Aquatennial fundraiser

“Reports of the demise of the Minneapolis Aquatennial are greatly exaggerated,” a fundraiser flyer reads, riffing off a famous Mark Twain quote. Community members gathered on a rather chilly April afternoon to eat food from Involve MN, Cookie Cart, and mingle with this year’s Aquatennial crew.

Park & Recreation Board Commissioners Jason Garcia and Meg Forney spoke at a fundraiser for the Minneapolis Aquatennial’s Torchlight Parade on April 19, 2026 at The Pavillion at Minnehaha Falls. The Aquatennial will be held this year from July 19-26 with the parade on July 22.

“Bringing back the Aquatennial is going to be a huge opportunity for our city to come together and really celebrate together,” Garcia said. “We’ve had a long winter, a lot of challenges thrown our way, but I’m very excited to work with everybody to help make this a really great, exciting event.” Garcia represents District 4, which encompasses the downtown area.

This year’s Torchlight Parade theme is “Resilience.”

“Things like the Aquatennial activate our spaces and that’s what our parks do,” Forney, an at-large commissioner, said.

The Minneapolis Downtown Council is not organizing this year’s festival and is instead being funded and organized by the Aquatennial Ambassador Organization, led by Kevin Winge.