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Arts and Culture
MPR News Staff

St. Paul's Grand Old Day canceled again for 2022

Grand Old Day
People walk along Grand Avenue in St. Paul during the Grand Old Day celebration in 2009. The event will not be held in 2022 -- the third straight year it's been canceled.
Nathaniel Minor | MPR News file

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St. Paul's Grand Old Day celebration will not be held this year — the third consecutive year it's been canceled.

But organizers with the Grand Avenue Business Association say they're planning to bring it back in 2023.

"While we did consider bringing the event back in 2022, we ultimately decided that our community will be better served with a well planned event in 2023," the group said in an online statement posted March 10. "We have already started the process of gathering the community partners and resources needed to create a vibrant, exciting and fun Grand Old Day 2023."

The organizers noted the uncertainties caused by COVID-19 that forced the cancellation of the event in 2020 and 2021, writing that the pandemic "requires a new way of thinking about large-scale, all-age events such as Grand Old Day."

The block party that runs for two miles along Grand Avenue dates back nearly 50 years.

The last time it was held, in 2019, it drew a crowd estimated at more than 200,000 people. The event was nearly canceled that year, too, before a last-minute rally of community support allowed the celebration to go on.

Among other annual spring and summer celebrations in St. Paul, the Pioneer Press reports the Cinco de Mayo parade in May and the White Bear Avenue parade in July also won't be held this year.

But organizers of the annual Hmong International Freedom Festival say they're planning for the event to return in July after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The 40th anniversary festival is set to take place July 2-3.