Southside Battletrain exemplifies May Day joy, south Minneapolis and the absurd
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Southside Battletrain is quintessential May Day in south Minneapolis.
A three-seat Ferris wheel made entirely of scrap metal.
A playground on a vehicle originally designed to be powered by a human hamster wheel. It shoots up flames.
A bicycle-powered ice and fish shack with moving dinosaur parts.
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“I always think of Southside Battletrain as a group of people that like to show the absurdity of life through by doing weird things,” said Max Ritter, who joined about 15 years ago when he was in welding school and a friend advised him to check it out.
The heavy metal art collective is among the many colorful arts endeavors stretching people’s imaginations that are centered on the May Day festivities around Powderhorn Park, a community celebration of the arrival of spring.
“I think it helps people break out of, like, the norm of life, to be like, whoa, like you can express yourself in wild and different ways,” he said.
When lined up, the battle train extends over a block and requires at least 100 volunteers to operate, in part for crowd safety.
There are about a dozen pieces that make up the battle train, though not all make it to the annual parade at Powderhorn Park each year.
There’s the one based off the Samuel P. Ely shipwreck in Lake Superior.
There’s also a caged-in, half-pipe skate ramp on wheels.
Their tugboat, nicknamed “Tuggy,” has the frame of a 1996 Ford Econoline van, the cab of a semi-trailer and a foghorn intended for the Duluth lift bridge but rejected because of a casting flaw.
Members say they work primarily with materials they have on hand and with donated materials.
“You’ll see a number of things in the neighborhood that got dinosaurs on them because one year, a whole bunch of animatronic dinosaurs was donated,” said Andrew Bendzick, a mechanic with the collective.
While Southside Battletrain is based out of a home on East 31st St and Portland Avenue in Minneapolis, its rust-colored, larger-than-life curiosities overtake the surrounding block — with support from neighbors.
“It’s potent. It's intersectional. It's like multifaceted. Some of it's sharp. Some of it's loud; some of it's grimy and smoky. It's all very raucous, and, you know, punk,” said Bendzick, describing their work.
Mikey Gabrelcik’s name is engraved along the side of the Hamm’s Crusher, a car cut in half and containing a 2,000-pound block of concrete intended to flatten beer cans. (“Southside runs on Hamm’s,” he joked, adding that he doesn’t drink anymore.)
Gabrelcik has been part of Southside Battletrain on and off since it started and said working on the Hamm’s Crusher helped him out mentally after a tough period. He said the playfulness of the group is what has driven him to stay involved.
“It's really important for adults to play. It's good for the spirit. It's good for your energy,” said Gabrelcik.
The exact date of the collective’s origins are debated, according to Ritter, but he thinks it was around 2008 that the Southside Battletrain founders made a float out of old prop equipment from a puppeteer, waited in an alleyway until a gap in the longstanding May Day parade, and then joined uninvited.
“May Day and Southside Battletrain are intrinsically linked,” he said. “Without the parade, there wouldn’t be a battle train.”
While May Day is their primary focus, the group will also go where requested in the summer: Art-a-Whirl, Surly Brewing Co.’s Darkness Days, fundraisers and other smaller events. Their work goes to bed in September.
Southside Battletrain got nonprofit status last year — or became “an entity in the eyes of the state,” as Ritter puts it — with hopes of ensuring its sustainability. Ritter said they wanted to get finances straight and establish institutional memory.
“We hope to make this a thing that lasts longer than any individual,” said Ritter, who serves as secretary.
On Sunday, the Southside Battletrain will be part of the May Day parade going down Bloomington Avenue from 28th to 34th Street starting at noon. It will then station along 15th Avenue South next to Powderhorn Park where they invite people to check out the pieces and take a ride on the Ferris wheel. The parade and festival are free to attend.
Ritter said there will also be tacos and merch.
Members want the public to know people of all ages and skills are welcome to join.
