(60) Tom Oslund

Tom Oslund makes landscape architecture look easy, and we mean this as a giant compliment. His graceful, understated creations—e.g., Gold Medal Park, various elements of the new 35W Bridge, the forthcoming Target Plaza outside the new Twins stadium—simultaneously improve upon and blend into their surroundings, proving that brilliant design needn’t be in your face.

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(61) Highpoint Center for Printmaking's New Digs

The ink-stained center of Minneapolis’s flourishing printmaking scene moved into its $3.5 million new space on Lake Street in Uptown last June. The James Dayton-designed building contains triple the square footage of its old Lyndale location, giving Highpoint’s community classroom, professional studio and gallery more space to stretch out.

912 W. Lake St., Mpls.; 612.871.1326

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(62) Minnesota Fringe Festival

Smart, funny and popular, the Minnesota Fringe Festival is evidence that sometimes the masses want crack whore-themed cabaret as much as they want fluff like Little House on the Prairie the musical. Just look at the preliminary numbers for this year’s cornucopia of D.I.Y. theater, by many accounts the most successful Fringe yet
(* denotes a record-setting number for the festival).    

15,100 total number of fringe-goers*
162 different productions
$330,000 Total gross box office revenue
46,189 total number of tickets issued*
22 venues in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
87 certified sellouts (for those of you doing the math at home, that means that more than half of this year’s shows sold out!)

(Right: Photo By Craig Vanderschaegen)

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(63) McNally Smith’s Hip Hop Diploma

Given the Twin Cities’ respected hip-hop pedigree, it was only a matter of time before a local school started a fully accredited program dedicated to beats, rhymes and life. Enter St. Paul’s McNally Smith College of Music, which debuted the first hip-hop studies program of its kind in the country this past September. Run by local MC Toki Wright, the three-semester diploma includes production, mixing and DJ’ing classes, as well as creative writing courses for budding rhymesayers. Students can fold these classes—taught by hip-hop notables such as Dessa Darling of the Doomtree crew and producer Freddy Fresh—into a bachelor’s degree, or take them standalone. McNally Smith’s trailblazing curriculum is an encouraging sign that hip hop is starting to get the respect it deserves at the academic level.

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(64) 13th Avenue Northeast in Northeast Minneapolis

Rare is the Twin Cities commercial district that feels authentic and vital and seamlessly connected to its surrounding neighborhood. Lucky for Northeast Minneapolis residents, one such pocket has emerged on the four-block stretch of 13th Avenue Northeast between Main and Fourth Streets, just off University. Mirroring Northeast’s transformation from blue-collar hideaway to blue-collar hideaway with a badass arts scene, 13th has evolved over the past 15 years into a gallery-heavy, bar- and restaurant-packed bohemian playground. The number of independent businesses on this stylish strip reached critical mass this year with the opening of Shuga Records (all-vinyl record store), Northeast Social (elegant, laidback watering hole) and Anchor Fish & Chips. They join old favorites Frank Stone Gallery, Jon Oulman Gallery, 331 Club, the Ritz Theater, Rogue Buddha Gallery and the Modern Café in making 13th the unofficial main street of Northeast (sorry, Main Street). To show off this awesome avenue (and to celebrate the special issue you’re holding in your hands), we’re throwing a block party there on October 1, featuring live music and food and drink from the aforementioned venues (for tickets and more info visit metromag.com).

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(65) Dobby Gibson

Because his poems contain extraordinarily evocative lines like, “You only have to make her one grilled cheese in the suffocating heat of summer while still wearing your wet swim trunks to know what it’s like to be in love.” And because his latest book, Skirmish (from which the above line appears), is the finest volume of poetry to come out of Minnesota in the 21st century.