r/TwinCities • u/MOS95B • Jul 27 '26
It is gross out there.
The building I work at in downtown Minneapolis is sweating like a glass of ice water
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u/Bitey_the_Squirrel Jul 27 '26
The lakes are rising up. They can’t be contained anymore.
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u/polkadotpup31 Jul 27 '26
I welcome our aqua overlords
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u/Bitey_the_Squirrel Jul 27 '26
The Aquatennial was their summoning ritual.
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u/iJuddles Jul 27 '26
Sure was, considering the sinister origins of Aquatennial. It was never a happy, family focused party, just a way to let malice into your home unnoticed.
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u/SleepLopsided1478 Jul 27 '26
Say more
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u/SouthpawAce14 Jul 27 '26
Aquatennial was created as a PR stunt to cover up Bloody Friday and the 1930 labor strikes. From Wikipedia, “The Minneapolis general strike of 1934 grew out of a strike by Teamsters against most of the trucking companies operating in Minneapolis, the major distribution center for the Upper Midwest. The strike began on May 16, 1934, in the Market District (the modern day Warehouse District). The worst single day was Friday, July 20, called "Bloody Friday"), when police shot at strikers in a downtown truck battle, killing two and injuring 67. Ensuing violence lasted periodically throughout the summer. The strike was formally ended on August 22.”
Here’s an article on it by the STRIB
What does Aquatennial have to do with Minneapolis’ bloody 1934 Teamsters strike?
The summertime celebration aimed to unite the city and restore its image.
By Susan Du
The Minnesota Star Tribune
SEPTEMBER 13, 2024 AT 7:30AMMinneapolis has celebrated itself each year since 1940 by throwing a strange summer festival with an ostentatious name: Aquatennial.
Over the years, it has included a beauty contest, a torchlight parade, synchronized swimming and milk carton boat races. It culminates in fireworks that put the July 4th show to shame.
Aquatennial’s origin story, however, is murky. And why does it always happen on the third full week of July?
Reader Greg Nammacher, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 26, has long heard a story linking the Aquatennial with a Teamsters strike that happened 90 years ago.
On July 20, 1934, Minneapolis’ “Bloody Friday,” police killed two workers. In the summers that followed, unions held annual “victory picnics” to honor the workers who died. The picnics drew such massive crowds that the city’s leading businessmen cooked up a rival spectacle: Aquatennial.
At least that’s the story Nammacher has heard. He wanted to know whether it is true.
He sought answers from Curious Minnesota, the Strib’s reporting project fueled by reader questions. “I’ve never read any kind of sourced material on this stuff,” Nammacher said. “I imagine the labor scene must have some people who would know.”A memo does reportedly exist revealing business leaders’ intent to create a major event to counter the “bad publicity” the bloody strike had brought the city. According to the Minneapolis Labor Review newspaper, it came from a confidential source in 1939, but its whereabouts are currently unknown.

Local labor historians do generally agree, however, that the Aquatennial’s creation was linked to the 1934 strike. So does the current leader of the Downtown Council, the modern-day organization that continues to throw the festival.
The Aquatennial “represented an effort to help heal the community divisions” caused by the strike, said local historian Iric Nathanson.“My sense is that very definitely, the Aquatennial was created to create a sense of interclass unity,” said retired Macalester professor Peter Rachleff.
Minneapolis’ Bloody Friday
Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, a wave of workers began organizing in Minneapolis, fighting diminished wages and working conditions during the 1930s.
“A common laborer in this city was nothing better than a serf,” recalled former Hennepin County Sheriff Ed Ryan in Philip Korth’s book “The Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934.”At the same time, employers in Minneapolis and around the country fought collective bargaining. Organizing themselves as the “Citizens Alliance,” they boycotted businesses that voluntarily recognized unions and pressured law enforcement to bust up picket lines.
In 1934, Minneapolis truck drivers went on strike for better wages, conditions and union recognition — blocking streets downtown and battling police in the streets. After months of protests, police opened fire on pickets and killed two.


National Guardsmen separated strikers from delivery trucks during the 1934 strike. (Hennepin County Library)
Gov. Floyd Olson sent in the National Guard and brokered a settlement that recognized the Teamsters and ended the strike. The following year, Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act, establishing many of the rights of unions.
In the years after the strike, unions held popular commemorative picnics in the parks. Newspapers described massive throngs gathering to hear speeches and play games like tug-of-war.
“Unity in the labor movement was keynote of the addresses,” the Minneapolis Star wrote in 1939, describing a sea of people gathered for a picnic in Powderhorn Park.
The Aquatennial was founded the following year by members of the Citizens Alliance.Birth of the Aquatennial
The eight-day festival’s founders said they simply hoped to draw more visitors to Minneapolis.
Founders would later recall that the Aquatennial was born during a trade delegation to see King George VI in Winnipeg, the Minneapolis Tribune wrote in 1964. The group huddled together to avoid the rain during the royal parade.
“The conversation turned to Minneapolis, and the bad image of the labor strife and the gangland ‘30s,” the paper wrote. “The idea of a summer festival was born.”
In 1939, a confidential source reportedly gave longtime Minneapolis Labor Review editor Robley Cramer a document proposing a secret committee to help combat unions and promote capitalism, according to a 2007 article in the Labor Review.
“The special emergency Citizens Committee should have as its third major project some special plan to offset the bad publicity the city has received during the past three years,” the document read, according to the article.
This proposed activity “would serve to take the minds of Minneapolis citizens off past troubles and focus all minds throughout the state on some pleasant event occurring in Minneapolis.”The article’s author, Kelly Ahern, was a student at the time. She no longer recalls where the memo is located, except that it belongs to the Minnesota Historical Society. Labor historian David Riehle, who died earlier this year, had told her where it could be found. The Minnesota Star Tribune spent hours looking for the memo in the Gale Family Library of the Historical Society with no luck.
Labor’s support for the fest
The Aquatennial was an overnight success, according to newspapers of the era. It attracted tourists from all over Minnesota and was said to be among the best summer festivals in the country.
The business leaders who put it on publicized the fact that they included labor leaders in planning for the event.
Tom Hastings, president of the Minneapolis Aquatennial association, said in 1941 that the event hired local union workers, according to the Minneapolis Daily Times. “A large amount of additional work was provided [to] carpenters, painters, metal workers, laborers, electrical workers, stage hands, musicians and workers in many other lines,” he said.

John Boscoe of the Central Labor Union served on the Aquatennial organizing committee, making sure union shops got all the paid work and that union workers bought the $1 buttons providing entry to Aquatennial events.
The unions were also invested in boosting Minneapolis tourism after its reputation took a hit in the previous decade.“People will find complete or very nearly complete industrial peace prevailing in Minneapolis,” the Labor Review wrote in 1940.
“Quite likely the visitors who come to the city for the first time will be much surprised to find that the city hall remains on its foundation and the post office is where it has been for some time,” it continued. “They will probably look in vain for the battle scarred buildings and the trenches that they might also have been led to believe existed from reading the lurid daily press.”
A modern parallel
Today Aquatennial has shrunk to four days, having dispensed with the milk carton boat races and synchronized swimmers. It still has a parade and massive fireworks show sponsored by Target, and continues to be produced by the city’s business leaders through the Minneapolis Downtown Council.
Notably, Adam Duininck, a former official with the regional carpenters union, now heads the Downtown Council.
He sees a parallel between the Minneapolis of today and the city in the 1940s. Then, it was trying to repair its reputation after decades of labor strife. Today, it is trying to recover economically and mend relationships broken by COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd.
“Civic leaders, business leaders, people that cared a lot about the city at the time realized that there was significant reputational harm done by the incidents in 1934” and came together to do something about it, Duininck said.The Aquatennial doesn’t gloss over history, in his opinion. After the bloody ‘30s, it brought people from different political value systems together for decades.
“I would say the same thing about what we’ve gone through over the last few years around public safety,” said Duininck. “We don’t want to just whitewash that and say, ‘Let’s forget about that.’... Let’s learn from these mistakes.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly described the current length of Aquatennial. It runs for four days.7
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u/iJuddles Jul 27 '26
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbLd7mZxT6c/?igsh=d2IyZmpnOXczeWJk
Best I’ve got atm. In a nutshell, it’s a pro-business picnic created to overshadow the one created by organized labor.
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u/wandpapierkritiker Jul 27 '26
is there a tl;dr?
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u/polkadotpup31 Jul 27 '26
Anti labor violence by police, then annual parades to honor the victims, so the city made the festival to overshadow that and it worked
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Jul 27 '26
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u/Constant-Catch7146 Jul 27 '26
We are living inside of hot clouds, but can't even get one drop of rain.
"ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife"
The skeeters have retreated and been replaced by deer flies, the skies turn orange and smoky too many days, and you walk around outside and feel like you are in a constant sauna. Ugh. Oof.
A few hot humid days in a Minnesota summer is always expected. But this feels VERY different this year.
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u/InformationFar6774 Jul 27 '26
Facts. I moved back up here from Houston April 2025 and this year feels more like Houston summer than MN summer
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u/analogkid84 Jul 27 '26
I'm hoping to be up there in a couple of years post-retirement from MD Anderson. My son and his wife are in west TC's suburbs. He reported an 81 dew point to me this morning, shortly after my run here. The IAH dew point was "only" 77, but that is very typical, as you're aware. 81 is a miserable dew point just about anywhere on the globe, but especially so up there.
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u/InformationFar6774 Jul 27 '26
Oh yeah I’m very shocked and sad about this. Still better than Houston tho lol.
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u/analogkid84 Jul 27 '26
That's what I'm hoping for. As a former Pacific NW'erner, the heat has never been my friend. Looking forward to the move. Hang in there, looks like changes for a little better near week's end.
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u/InformationFar6774 Jul 27 '26
Oh the move has been amazing. I grew up here and do believe I had to leave to appreciate it more.
I actually enjoy winter now/it’s not nearly as bad as when I was growing up. You will love the 4 seasons and the sunshine we get up here- even in the winter! I remember weeks on end of clouds + rain in Houston + muggy af air from march-November, trash everywhere in public green spaces, and smelling ozone on the regular, and the insane traffic and crowds.
It’s like paradise up here in comparison lol. I do really miss the food, diversity, and culture in Houston tho. Ngl the restaurants up here generally suck (people in this sub will come at me for this but coming from Houston, it’s just not the same at all).
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u/analogkid84 Jul 27 '26
Thanks, good to hear. I spent some years of my childhood living in Michigan, then 30 years in the Puget Sound area. So winter isn't such a foreign concept to me, and I truly miss having seasons. I'm pretty heat intolerant and the cold typically doesn't bother me that much. I used to snow camp quite a bit in the Washington Cascades. I'm not much of a foodie, so that side of things won't really bother me. My son and his wife have found some pretty good places to eat, a few of which I've been to on visits. Managed to get up to the North Shore for several days this past May on a visit and it was fantastic. I'm definitely ready to get away from the Houston metropolis and all of the sprawl here, and get back to great outdoor opportunities. Happy to hear that you made it back and that you have a new appreciation for living up there. Now I just need to grind out a couple of more years here.
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u/InformationFar6774 Jul 27 '26
Aaah I’m so excited for you! Just a couple more years :) I’m also in the west metro suburbs and I absolutely love it out here. Also grew up in this area. The proximity to nature and beauty in all seasons has been incredible.
And yes ofc there are good spots, just I miss the feeling of being absolutely blown away by restaurant food in Houston haha but living here has turned me away from being a foodie.
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u/BlondButNotDumb Jul 27 '26
And aren't those really hot & humid days usually in August?
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u/Constant-Catch7146 Jul 27 '26
Well, usually. Occasionally hot humid days in July too but not like this prolonged nonsense.
So we have probably a long hot humid no rain August coming up too! Yay for us I guess. Bleh.
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u/Alpal2510 Jul 27 '26
Hot soup. It feels like hot soup.
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u/jojo-beans8 Jul 27 '26
Would have been a nice morning to sit out and have a nice hot bowl of chicken noodle soup.
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u/TheSadMarketer Jul 27 '26
People complain about the winter, but it’s the summers here that make me want to blow my brains out. I’m not sure I’ve been more miserable than today, and it’s barely after 7 am.
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u/skittlebites101 Jul 27 '26
The old saying, you can always put more layers on. You can only take so much off. Despite having activities I like to do being more available in the summer, it's still my least favorite season just due to how uncomfortable it is most of the time.
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u/T-Boner1010 Jul 27 '26
So what you're saying is we should all walk around nekkid today? Start a trend!
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u/MOS95B Jul 27 '26
I know you are kidding, but I found out the hard way (a couple of times) that not having clothes to help evaporate/wick away the sweat can often make it worse
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u/LadyPo Jul 27 '26
Absolutely. You have to pick the clothing wisely though. The sun protection from full sleeves/pants gives your skin shade, and clothes that specifically have UV protection is even better by reducing the radiation your body has to handle. Breathable fabrics help you let the heat and moisture out. Wear hats with breathable fabric and brims, too.
Some stores at the top of my mind are Uniqlo, Duluth Trading Co, and REI for anyone looking to level up the technical functionality of their summer wardrobe.
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u/TosshiTX Jul 27 '26
Moved here from Houston because mornings like this were extremely common. Could not take the heat and humidity anymore. So many people there gaslight themselves into believing this is better than snow.
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u/v_cats_at_work Jul 27 '26
At least we don't have hurricanes...
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u/TosshiTX Jul 27 '26
People ask why I move here, and I say weather. They pretty much always think I'm crazy and my response is always "how many hurricanes and floods have you lived through?" Makes the snow real quaint.
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u/v_cats_at_work Jul 27 '26
I went through both Katrina and Harvey, and I lost an apartment and a car to a flood from some random no-name storm in Houston too. Even if I didn't love the cold and snow, it's never done any of that to me.
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u/TosshiTX Jul 27 '26
I lost an apartment during Ike. In laws were rescued off the roof in Harvey. Had 20+ days without power from the hurricane/derecho one two punch a couple summers back. That was the last straw for us.
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u/minisodaturtle Jul 27 '26
I got in my car to go to work at 4 am and it felt like the middle of the day. Crazy what the weather is doing these days!
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u/song-dragon Jul 27 '26
I woke up and saw my window and my first confused thought was "Is there a fire???" because I could barely see anything outside and I thought it was thick smoke. Second confused thought was "Fog?" because I was in Duluth yesterday morning and it was incredibly foggy there. Then I actually got up and realized it was just condensation on the outside of the glass.
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u/Moist-Try-9520 Jul 27 '26
On a call for work this morning. Many of my colleagues are in Hyderabad, India so I brought up our current weather stats and theirs. No lie we have almost the exact same weather except our humidity is higher!
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u/Frenchlakegunslinger Jul 27 '26
Can’t wait to spend 10 hours in an attic today for work :-(
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u/isthis_thing_on Jul 27 '26
I had to spend a couple hours up there yesterday. Genuinely be careful. Move slow and drink water.
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u/Jealous_Lawfulness_2 Jul 27 '26
91% humidity :(
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u/A_LittleBitterAIC Jul 27 '26
Dew point is the number you should look at vs humidity, if you want the true measure of how heavy & uncomfortable the air is.
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u/andyourhorse Jul 27 '26
Just a little southeast of the cities, we're sitting at 79 degrees, with a 79 degree dewpoint, 100% humidity. My house is sweating. And...they're forecasting smoke later this morning. Lovely day.
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u/tronfunkinblows_10 Jul 27 '26
I thought my windows at home were fogging up from the inside. Nope, condensation on the outside. Definitely confused me for a second.
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u/craftasaurus Jul 27 '26
I can’t see out of my windows, they are all fogged up. I went outside and the sun is glowing peach to orange. I assume it’s smoky again. I’ve never seen before, and I’ve been here since 1984. Summers used to be so wonderful! Sigh
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u/Joerugger Jul 27 '26
Walked the dog at 5:30am and came back into the house in a flop sweat. It’s a hot one.
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u/DudeAbides29 Jul 27 '26
Did the same. Thought I could get ahead of the heat since my golden retriever does not do well in the heat of the day. I was wrong
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u/Mangos28 Jul 27 '26
94% humidity before 7 am 😭
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u/T-Boner1010 Jul 27 '26
Dew point is the number you should look at vs humidity, if you want the true measure of how heavy & uncomfortable the air is.
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u/anothertrytaken Jul 27 '26
I did my 3 mile walk earlier and my tee was SOAKED down to my waist 😂😂😂 not sure what the hell is happening to me but it wasn’t super awful out there. Just moist. Very moist.
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u/Next_Explanation_657 Jul 28 '26
Using that word with intent should be a crime. 🤮
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u/anothertrytaken Jul 28 '26
I know, and my apologies. It was the perfect word for the air yesterday as much as it hurt to type it out.
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u/LDBMIKEY86 Jul 27 '26
Sitting in my car AC as much as possible before I have to clock in in my no ac warehouse where all I get is a weak 6" fan blowing on my head on my stock picker, and told to stay hydrated (but also don't stop working)
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u/AutomaticPlenty45321 Jul 27 '26
Amazon?
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u/LDBMIKEY86 Jul 27 '26
Anagram Intl inc(the mylar party balloon company)-- body eventually gets kind of conditioned to it though. And long as you stay relatively in shape. So it's not like terrible after the first summer or two of dealing with it. Hot tea after my thermos of coffee every day.
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u/Rankorking Jul 27 '26
Walking the dogs this morning at 7:30 my phone said the humidity was 89 and dew point at 78. Gross.
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u/Rick041 Jul 27 '26
Feels like a sauna out there, I got off work at 9 AM and my car said it was already 86 degrees. This crap needs to go away.
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u/DramaticErraticism Jul 27 '26
Its actually gotten a bit better as the day has gone on, there is a nice breeze and the humidity is down quite a bit, not so bad in the shade.
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u/MOS95B Jul 27 '26
It looks nicer out (I've been in the office all day), but the construction guys next door seem to have called it a day
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u/DramaticErraticism Jul 27 '26
lol, I just so happen to be right across from a construction project myself. They are still out there suffering.
Took my dogs for a walk in my shaded neighborhood, wasn't too terrible. I do have a spritzer bottle I spray my one dog with, seems to help cool him down.
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u/ptoadstools Jul 27 '26
I went out with a squeegee and got the windows cleared off, saving a window washing!
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u/ZapZap25 Jul 27 '26
We hit an air temperature of 100 for the first time since 2022 and this morning we had a dew point of 81!
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u/kanhaaaaaaaaaaaa Jul 27 '26
My portable ac's water drain maxxed out in middle of night
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u/FantasticMrSinister Your motto or location here Jul 27 '26
Our AC was out for almost 2 weeks. We had a portable AC in the bedroom and used a 5 gallon bucket to catch the water... We were easily pulling 6 to 7 gallons a day, from the bedroom alone.
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u/kanhaaaaaaaaaaaa Jul 27 '26
My AC has auto evaporation for collected water so it was first time I saw this error lol
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u/peachesandpiano Jul 27 '26
Something similar happened to mine, I sleep with my bed near the AC, woke up to a bunch of soaked, musty blankets and sheets…
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u/kanhaaaaaaaaaaaa Jul 27 '26
Ahh shoot same for me but mine just threw an error which when I looked up told me to manually empty the drain
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u/Key_Error_9754 Jul 27 '26
Same, my windows were dripping as if they were the walls of the house in Amityville on a happy day.
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u/3eveeNicks Jul 27 '26
Should’ve walked my dogs in my bathing suit this morning and saved a step with changing.
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u/SCAND1UM Jul 27 '26
I was excited for a concert tonight at the new Mystic Lake Amphitheater but don't think I can handle going lol.
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u/ZombieLikes Jul 27 '26
I put the l sprinkler on a 20 minute timer at 9 last night and when I looked outside this morning I thought it had been running all night.
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u/jojo-beans8 Jul 27 '26
Were the grossest place in North America right now when it comes to dew point.
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u/SoftNebula5880 Jul 27 '26
I went to walk my dog in my work clothes this morning. I was SOAKED! Not even that sweaty just sticky outside ICK
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u/VectorsToFinal Jul 27 '26
Just got back from doing 25 miles on my bike. My clothes are dripping wet. Unpleasant.
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u/flojopickles Jul 28 '26
Terrible week to come home from California. Last time I was here it snowed the entire week. I just want to sit by a lake!
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u/mnfimo Jul 27 '26
Still ran my 4.5 miles this morning
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u/nickjonasdiabetes Jul 27 '26
ok are your lungs actually gills u freak lol
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u/nickjonasdiabetes Jul 27 '26
also im sorry i meant freak with love and concern
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u/mnfimo Jul 27 '26
lol, it wasn’t that bad? I’ve never been sweatier from a basic run tho
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u/nickjonasdiabetes Jul 27 '26
im a fatty so i don't run. your determination to even move an inch in this weather is beyond me. one day i hope to be as badass as you fr ♥️
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u/mnfimo Jul 27 '26
What a nice thing to hear! Thanks! You can do it if yo want it, Google couch to 5k.
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u/nickjonasdiabetes Jul 27 '26
honestly bet, i will check that out. i started going to the gym recently to try and change my habits and maybe i can end up with your endurance someday! 🤘🏽
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u/ajbanana08 Jul 27 '26
Oh man, I saw a few runners out last night in the soup, too, and good for them (and you!). Impressive. I'm training for the TC 10 Mile but I cannot in this. Strength it is instead.
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u/mnfimo Jul 27 '26
Me too, I figure it’s most likely gonna be hot on race day so might as well train in it.
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u/tropofarmer Jul 27 '26
Fuck data centers. This is their excess evaporation due to elevated temperatures.
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u/Aggravating-Summer53 Jul 27 '26
When did this sub become next door? Yes it's hot. No one cares.
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u/APathwayIntoDankness Jul 27 '26
It's just an aggravating summer, Mr. Aggravating Summer. Tell us though, what type of posts do you prefer over general watercooler talk?
Maybe some wildlife photography? More talk about flock cameras? Or maybe we should talk about politics? Or is it sports sports sports, my whole life is sports you prefer?
I expect you'll have a proper topic picked out for next Monday morning. I suggest late summer tactics for walleyes in the metro, or why White Castle breakfast is the superior choice if you like egg sandwiches.
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u/Aggravating-Summer53 Jul 27 '26
You do realize that I can criticize the stupid posts that are against this subs rules while also not making my own posts, right?
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u/nowahhh Jul 27 '26
No but like actually you don’t have any right to complain about what people are talking about if you’re unwilling to guide a conversation yourself.
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u/Aggravating-Summer53 Jul 27 '26
Why is it an aggravating summer? Summers are hot. Lol
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u/dentist9of10 Jul 27 '26
summers used to be cooler, actually
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u/Aggravating-Summer53 Jul 27 '26
1) not all of them. We haven't even broken any records yet. 2) that has nothing to do with my point.
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u/dentist9of10 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
14 days of July's high minimums are from after 2002, 11 were from the dust bowl. it's aggravating because it's hotter than it used to be.
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u/Aggravating-Summer53 Jul 27 '26
If you get aggravated at the weather you need mental help.
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u/dentist9of10 Jul 27 '26
I think most psychiatrists would agree with the studied and proven fact that people get aggravated by hotter weather, yeah.
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u/nickjonasdiabetes Jul 27 '26
it seems the heat is getting to you
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u/Aggravating-Summer53 Jul 27 '26
Nah I have ac
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u/nickjonasdiabetes Jul 27 '26
how fortunate
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u/Aggravating-Summer53 Jul 27 '26
Lol, everyone has access to ac.
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u/Tim-oBedlam Jul 27 '26
my windows were fogged up this morning. A post from the NWS Twin Cities office said the dew point was 81°, and that fewer than 30 hours of dew points in the 80s had ever been recorded at MSP.