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Imagine 6th Avenue North

August 10 @ 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

Imagine 6th Avenue North is a big, family-friendly block party for neighborhood connection and community organization. This free event is a fantastic way to experience artists, musicians, and local businesses from the neighborhood and imagine a better future together.

Free Food, Live Music, Art, & More

Jellybean Johnson playing an electric guitar at Imagine 6th Avenue North in 2022. Jellybean is a man with brown skin, wearing a purple short-sleeve button up shirt over an orange long sleeve undershirt. He is wearing a black fedora. Behind him, his bandmate, who has white skin, is also wearing a fedora and a printed pink button up short sleeve shirt. He is playing a white electric guitar.
The wooden Harrison Park sign, surrounded by orange tulips and green grass. Taken at the Imagine 6th Avenue North 2022 event.
three people pointing at some of the resources available on highway harms at Imagine Frogtown & Rondo
Traiveon singing (side profile, stage lighting, wearing glasses and maroon velvet blazer)
A volunteer helps attendees tie dye tote bags at Imagine Frogtown and Rondo in July 2024. The volunteer, on the left, is a white masculine person in a baseball cap wearing a tie-dye shirt. In front of them is a table with tie-dye supplies. In the foreground, two young black people wearing blue smocks hold tie dye supplies. In the background, more young black people await their turn.
People wait in line for food from Wha' Jamaican while the cook grills. Taken at the Imagine 6th Avenue North event in 2022.
People view the Imagine 6th Avenue North Mobile Museum under a blue sky at the 2022 Imagine 6th Avenue North event.
close up of kid getting their face painted

When the Minnesota Highway Commission (now the Minnesota Department of Transportation or MnDOT) routed and constructed Olson Memorial Highway over historic 6th Avenue North in the late 1930s and 1940s, it destroyed a vibrant Black and Jewish community corridor, often called the “Beale Street of Minneapolis.” Homes, businesses, jazz clubs, synagogues, churches, and community centers were demolished to make way for the highway.

Now, Our Streets has partnered with Harrison Neighborhood Association, Heritage Park Neighborhood Association, and other Northside partners to advocate for a restored 6th Avenue North.

At the Imagine 6th Avenue North event, community members will have the opportunity to learn more about the possibility of a highway-to-boulevard conversion, share their ideas for the future, and imagine what their neighborhood could be like without the highway.

The event includes musical performances from Northside artists including Traiveon, Casual Confusion, and Se’anna. Community members will have the opportunity to contribute to a community quilt with Million Artist Movement and leave a message on the “Imagine Dream Phone” and share their ideas for the future. Attendees will be offered free food and can shop at the pop-up market with The Dream Shop featuring more than 20 Northside artists and makers. Kids will be able to get their faces painted and play in a bouncy house.

Event Highlight: Million Artist Movement Community Quilt-Making

Join Million Artist Movement in utilizing the power of art to collaborate as a community! Together, we will create a quilt that imagines a better future in Near North Minneapolis—a future that prioritizes the safety and well-being of those who live here. Make a quilt square that embodies what you want to see in your neighborhood.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Minnesota State Arts Board logo

Join us as we joyfully organize around the future of 6th Avenue North.

Need a ride? Get your free MetroTransit bus pass.

Harrison Park

503 N Irving Ave
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55405 United States
Volunteer About the Imagine Series