NEWS RELEASE

Minneapolis, Minn. – In a photo finish that ended at 11:59pm on Wednesday, May 27, Lake Calhoun surged ahead of Lake Harriet to become the 2015 summer home for _ [ , or Minne the Lake Creature. For the third year in a row and in a completely non-scientific poll, Minne fans voted for their lake of choice by liking its photo in a Facebook album; votes were also cast on the Minneapolis Parks Foundation’s blog. Minne will be installed in Lake Calhoun, which won with a total of 172 votes, the week of June 1.

For the 2015 poll, Parks Foundation invited the community to vote for their favorite of six lakes May 14-27. The choices this year were Brownie Lake, Cedar Lake, Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet, Lake of the Isles, and Wirth Lake. Minneapolis has 17 lakes and ponds, of which nine have the kind of “habitat” that suits the Lake Creature. Three friendly-habitat lakes were not included in the voting this year – Lake Nokomis and Powderhorn Lake, because Minne visited there in 2013 and 2014 respectively, and Lake Hiawatha due to invasive species.

“Minne is whimsical and fun and we’re so glad that community members are excited about her visiting their lake of choice,” says Tom Evers, Executive Director of the Minneapolis Parks Foundation. “The enthusiasm around voting says as much about how important Minneapolis lakes are to our community as it does about the wonder that Minne brings to visiting them.” Fans are encouraged to interact with Minne via Facebook and Twitter.

Cameron Gainer, a Minneapolis-based visual and installation artists, created the 13’ tall fiberglass sculpture and named her _ [ . She first appeared in a Minneapolis lake in 2009 and was purchased by the Parks Foundation in 2010, the same year that fans chose her nickname, “Minne, the Lake Creature.” “Minne” means water in Dakota.

According to Parks Foundation records, Minne is making her first foray into Lake Calhoun, the largest lake in Minneapolis at about 519 acres. A highlight of the Chain of Lakes Regional Park, it boasts a striking view of the downtown Minneapolis skyline framed by an abundant canopy of trees. Popular with water enthusiasts, Lake Calhoun has a boat dock, fishing pier, and three beaches, as well as two playgrounds, an archery range, and more than three miles of walking and biking paths. Visitors can rent watercraft from Wheel of Fun and enjoy award-winning food and drink at Tin Fish.

About the Minneapolis Parks Foundation

The Minneapolis Parks Foundation, which partners with the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, is an independent 501c3 dedicated to community investment in the nation’s top park system. The Parks Foundation is working to ensure that the RiverFirst Initiative is brought to live, is leading the design and preliminary steps for the Water Works site at St. Anthony Falls and hosts the Next Generation of Parks Lecture Series. The Parks Foundation seeks to provide visionary and philanthropic support for the whole Minneapolis parks system with a special attention to innovation and under-resourced communities.

For more information or to support our work, please visit MplsParksFoundation.org.

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Major Funding for MPF is Provided By:
The McKnight Foundation | The Minneapolis Foundation | General Mills
George Family Foundation| Curtis L. Carlson Foundation

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Featured image courtesy MPRB