Your Guide to the Twin Cities in April

The weather is getting nicer. There are concerts to enjoy, secret waterfalls to admire, movies to watch, both at a film festival and in the comfort of your home. April is a great time of year in the Twin Cities. Are things all the way better? Absolutely not. But to quote our contributor Denzel Belin, “enjoy the life you are fighting for.” Let’s dance to that, let’s cook to that, let’s laugh to that, let’s raise a glass to that.

Eat Something

🥩 Jax Cafe

You should at least once, and probably more than once, eat a proper Easter brunch buffet. I’m not Christian, and I don’t have any business celebrating Easter. But I have some business enjoying cheesy hashbrowns, wilted Caesar salad, and cantaloupe. There are a couple of elite options for a gold standard holiday brunch in the Twin Cities. You have Jax Cafe in Northeast, the Saint Paul Hotel in … you guessed it … St. Paul. And if you are looking for decadence, you can always spring for Mara if you have the budget for it. Long live the carving station. –Sean

👣 Cathedral Hill Food Tour – April 3

Many a time I’ve walked out of Moscow on the Hill, belly full of pelmeni and horseradish vodka and thought that there was no better eating in the Twin Cities than what is on offer in Cathedral Hill. It seems like others agree, as the people at Taste Twin Cities have curated a walking food tour of the neighborhood. The event kicks off at The Gnome Craft Pub and wraps up over at Moscow on the Hill. I can personally vouch for the grand majority of restaurants in this area. It’s an extra bonus that on top of the culinary delights on offer, the tour will also highlight the rich history of Cathedral Hill, including its role in the lives of many of St. Paul’s most celebrated characters, including F. Scott Fitzgerald and James J. Hill. –Sean

🌭 Hot Dogs at the 620 Club

The baseball season is upon us. Cookouts are around the corner. It’s hot dog season, folks, and the 620 Club is right on time. Near the corner of West Seventh and St. Clair, it used to be called Keenan’s. The recent rebrand didn’t change much about the bar itself, but the menu turned a corner. Gavin Kashmark is at the helm in the kitchen, and the man has a gift with the hot dog. Your ideal situation is to go with a friend and grab all three dogs – the Coney, Chicago, and Kimchi – and an order of fries. Play a game of 8-ball while you wait on one of the few active pool tables on West Seventh. When the food arrives, cut each dog in half, create a generous bathing pool of ketchup and mustard in the fry basket, order a Summit or two, and don’t scratch on the 8 ball. –Sean

Watch a Million Movies

📹 MSPIFF – April 8 - 19

The Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival is one of the crown jewels of cultural offerings in Minnesota. For 11 days, the Twin Cities turns into a cinephile's dream with The Main Cinema filling its screens with critically acclaimed releases from all over the globe. Your best bet is to thumb through their digital guide and find out what interests you, but I have to point out the blockbusters they are featuring on their opening and closing nights. The festival opens with “Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story,” which is a Judd Apatow-directed documentary telling the story of Minnesota-born comedian Maria Bamford. The festival closes with a recently-unearthed gem from Prince’s legendary vault. Before Prince took his Diamonds and Pearls tour all over the world, he ran the setlist at Glam Slam, the club he owned in downtown Minneapolis. The New Power Generation, circa 1992, is likely Prince’s most ballistic backing band of all time, and to see Prince playing in such an intimate setting a decade into his superstar status will be an absolute delight. –Sean

⛸️ Uncle Roy – April 10 and 11at MSPIFF

“Uncle Roy” debuts at the MSPIFF, and it’s already getting tons of praise. It's about a gay ice skater who became a photographer and had the world's biggest collection of ice show memorabilia. The film is directed by Roy’s niece, Keri Pickett. Pickett will be a guest on City Cast Twin Cities on Tuesday, April 7. –Tane Danger

Celebrate 4/20

🎙️ Canna Fest – April 16 at The Lowlands

THC is very normal now. You might take it to fall asleep. You might take it for muscle pains. But if you take THC to get high, then you should still treat 4/20 as a holiday! It’s a chance to celebrate the semi-counter-cultural way you choose to look at the world from time to time. Events abound in the Twin Cities, but CannaFest caught my eye. The Lowlands is a subtle industrial building just outside of downtown St. Paul that has been reimagined as an event venue. The team from Minnesota Monthly is taking over the spot with vendors from the THC world and a munchies-approved menu curated by the 400 Tavern. Consume responsibly, and happy 420 to everyone! –Sean

Hear Loud Music

🎙️ The Plastic Constellations – April 18 at the Turf Club

For Twin Cities music fans of a certain age, The Plastic Constellations are the stuff of legends. I am in a tremendous number of group chats with those music fans. The Plastic Constellations, or TPC as they were frequently abbreviated, played an impassioned, epic style of rock music that reminds me of the Get Up Kids without the melodrama. The group blossomed in the early 2000s, built a modest fanbase on a national level, played loud ass riffs and shouted their oblique lyrics that always felt half-confessional and half-inside joke to adoring crowds in the Twin Cities. They called it quits on their own terms in 2008 and have remained friends throughout the 15+ years since they last stepped on stage. For one night at the Turf Club, the 45-year-olds of the Twin Cities will pretend they are 25 again for 60 minutes plus an encore. The next day we’ll all sleep in, drink an extra cup of coffee, and force our kids to listen to at least the first 40 seconds of “Black Market Pandas” before we switch it back to KPop Demon Hunters. –Sean

Dance to The Music

🎙️ Transmission 25 – April 25 at First Avenue

For 25 years, the Twin Cities have entrusted their dancing shoes to DJ Jake Rudh. Although Rudh certainly has a great record collection, his secret sauce is his dedication to his favorites. The man goes deep on Gen X classics, and he knows the records he plays inside and out. And he knows just what record we want to dance to next. His Transmission nights have survived venue closures, a pandemic, and a quarter century of taste fluctuations to remain a vital part of the Twin Cities nightlife. Whether it’s at the weekly Transmission night at the Uptown VFW, on his curated Twitch feed, on the airwaves of The Current, in the DJ booth at First Avenue, or on a resort stage in Mexico, Jake Rudh is an ambassador and purveyor for the sounds of Gen X, and he’ll celebrate Transmission’s incredible run of 25 years. For those about to new wave, we salute you. –Sean

Expand Your Art Crawling

🎨 Schmidt Spring Art Crawl – April 17-19

Why should Northeast have all the fun? Sure, Art-A-Whirl is the largest open studio tour in the country, but we have too much art to fit into just one city. The Schmidt Artist Lofts on West Seventh in St. Paul have developed into a thriving scene full of visual artists, musicians, and supporters who are helping turn this little corner of St. Paul into a very exciting place to be a creative. The crawl will highlight the great offerings of the painters, sculptors, and more who live in and work out of the Schmidt Artist Lofts. Grab a bite at Hot Grainz or a drink at The White Squirrel and get on the ground floor of one of the most exciting art scenes in the Twin Cities. –Sean

Drink Great Beverages

☕ Ethiopian Guji at JS Bean Factory

I am not a coffee snob. I like high-quality drip coffee. I can tell when I’m drinking terrible coffee, but I don’t have discerning enough taste to say “hints of mulberry” as I suck in a $9 espresso. But at my neighborhood coffee shop, everyone was making a big deal out of the return of Ethiopian Guji. I get it now. This coffee has a berry freshness unlike any coffee I’ve tasted. When I say berry, I don’t want you to be confused. This doesn’t taste like someone squirted strawberry syrup into the cup before they hit the refill button at a Holiday. This coffee carries the fresh burst and vivacity of a beautiful piece of fruit. It’s a very natural, wild feeling, and it goes down smoothly in a cup of coffee. Treat yourself to a pound of whole bean and see if it doesn’t brighten your mornings. –Sean

🍓 Fruit Teas at Unwind Corner Cafe

The recent sunny days have drawn me out of the house for a walk to Uptown’s Unwind Corner Cafe, which replaced the beleaguered Wuollet Bakery. The lattes are fine, but I think their best offerings are the fresh fruit teas. If you’re not familiar, it’s tea infused with fruit. You can also get them with a lemonade base if you prefer. They’re not too sweet, they’re very refreshing, and I like the fruit bits. –Tiffany

Rethink the Revolution

📚 Lindsay Chervinsky on John Adams – April 11 at Minnesota Historical Society

Something about living through history always makes me want to go back and think about other contentious eras in our country’s history. And boy, our history is a story of contentious era after contentious era! Our second President, John Adams, navigated new terrain in the Presidency, fortified the peaceful transfer of power, and broke new ground in managing international relations during wartime. His decisions echo in the office of the President today, and reflecting on his management of the office speaks volumes about how Presidential power is perceived today. Historian Lindsay Chervinsky has written one of the most exhaustive biographies about John Adams, “Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic”. Chervinsky will speak about Adams as part of the Minnesota Historical Society’s semiquincentennial celebration of the American Revolution. –Sean

Look at a Dang Waterfall

The snow is a-melting, the rain is a-falling, and our rivers are a-gushing. April is my favorite month of the year to get out and look at a waterfall. Of course, we have Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis and Hidden Falls in St. Paul (go to those, they're awesome), but a hidden gem right by downtown Minneapolis is in Father Hennepin Bluff Park near the Main Cinema. You can get super close to part of the St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River – yes, they're made of concrete now, but it's still sufficiently loud, wet, and fun to look at! If you're able to get out of the cities, plan a half-day trip to Willow River State Park in Hudson, Wisconsin. The park is less than an hour drive away, and it's a beautiful and relatively short hike to see the massive cascading waterfall located in a 200-foot deep gorge. You can even take a swim if you're prepared for the cold water! –Adam

Stay Home and Watch What Everyone Is Talking About

📺 “The Comeback” on HBO Max

As a proud “woman of a certain age,” I grew up inhaling every episode of Friends available to me, and I have proudly devoured every episode of Lisa Kudrow’s “The Comeback” in the last 30 years. The wild thing about this show, starring Kudrow as a washed-up sitcom actress, is that there is only a new season every ten years. How lucky are we to be living in an age when we get a THIRD season of The Comeback? The show has such range that it will make you laugh and cry in the same episode, and experience every feeling in between. The creators are doling out the show in slow sips on Sunday nights. –Anna

Celebrate National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, and the Twin Cities literary scene is showing up. On April 17, The Loft Literary Center hosts Catch the Fire! The Loft’s Inaugural Spring Benefit at Open Book (6 - 8:30 p.m., $150). It’s an immersive, mingle-friendly evening featuring powerhouse local writers like Kao Kalia Yang, Diane Wilson, Heid E. Erdrich, and Ed Bok Lee, alongside food, drinks, and interactive literary activities. Then on April 30, Coffee House Press teams up with community partners for a Community Poetry Reading at their Northeast Minneapolis space (6 p.m., free) for a casual, come-as-you-are gathering to hear live poetry, browse books, and connect with fellow lit lovers. –James

Clean Up Your City

April is also Earth Month, which in Minnesota basically means: the snow’s gone, but everything it was hiding … isn’t. Enter Saint Paul’s Citywide Cleanup Volunteer Events, a monthlong series organized by Saint Paul Parks and Recreation that brings neighbors together to pick up litter in local parks and neighborhoods and get things looking fresh for spring. Events happen throughout April at locations across the city, and they’re free to join — just show up and pitch in.

Don't Drive Distractedly

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. People texting and everything else while driving drives me nuts. I thought we made it illegal, but nobody seems to enforce it. Anyway, people should try just not looking at their phones while driving in April. See how it feels to be undistracted and wildly less likely to kill somebody! –Tane Danger

Visit Mayowood in Rochester

This historic mansion in Rochester is only open for tours part of the year, starting in April. It was built by Dr. Charles Mayo in 1910 and reflects all the different styles of architecture they loved from their travels around the world. I've been in the house a batch of times, and it is over the top in the best way. –Tane Danger