Anyone I’ve ever met while traveling has heard me gush about Minneapolis. Come to think of it, a lot of people in Minneapolis have heard me gush about Minneapolis. I won’t be here forever, but I happen to think the Land of 10,000 Lakes is vastly underappreciated. I love exploring this city and all its many offerings – especially the festivals and public events.

A few hours at the expansive Art-a-Whirl crawl in Northeast this past weekend left me impatient for this summer and all the events I can’t wait to drag my friends to. On the list for June so far:

• June 6: the St. Paul Summer Beer Fest. State Fairgrounds. Enough said.
• June 13: Twin Cities Donut Crawl. I hear there will be donuts. I will be there to confirm. 
• Also on June 13: the Northern Spark launch party – hosted by local nonprofit Northern Lights.mn. Art, music, brews – all at the Mill City Museum. Um, helllooo. 
• June 20-21: Rock the Garden music festival at the Walker Art Center. One of the top five modern art museums in the US + solid lineup of music festival bands = giant thumbs up.

But guys — I have even better news. There is such a thing as sitting in a beautiful Minneapolis park and watching free movies and listening to free live music on almost any given day of the summer. It is creatively named Music & Movies in the Park, and these awesome events happen all over the city in different locations.

The screen is bigger than that, I promise.

Music is live at a variety of squares and bandshells at varying times. Movies start after sunset – just bring a blanket, some snacks and maybe some bug spray. A couple that are on my calendar already:

• June 12: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
• June 26: Pitch Perfect
• June 30: Jurassic Park
• July 11: The Princess Bride
• July 13: Friday Night Lights
• July 25: Cesar Chavez
• August 8: The Amazing Spiderman 2
• August 19: Gravity

And they’re kicking it all off on Monday, May 25 with food trucks and — what else — live music.

Looks like it’s going to be another perfect busy summer in Minneapolis!