Minneapolis welcomes Shriners International for 140th Imperial Session

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Minneapolis welcomes Shriners International for 140th Imperial Session

MINNEAPOLIS, July 2, 2014 Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Convention Center welcome the Shriners International 2014 Imperial Session July 6-10. With 15,000 people attending, this 140th event will make an economic impact of $34 million with a total of 22,975 hotel room nights booked and events throughout the metropolitan area.

Most notably, perhaps, is the Imperial Parade on Tuesday, July 8. The parade runs through downtown Minneapolis on Hennepin Avenue starting at Parade Stadium at 7:30 p.m. and ending at South 5th Street. There are 183 parade units and more than 2,000 participants from the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Panama including clowns, motor cars, bands, antique cars, motorcycles and 150 horses. The parade will end at 10:30 p.m.

Other public events include: Clown Competition (Mall of America), MotorCorps Competition (Burnsville Center), Chanters Competition (Minneapolis Scottish Rite Temple) and Equine Competition (State Fair GroundsColiseum).

Shriners International is a fraternal organization that founded Shriners Hospitals for Children as its official philanthropy in 1922. The organization, which began as one hospital, is now a world-renowned health care system with 22 locations in three countries. The fraternity, which has nearly 200 chapters in seven countries and thousands of clubs around the world, continues to operate and support this unique health care system, which treats children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries and cleft lip and palate, regardless of families ability to pay, through the Shriners Hospitals for Children. They last held an Imperial Session in Minneapolis in 2003.

Minneapolis is proud to welcome back the Shriners International Imperial Session, said Melvin Tennant, president and CEO of Meet Minneapolis. The Shriners do so much for so many through their charitable works, and they bring joy to everyone who attends their parades and other public events. Its a pleasure to have this group in our city this summer.

Shriners International joins several other high-profile events booked by Meet Minneapolis for the summer of 2014, including the recent USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships, the upcoming Major League Baseball All-Star Week and Meeting Professionals International in early August.

#askMPLS

When attendees from the Shriners International Imperial Session or other visitors attending events in the city have questions about where to go, what to do or just need directions, all they need to do is ask by using the Meet Minneapolis hashtag #askMPLS on social media. Staff members are on the ready to respond to questions and assist to ensure a great visitor experience for all who come to Minneapolis.

ABOUT MEET MINNEAPOLIS

Meet Minneapolis is a private, not-for-profit, member-based association. It actively promotes and sells the Minneapolis area as a destination for conventions and meetings, works to maximize the visitor experience and markets the city as a desirable tourist destination to maximize the economic benefit of the greater Minneapolis area.

Meet Minneapolis is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) of the Destination Marketing Association International.

Follow us:

Online: www.minneapolis.org and http://go.minneapolis.org

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/meetminneapolis?ref=ts

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/meetminneapolis

On Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/meetminneapolis/

MEDIA CONTACTS

Meet Minneapolis: Kristen Montag, media & communication manager, 612.767.8038, kristenm@minneapolis.org, Minneapolis_PR on Twitter.

Shriners International schedule interviews with Shriners or specifics about events: