This Weekend in the Neighborhood: Mother's Day Among the Sculptures

It is Mother's Day weekend, and the neighborhood's marquee spring event is, conveniently, right next door. Between a sculpture-garden art fair and a riverfront market, a memorable outing is within walking distance for much of Lowry Hill and the lakes.

It is the kind of weekend that practically plans itself: a free art fair in a world-class garden, a market full of spring flowers, and a short, walkable loop that ties them together. Here is how to make a morning of it.

The garden

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Art Fair runs both Saturday and Sunday, spreading artists and vendors across the grounds among more than sixty sculptures, with the giant Spoonbridge and Cherry presiding over it all. Admission is free, and the timing makes it a natural Mother's Day outing — equal parts art browsing and a stroll through one of the city's signature green spaces.

The garden sits just across Hennepin from Lowry Hill, so leaving the car at home is the easy call. Expect a crowd on a holiday weekend, especially around midday, and plan a little extra time simply to wander; the permanent collection is reason enough to linger even after you have made the rounds of the fair. The garden is free and open year-round, but the fair adds the bonus of artists' tables tucked among the monumental works.

Before you go

Make a morning of it by starting at the Mill City Farmers Market downtown on Saturday, where the spring season is in full swing, then making the short hop over to the garden. A bunch of fresh flowers from a market stall is, after all, a fitting prop for the day — and far more personal than a gas-station bouquet.

The market also handles the practical side of a Mother's Day brunch. Pick up bread, pastry, fruit and flowers, and you have the makings of a picnic on the garden lawn that beats fighting for a restaurant table on the busiest brunch day of the year.

A walkable celebration

One practical note: the surrounding cafes and brunch spots will be busy with Mother's Day crowds all weekend, so either book ahead or build the meal around the market and a picnic on the garden lawn. Either way, the whole celebration fits in a tidy loop you can walk end to end — market, garden, lunch on the grass, and home — without ever circling for parking.

That walkability is the quiet luxury of the weekend. For families in Lowry Hill and Kenwood especially, one of the region's better free spring events is essentially in the backyard, and the day can unfold at a stroller's pace from start to finish.