Taste of Minnesota festival calls it quits
The Taste of Minnesota festival is calling it quits.
Festival general manager Linda Maddox issued a statement Thursday announcing her retirement from the annual Fourth of July event.
The food-and-music festival was started by her late husband, Ron Maddox, in 1983. The couple managed it together from 1996 to 2008. The festival was sold to a management group and Ron Maddox died in 2010. The new management tried to bring in bigger acts and began charging an entry fee, which didn't sit well with fans accustomed to the free entry.
The Taste of Minnesota declared bankruptcy and shut down — until Linda Maddox and the event's founders revived it in 2014. That year, flooding forced the festival to move from Harriet Island to Waconia. It returned to Waconia in 2015.
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