coaching through the University of St. Thomas. They also spend part of their week discussing the importance of volunteerism. The AAO portion of Aquatennial is 100% volunteer run.
While the "10 Best Days of Summer" are now six days, certain things endure. The communities around Minnesta still participate in the Queen of the Lakes program, including a record number of 56 candidates in 2016. The parade still takes over downtown Minneapolis, this year down 2nd Ave. due to the construction on the regular Hennepin Ave. route.
And of course, Saturday night, this year's Queen of the Lakes, Princesses and other volunteers will join thousands of others along the banks of the Mississippi River to take in the Target Fireworks, one of the largest and best shows in the country, as they wrap up the 80th Aquatennial.