What’s New in 2022 in Minneapolis

Major events, anniversaries and a five-star hotel are just the beginning
Pictured: Photo Credit: Lane Pelovsky

For Immediate Release

Minneapolis (Dec. 15, 2021) – Minneapolis has big plans for 2022. Beginning with a prime-time, outdoor hockey event on New Year’s Day and continuing to embrace winter over 10 days with The Great Northern festival’s packed schedule, the City by Nature will welcome the NCAA Women’s Final Four, celebrate 50 years of Twin Cities Pride and open its first five-star hotel. And that’s just the first half of the year. Check this list (twice!) and add Minneapolis to your plans for 2022:

Mark your calendar now:

  • The Great Northern: The 2022 festival will be the biggest since the festival’s inception in 2017 with 52 original events over the 10-day period between Jan. 27 to Feb. 6. Starting with the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships, Saint Paul Winter Carnival and City of Lakes Loppet cross-country ski festival, the festival has added everything from:
    • Thermic bathing programming throughout the city presented by Stokeyard Outfitters
    • “Conservatory,” an ice-encased, fully functioning greenhouse conceived by artists Jovan C. Speller and Andy DuCett that is filled with hundreds of deeply hued plants and will provide a space for Black life to thrive in harsh conditions
    • An iconic 1970s Fluxus performance art piece “Ice Music” is reimagined in cellist Seth Parker Woods’ and composer Spencer Topel’s ICED BODIES—featuring electronic music and an ice cello dyed black that will melt during the course of the performance.
    • And more! Details and events are in the press release, linked here.

Coming-soon hotels:

  • The Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences Minneapolis – Minneapolis’ first five-star hotel opens in mid-2022 in the “Gateway district,” just two blocks from the Mississippi River, with 222 total rooms, including 31 suites. Also:
    • Signature restaurant & bar and a street-front Mediterranean café for breakfast or lunch, both by James Beard Award-winning Chef Gavin Kaysen
    • 4th floor Terrace Restaurant and Bar with city views
    • Outdoor pool plaza, lounge seating & firepit
    • Four Seasons Spa, featuring seven treatment rooms, fitness center & indoor pool
  • Hilton Tru & Home2 Suites Downtown Minneapolis (expected March 2022) will have a combined 201 rooms in the same former bank building and be connected to the Minneapolis Skyway system:
  • Home2 Suites by Hilton Minneapolis University Area (expected March 2022) Located in Prospect Park near the University of Minnesota campus, this 112-room, new hotel will offer a seasonal rooftop bar with great views of the city, and a heated indoor pool and hot tub.
  • Fairfield Inn & Suites Minneapolis Downtown (expected May 2022) Located steps from the Hennepin Theatre district and Target Field, this brand-new construction hotel will feature 113 rooms, free hot breakfast and complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi.

Highly anticipated dining:

  • Vinai – Hmong chef Yia Vang is expected to open his highly anticipated restaurant that honors the past, present and future of Hmong cooking in Northeast Minneapolis in 2022 after years of successful pop ups and foodie accolades. His Hmong Union Kitchen found a permanent home within food hall Graze Provisions + Libations in late 2021.
  • Noa – This California-inspired eatery is moving into the renovated, street-level IDS Center space that was most recently home to Mission American Kitchen, steps from the newly renovated Crystal Court, an indoor park at the center of downtown.
  • Lutunji’s Palate Cafe– Lutunji Abraham, a Black chef and entrepreneur, opens her first brick-and-mortar shop in Downtown’s Elliot Park neighborhood after years of success at farmer’s markets and grocery stores selling her peach cobbler and other desserts. Opening expected in April.
  • Dayton’s Food Hall and Market – Andrew Zimmern is curating this lower-level food hall in the historic Dayton’s Project building under the Departments at Dayton’s, which is a local maker’s market that opened in November.

Open now (but begging to be seen and tasted):

  • The Get Down Coffee Co. and Houston White’s Men’s Room – Black entrepreneur Houston White opened his newly built facility that features his coffee company/café, his popular barber shop and retail operation selling his clothing designs in North Minneapolis’ “Camdentown” neighborhood on Black Friday 2021.
  • Khaluna – Laotian Chef Ann Ahmed is bridging the gap between Minneapolis and Southeast Asia with a new “resort-like” spot with a heated patio, shop and amazing flavors, which opened in fall 2021 but deserves a new look as travel revives in Minneapolis.
  • Cardamom – Black Pastry Chef Shawn McKenzie and Argentinian Chef Daniel Del Prado opened this new restaurant at the Walker Art Center’s sunny front door in mid-2021. They focus on the market-fresh cuisine of North Africa, southern Europe and the Middle East. The pair also opened two Café Ceres locations in the past year, and Del Prado owns several well-regarded sister restaurants (Sanjusan, Rosalita, Martina and Colita) throughout the city.

Plenty to do and see:

  • Watershed Spa – Northeast Minneapolis will welcome the area’s first ritual-based, communal bathhouse and spa in early 2022.
  • Minnesota Landscape Arboretum – Annual tulip display in late April/May will feature more than 39,000 blooms themed around the color yellow as a symbol for hope and optimism, and the popular after-hours firefly viewing nights will return in the summer.
  • Bad Axe Throwing – A fun bar experience where you toss axes like a lumberjack recently opened in Minneapolis’ City Center.
  • Capri Theater – This completely renovated Northside theater reopened in October 2021. Famous especially for being the stage to host Prince’s very first public performance.
  • Paisley Park –The popular The Beautiful Collection, an exhibit featuring over 300 pairs of Prince’s custom-made shoes, continues through summer 2022.
  • Minneapolis Sculpture Garden/Walker Art Center – Local Native American artist Angela Two Stars unveiled a new commissioned piece, Okciyapi (meaning: Help Each Other), as the first public artwork by a Native artist to be sited in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden in fall 2021 but it has yet to be seen by many visitors.

For more about what’s new, what’s to do and planning a trip just for you, visit Meet Minneapolis.


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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 to the greater Minneapolis area. Meet Minneapolis is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) of Destinations International.

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