After 25 years, a beloved celebration of baseball comes to an end

Baseball fans who go to Target Field for tonight's Minnesota Twins game against the Detroit Tigers might notice a particularly spirited group of fans in the right field overlook.

They'll be celebrating the beginning of the annual Fiesta de Béisbol, which began 25 years ago as an excuse for friends to play ball, watch a game and tailgate.

Over the years, the fiesta has grown into a weekend-long celebration of baseball and community. The brainchild of Minneapolis resident Mike Menner, it has become a cherished summertime tradition for many.

This year's fiesta is particularly poignant because it will be the last. That explains why a crowd of people recently gathered around a couple of meat grinders in Menner's south Minneapolis kitchen to prepare bratwurst for more than 100 people expected at a big potluck during day two of the fiesta.

In one of many traditions that have evolved over time, Menner will present the cooks with certificates proclaiming them members of the Secret Sausage Society.

The Fiesta de Béisbol started with his family's longtime passion for baseball.

"We grew up outside Cleveland and we would go to Cleveland Stadium, the big cavernous municipal stadium," Menner recalled. "In those days, you could bring anything you wanted into the ballpark. So we would bring thermoses full of boiling water and hot dogs, our own hot dog buns, our own bottles of stadium mustard. Vendors must have just hated us. And then we would incorporate a pickup softball game. Brothers who had moved away would come back."

Coming up with a name for the event in Minnesota was easy for Menner, who earned an undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on political science and Latin American studies from Miami University in Ohio. But he also wanted to honor the great Latin American ballplayers who have played in the United States.

One of the all-time fiesta highlights came in 2001, when Twins great Tony Oliva attended. He received the Catbird Seat award for acting in the best interests of baseball.

Since it began in 1991, the crowd has grown from Menner's family and friends to include friends of friends.

"It's Mike and it's baseball and that's a great combination because when you see somebody just love a sport so much, it becomes very infectious," said Kathy Lawless, a fiesta regular for the last 20 years. "He makes it fun even for people who don't love baseball naturally."

Like Menner, Lawless has a long history with baseball.

"I grew up in St. Louis and have been a St. Louis Cardinals fan for many years and am actually the ambassador to the National League for the fiesta," she said.

The event includes an annual quiz in which contestants are awarded points for connections to the game and how they celebrate it. They can also lose points.

"You know you got points for going to Little League games and you got 10 points if you played with a little kid," said Eileen Smith, another fiesta regular. "You get all these different points for things and then you had to subtract points if you put ketchup on your brat.

"You got 50 points if you were a vegetarian but had a brat," she said. "There are a lot of vegetarians who once a year have their brat from Mike."

After tonight's trip to Target Field, the fiesta continues Saturday with the Power to the People pickup baseball game open to all ages and abilities.

It's a favorite of Matt Gladue, who has attended the fiesta for a decade.

"It's such a highlight of our summer," Gladue said. "We don't make summer plans until we know the weekend of the fiesta."

Gladue is married to Anna George Meek, the poet laureate of the fiesta. Each year she composes a poem for the event. One year it was haiku; another year it was a poem in the style of Walt Whitman.

This year, she's under more pressure than usual to capture the spirit of the event. That's because Menner has announced that this year's celebration will be the final Fiesta de Béisbol. He said it's time to give it up before it becomes a burden.

"It's tough to take four vacation days a year just to clean my garage to have 80 to 100 people in my backyard and the rest of the house," Menner said. "And I've felt the logistics slipping too and I didn't want people to come just because they are humoring me."

He said there has been talk of rotating the event among other hosts, in a Fiesta 2.0.

"I'm open to that," Menner said. "Just not in my backyard."