Events - Sep 2026

DRUMS! Beat of the Block party Sept. 19
This year, the Frogtown Arts Festival is taking celebrating local art to the next level. On Sept. 19, from 2-9 p.m., the north side of University Avenue, from Victoria to Grotto, will explode with art, food, and, especially, DRUMS! This year, the festival’s theme is “Beat Of The Block”, and celebrates the ways drums and drumming bring people of all cultures together in one of Saint Paul’s most diverse neighborhoods.

FORTUNE FOOL THEATRE FALL SHOW
Excitement is building for Fortune’s Fool Theatre’s fall production, “BULL IN A CHINA SHOP” by Bryna Turner, directed by Shanan Custer, playing Sept. 12-27, at The Hive Collaborative, 677 Hamline Ave. N. Tickets are free for all audience members. More information and reservations are available at fortunesfooltheatre.org/what-were-doing.
“We can’t wait to welcome audiences to the rough and tumble world of academic politics, first wave feminism, and queer history,” said Fortune’s Fool Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director Dan Pinkerton.

MIDWAY MUSIC AND ARTS FEST OCT. 2-4
Hamline Midway Coalition (HMC) announces the Midway Music and Arts Fest (MMAF), a three-day celebration of arts in the Midway neighborhood, taking place Oct. 2-4. The festival will showcase local artists working across disciplines, from music and visual arts to performance, arts and crafts, and more. Events will be staged throughout the neighborhood in locations ranging from established music venues like Turf Club and Sundin Hall at Hamline University to local businesses including Elsa’s House of Sleep, Fluid Ink Tattoos and Piercing, and Mamas Market and Deli.

Midway musician and radio host Pat “Doc” Dougherty is the festival’s Entertainment Coordinator. They have booked more than 25 Midway-connected bands across nine neighborhood stages, including the Turf Club, Ginkgo Coffeehouse, Urban Lights Records, Vig Guitars, and more. Local favorites include Pop Wagner, Nick Elstad Trio, Nur-D, Keep For Cheap, and Martin Devaney.

Visual and performing arts will include movement arts performances and pop-up gallery spaces throughout the neighborhood, along with a community mosaic project and open gallery viewing led by Midway artist Lori Greene of Mosaic on a Stick. Arts and crafts markets will also be held throughout the community, including at Hamline Park.

Literary programming will include generative writing workshops, a hybrid music and poetry showcase led by local group Sonoglyph Collective, pop-up readings throughout the neighborhood, on-demand poetry by the Poetry Bus, and a Writers Go to the Movies event featuring a screening of the film “Rushmore” followed by a discussion with local author and Hamline University alum Will McGrath and podcaster and author Jonathan Goldstein, facilitated by Hamline University Creative Writing Program director and author Angela Pelster-Wiebe.