Minneapolis Aquatennial

Coordinates: 44°58′38″N 93°15′55″W / 44.9773°N 93.2654°W / 44.9773; -93.2654

The Minneapolis Aquatennial is an annual outdoor event held in the U.S. city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, during the third full week of July. Originating in 1940, the Minneapolis Aquatennial celebrates the city's famous lakes, rivers, and streams.

Advertised as The Best Days of Summer the festivities previously included some 70 events, including sand castle building, beach volleyball, a tennis invitational, a triathlon, parades, Subway Block Party and the final Target Fireworks. The annual "Milk Carton Boat Races," featured various divisions of boat races with boats constructed of milk cartons. The fireworks display is one of the largest in the country, and larger than the city's Fourth of July celebration.

Minneapolis celebrated its centennial in 1956 in conjunction with the Aquatennial.^[1] The city's sesquicentennial was July 18–27, 2008, the year Minnesota celebrated 150 years of statehood.^[2]

The Aquatennial was scrapped from 1942 to 1945, besides 2020.

^ The Minneapolis Aquatennial Association and The Minneapolis Centennial Committee (1956). Minneapolis: City of Opportunity. T. S. Denison and Company. LCCN 56-9982. OCLC 3486815.
^ "Minneapolis City Council Official Proceedings: Regular Meeting of July 20, 2007 (Resolution 2007R-370)" (PDF). (published 28 July 2007, in Finance and Commerce). Retrieved 2007-08-12. and "150 Years of Statehood". Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission. Retrieved 2007-07-21.