Rondo Days
Rondo Days is an annual festival held the 3rd Saturday in July in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that commemorates the Rondo neighborhood, an African-American community that was split in two by the construction of Interstate 94 in the mid-1960s. The festival has grown since its inception in 1983, by co-founders Floyd G. Smaller and Marvin R. Anderson, to become the largest African American sponsored festival in Minnesota.{{cite web | author= Gill, N.S. | publisher= About, Inc., The New York Times Company | work= About.com | title= Rondo Days | url= http://minneapolis.about.com/b/a/257474.htm | accessdate= 2007-09-30 | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060720131626/http://minneapolis.about.com/b/a/257474.htm | archive-date= 2006-07-20 }}
History
The construction of Highway 94 through St. Paul in the 1960s destroyed several neighborhoods including Rondo - the backbone of the black community in the Twin Cities. Every June, Rondo days celebrate that community via an annual multi-cultural reunion, started in 1983.{{cite magazine| last1=Bergquist|first1=Kris | title=’Festival Celebrates Rondo Community: Rondo Days combines music, food, arts in downtown St. Paul’ | work=St. Cloud Times|date=July 18, 1996 | page=12E}}{{cite magazine| last1=Brown|first1=Curt| title=’Rondo Days will feature Hoopsters’ | work=StarTribune|date=May 2, 2007 | page=B3}}
With officials scrapping the 2020 festival caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 37th was deferred to 2021.
File:Pathways to Power - Rondo Days Parade (42838648384).jpg
Festivities
The Rondo Days Grande Parade begins promptly at 10AM, on the 3rd Saturday of July, at St. Claver Church and ending near the MLK Rec Center Park.{{cite web |url=http://RondoDays.net/ |title=Rondo Days}} There is live music and food, and a drill team contest with participants from around the region.{{cite magazine|title=Special Events| work=Courier|date=July 19, 1996 |page=23}}{{cite magazine| title=Having Plenty of Fun in the Sun at Rondo Days’ | work=StarTribune|date=May 2, 2007 | page=B3}} Other activities have included pony rides, a bike clinic, and petting zoo. Community partners include churches, sports teams, schools and others.{{cite magazine| last1=Windrow |first1=John | title=’Summer’s festivals survive showers: the morning rain didn’t dampen the spirits at St. Paul’s Rondo Days and at the Aquatennial’ | work=StarTribune|date=July 20, 1997 | page=29}}
References
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External links
- [http://RondoDays.net/ Rondo Days website]
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Category:African-American history in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Category:Culture of Saint Paul, Minnesota