Your summer entertainment to-do list: bike and kayak tours, live music and more

A kayak at the edge of a lake
A Paddle Share kayak is ready to go out on Pickerel Lake in July 2020 in Lilydale Regional Park in St. Paul.
Andrew Krueger | MPR News 2020

What are you doing with your post-pandemic summer? How about re-meeting Minnesota?  

This summer, host Angela Davis will check in with tour guides from across the state with their suggestions for discovering — or rediscovering — the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Know a great tour guide? Send us your ideas for who to feature next.

To kick off the series, Angela was joined by a tour guide from Duluth and a Twin Cities urban geographer who offered up their own ideas on how to enjoy Minnesota this summer.

Then, Angela spoke to two hosts from The Current on where and how to take in live music and other entertainment this summer.

Create a More Connected Minnesota

MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.

We’ve included some of the guests’ favorite summer recommendations below.

Guests:

  • Matti Erpestad offers kayak and biking tours out of Duluth through a tour agency he runs with his brother-in-law called Day Tripper.

  • Bill Lindeke is a Twin Cities urban geographer, writer, historian and tour guide. His work appears on MinnPost, Twin City Sidewalks and streets.mn.

  • Sanni Brown co-hosts The Message on The Current, a hip-hop and R&B show you can hear Wednesday nights at 10 p.m.

  • Sean McPherson is a host for The Current. He co-hosts The Message with Sanni Brown.

A sample of summer outing recommendations from today’s guests:

  • Sean’s recommendation: Tubing at Welch Village

Sean says: You take the day all the way off from everything, ideally even from parental responsibilities. Pack a swimsuit, a cooler, sunblock, canned beer, snacks, a waterproof speaker and towels. Get breakfast at the Hi-Lo Diner and then drive towards Welch Mill. Take the long tube trip and prepare for hours of rolling down a river, the hijinks of your cooler flipping over, getting a sunburn on the one square inch of your thigh you forgot to slather in sunblock. But it’s all part of the joy, it’s magical. Exhausted, you return your tube, grab one of the 100 burger choices at King’s Place in Miesville and come back home drained, slightly sunburnt and ready to circle another date on your calendar for the summer of 2022.

The free Thursday night outdoor concert series in St. Paul’s Mears Park kicks off June 10 with a performance by St. Paul-native Lady Midnight. Music runs from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., and guests are encouraged to bring their own blankets and chairs.

  • Matti’s Recommendation: The North Shore Kayak Tour at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.