Minnesota’s Best Summer Music Festivals

By Complete Travel Curation Team
June 20, 2024

Minnesota’s Best Summer Music Festivals
Andrew.Parks
Thu, 06/20/2024 – 14:46




Preview Image

The maximum number of media items have been selected.

Cover Photo

4 media items remaining.

Body Components
Sort order Name Component type Language Operations
Best Summer Music Festivals: Winstock English
Best Summer Music Festivals: Twin Cities Jazz Fest English
Best Summer Music Festivals: Lakes Jam English
Best Summer Music Festivals: Taste of Minnesota English
Best Summer Music Festivals: Minnesota Yacht Club English
Best Summer Music Festivals: Bayfront Reggae Fest English
Best Summer Music Festivals: WE Fest English
Best Summer Music Festivals: Basilica Block Party English
Best Summer Music Festivals: Boats and Bluegrass English
Author Block English

Post-Body Components
Sort order Name Component type Language Operations
Dynamic Related Content Block – Editorial Pages English
Contact Info Block English



Topics
Places
Seasons

Configure the meta tags below.

Use tokens to avoid redundant meta data and search engine penalization. For example, a ‘keyword’ value of “example” will be shown on all content using this configuration, whereas using the [node:field_keywords] automatically inserts the “keywords” values from the current entity (node, term, etc).

Browse available tokens.

Basic tags
Simple meta tags.

The text to display in the title bar of a visitor’s web browser when they view this page. This meta tag may also be used as the title of the page when a visitor bookmarks or favorites this page, or as the page title in a search engine result. It is common to append ‘[site:name]’ to the end of this, so the site’s name is automatically added. It is recommended that the title is no greater than 55 – 65 characters long, including spaces.

A brief and concise summary of the page’s content that is a maximum of 160 characters in length. The description meta tag may be used by search engines to display a snippet about the page in search results.

A brief and concise summary of the page’s content, preferably 150 characters or less. Where as the description meta tag may be used by search engines to display a snippet about the page in search results, the abstract tag may be used to archive a summary about the page. This meta tag is no longer supported by major search engines.


A comma-separated list of keywords about the page. This meta tag is no longer supported by most search engines.

Advanced
Meta tags that might not be needed by many sites.

Geo-spatial information in ‘latitude; longitude’ format, e.g. ‘50.167958; -97.133185’; see Wikipedia for details.


Geo-spatial information in ‘latitude, longitude’ format, e.g. ‘50.167958, -97.133185’; see Wikipedia for details.


A location’s two-letter international country code, with an optional two-letter region, e.g. ‘US-NH’ for New Hampshire in the USA.


A location’s formal name.

Robots
Provides search engines with specific directions for what to do when this page is indexed.


Use a number character as a textual snippet for this search result. “0” equals “nosnippet”. “-1” will let the search engine decide the most effective length.


Use a maximum of number seconds as a video snippet for videos on this page in search results. “0” will use a static a image. “-1” means there is no limit.


Set the maximum size of an image preview for this page in a search results.


Do not show this page in search results after the specified date


A link to the preferred page location or URL of the content of this page, to help eliminate duplicate content penalties from search engines.


DEPRECATED. Used to define this page’s language code. May be the two letter language code, e.g. “de” for German, or the two letter code with a dash and the two letter ISO country code, e.g. “de-AT” for German in Austria. Still used by Bing.


A brief URL, often created by a URL shortening service.


Used for paginated content by providing URL with rel=’next’ link.


A comma-separated list of keywords about the page. This meta tag is used as an indicator in Google News.


Used for paginated content by providing URL with rel=’prev’ link.


Highlight standout journalism on the web, especially for breaking news; used as an indicator in Google News. Warning: Don’t abuse it, to be used a maximum of 7 times per calendar week!


An image associated with this page, for use as a thumbnail in social networks and other services. This will be able to extract the URL from an image field if the field is configured properly.


Describes the name and version number of the software or publishing tool used to create the page.


Used to indicate the URL that broke the story, and can link to either an internal URL or an external source. If the full URL is not known it is acceptable to use a partial URL or just the domain name.


Define the author of a page.


Sets a cookie on the visitor’s browser. Can be in either NAME=VALUE format, or a more verbose format including the path and expiration date; see the link for full details on the syntax.


Used to rate content for audience appropriateness. This tag has little known influence on search engine rankings, but can be used by browsers, browser extensions, and apps. The most common options are general, mature, restricted, 14 years, safe for kids. If you follow the RTA Documentation you should enter RTA-5042-1996-1400-1577-RTA


Details about intellectual property, such as copyright or trademarks; does not automatically protect the site’s content or intellectual property.


Indicate to search engines and other page scrapers whether or not links should be followed. See the W3C specifications for further details. Note: this serves the same purpose as the HTTP header by the same name.


The number of seconds to wait before refreshing the page. May also force redirect to another page using the format ‘5; url=https://example.com/’, which would be triggered after five seconds.


This meta tag communicates with Google. There are currently two directives supported: ‘nositelinkssearchbox’ to not to show the sitelinks search box, and ‘notranslate’ to ask Google not to offer a translation of the page. Both options may be added, just separate them with a comma. See meta tags that Google understands for further details.


Tell search engines when to index the page again. Very few search engines support this tag, it is more useful to use an XML Sitemap file.


Used to control whether a browser caches a specific page locally. Not commonly used. Should be used in conjunction with the Pragma meta tag.


Control when the browser’s internal cache of the current page should expire. The date must to be an RFC-1123-compliant date string that is represented in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), e.g. ‘Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:12:56 GMT’. Set to ‘0’ to stop the page being cached entirely.


Used to control whether a browser caches a specific page locally. Not commonly used. Should be used in conjunction with the Cache-Control meta tag.

Open Graph
The Open Graph meta tags are used to control how Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and other social networking sites interpret the site’s content.

The Facebook Sharing Debugger lets you preview how your content will look when it’s shared to Facebook and debug any issues with your Open Graph tags.


The word that appears before the content’s title in a sentence. The default ignores this value, the ‘Automatic’ value should be sufficient if this is actually needed.


A human-readable name for the site, e.g., IMDb.


The type of the content, e.g., movie.


Preferred page location or URL to help eliminate duplicate content for search engines, e.g., https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117500/.


The title of the content, e.g., The Rock.

A one to two sentence description of the content.


The URL of an image which should represent the content. The image must be at least 200 x 200 pixels in size; 600 x 316 pixels is a recommended minimum size, and for best results use an image least 1200 x 630 pixels in size. Supports PNG, JPEG and GIF formats. Should not be used if og:image:url is used. Note: if multiple images are added many services (e.g. Facebook) will default to the largest image, not specifically the first one. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically. This will be able to extract the URL from an image field if the field is configured properly.


The URL of an video which should represent the content. For best results use a source that is at least 1200 x 630 pixels in size, but at least 600 x 316 pixels is a recommended minimum. Object types supported include video.episode, video.movie, video.other, and video.tv_show. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically.


A alternative version of og:image and has exactly the same requirements; only one needs to be used. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically. This will be able to extract the URL from an image field if the field is configured properly.


The secure URL (HTTPS) of an image which should represent the content. The image must be at least 200 x 200 pixels in size; 600 x 316 pixels is a recommended minimum size, and for best results use an image least 1200 x 630 pixels in size. Supports PNG, JPEG and GIF formats. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically. This will be able to extract the URL from an image field if the field is configured properly. Any URLs which start with “http://” will be converted to “https://”.


The secure URL (HTTPS) of an video which should represent the content. Any URLs which start with “http://” will be converted to “https://”.


The type of image referenced above. Should be either ‘image/gif’ for a GIF image, ‘image/jpeg’ for a JPG/JPEG image, or ‘image/png’ for a PNG image. Note: there should be one value for each image, and having more than there are images may cause problems.


The type of video referenced above. Should be either video.episode, video.movie, video.other, and video.tv_show. Note: there should be one value for each video, and having more than there are videos may cause problems.


The width of the above image(s). Note: if both the unsecured and secured images are provided, they should both be the same size.


The height of the above video(s). Note: if both the unsecured and secured videos are provided, they should both be the same size.


The height of the above video(s). Note: if both the unsecured and secured videos are provided, they should both be the same size.


The height of the above image(s). Note: if both the unsecured and secured images are provided, they should both be the same size.


The date this content was last modified, with an optional time value. Needs to be in ISO 8601 format. Can be the same as the ‘Article modification date’ tag.


The length of the video in seconds


A description of what is in the image, not a caption. If the page specifies an og:image it should specify og:image:alt.



URLs to related content











The locale these tags are marked up in, must be in the format language_TERRITORY. Default is ‘en_US’.


Other locales this content is available in, must be in the format language_TERRITORY, e.g. ‘fr_FR’. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically.


Links an article to an author’s Facebook profile, should be either URLs to the author’s profile page or their Facebook profile IDs. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically.


Links an article to a publisher’s Facebook page.


The primary section of this website the content belongs to.


Appropriate keywords for this content. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically.


The date this content was published on, with an optional time value. Needs to be in ISO 8601 format.


The date this content was last modified, with an optional time value. Needs to be in ISO 8601 format.


The date this content will expire, with an optional time value. Needs to be in ISO 8601 format.


Links a book to an author’s Facebook profile, should be either URLs to the author’s profile page or their Facebook profile IDs. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically.


The Book’s ISBN


The date the book was released.


Appropriate keywords for this content. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically.


The URL to an audio file that complements this object.


The secure URL to an audio file that complements this object. All ‘http://’ URLs will automatically be converted to ‘https://’. Any URLs which start with “http://” will be converted to “https://”.


The MIME type of the audio file. Examples include ‘application/mp3’ for an MP3 file.


The first name of the person who’s Profile page this is.


The person’s last name.


Any of Facebook’s gender values should be allowed, the initial two being ‘male’ and ‘female’.


Links to the Facebook profiles for actor(s) that appear in the video. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically.


A pseudonym / alias of this person.


The roles of the actor(s). Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically.


Links to the Facebook profiles for director(s) that worked on the video. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically.


The date the video was released.


The TV show this series belongs to.


Tag words associated with this video. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically.


Links to the Facebook profiles for scriptwriter(s) for the video. Multiple values may be used, separated by a comma. Note: Tokens that return multiple values will be handled automatically.

facebook
A set of meta tags specially for controlling advanced functionality with Facebook.

The Facebook Sharing Debugger lets you preview how your content will look when it’s shared to Facebook and debug any issues with your Open Graph tags.


Facebook Instant Articles claim URL token.


A comma-separated list of Facebook user IDs of people who are considered administrators or moderators of this page.


A comma-separated list of Facebook Platform Application IDs applicable for this site.

Twitter Cards
A set of meta tags specially for controlling the summaries displayed when content is shared on Twitter.

Notes:

  • no other fields are required for a Summary card
  • Photo card requires the ‘image’ field
  • Media player card requires the ‘title’, ‘description’, ‘media player URL’, ‘media player width’, ‘media player height’ and ‘image’ fields,
  • Summary Card with Large Image card requires the ‘Summary’ field and the ‘image’ field,
  • Gallery Card requires all the ‘Gallery Image’ fields,
  • App Card requires the ‘iPhone app ID’ field, the ‘iPad app ID’ field and the ‘Google Play app ID’ field,
  • Product Card requires the ‘description’ field, the ‘image’ field, the ‘Label 1’ field, the ‘Data 1’ field, the ‘Label 2’ field and the ‘Data 2’ field.

The page’s title, which should be concise; it will be truncated at 70 characters by Twitter. This field is required unless this the ‘type’ field is set to ‘photo’.


The @username for the website, which will be displayed in the Card’s footer; must include the @ symbol.


A description that concisely summarizes the content of the page, as appropriate for presentation within a Tweet. Do not re-use the title text as the description, or use this field to describe the general services provided by the website. The string will be truncated, by Twitter, at the word to 200 characters.


The numerical Twitter account ID for the website, which will be displayed in the Card’s footer.


The numerical Twitter account ID for the content creator / author for this page.


The @username for the content creator / author for this page, including the @ symbol.


By default Twitter tracks visitors when a tweet is embedded on a page using the official APIs. Setting this to ‘on’ will stop Twitter from tracking visitors.


The permalink / canonical URL of the current page.


The width of the image being linked to, in pixels.


The alternative text of the image being linked to. Limited to 420 characters.


The URL to a unique image representing the content of the page. Do not use a generic image such as your website logo, author photo, or other image that spans multiple pages. Images larger than 120x120px will be resized and cropped square based on longest dimension. Images smaller than 60x60px will not be shown. If the ‘type’ is set to Photo then the image must be at least 280x150px. This will be able to extract the URL from an image field if the field is configured properly.


The height of the image being linked to, in pixels.


A URL to the image representing the first photo in your gallery. This will be able to extract the URL from an image field if the field is configured properly.


A URL to the image representing the second photo in your gallery. This will be able to extract the URL from an image field if the field is configured properly.


A URL to the image representing the third photo in your gallery. This will be able to extract the URL from an image field if the field is configured properly.


A URL to the image representing the fourth photo in your gallery. This will be able to extract the URL from an image field if the field is configured properly.


If your application is not available in the US App Store, you must set this value to the two-letter country code for the App Store that contains your application.


The name of the iPhone app.


String value, should be the numeric representation of your iPhone app’s ID in the App Store.


The iPhone app’s custom URL scheme (must include “://” after the scheme name).


The name of the iPad app.


String value, should be the numeric representation of your iPad app’s ID in the App Store.


The iPad app’s custom URL scheme (must include “://” after the scheme name).


The name of the app in the Google Play app store.


Your app ID in the Google Play Store (i.e. “com.android.app”).


The Google Play app’s custom URL scheme (must include “://” after the scheme name).


The full URL for loading a media player, specifically an iframe for an embedded video rather than the URL to a page that contains a player. Required when using the Player Card type.


The width of the media player iframe, in pixels. Required when using the Player Card type.


The height of the media player iframe, in pixels. Required when using the Player Card type.


The full URL for an MP4 video (h.264) or audio (AAC) stream, takes precedence over the other media player field.


The MIME type for the media contained in the stream URL, as defined by RFC 4337.


This field expects a string, and you can specify values for labels such as price, items in stock, sizes, etc.


This field expects a string, and allows you to specify the types of data you want to offer (price, country, etc.).


This field expects a string, and you can specify values for labels such as price, items in stock, sizes, etc.


This field expects a string, and allows you to specify the types of data you want to offer (price, country, etc.).

Alternative language links (hreflang)
These meta tags are designed to point visitors to versions of the current page in other languages.

This should point to the version of the page that is for the main or primary locale, e.g. the original version of an article that is translated into other languages.
















Revision information

Revisions are required.

Briefly describe the changes you have made.

By the time summer rolls around, Minnesotans are ready to take full advantage of it. When it comes to live music, that means outdoor festivals that revolve around everything from reggae to rock to country. 

Here are nine bills worth seeking out this season.

Get help from the experts to plan your trip

Want to know the best spots in Minnesota? How about tips on how to make the most of your time in a specific city? Our Minnesota experts can answer your questions, offer advice, or plan the perfect Minnesota trip for you. For free.

Stay up to date with our Minnesota newsletter

Sign Up

Plan your trip with our free travel guides

Order Now

Things to Do
Nightlife & Music
Article
Keith Harris

Tigirlily at Winstock

Tigirlily at Winstock 


WINSTOCK 

Winstead, June 14-15

For three decades now, this country festival, held less than an hour’s drive from the Twin Cities, has been the unofficial start of the summer festival season. Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson… you name ’em; if they’re twangy and famous, they’ve probably played Winstock. This year’s headliners are Cole Swindell and Jason Aldean.

Twin Cities Jazz Festival

Twin Cities Jazz Festival

/ Andrea Canter / Benny Moreno


TWIN CITIES JAZZ FESTIVAL 

St. Paul, June 21-23

This festival centers on the delightful Mears Park in Lowertown St. Paul. That’s where you’ll see its biggest names, including vibraphonist Stefon Harris and his band Blackout, veteran saxman Joe Lovano, and vocalists Karrin Allyson and Kandace Springs. (Prince once said her voice “could melt snow.”) The shows spread out from there, from Crooners Supper Club in the northern suburb Fridley to the Dakota in downtown Minneapolis. Truly a Twin Cities-wide event.

Lakes Jam music festival crowd

Spend three days listening to music and camping out at Lakes Jam in Brainerd


LAKES JAM

Brainerd, June 26-29

For just over 20 years, Lakes Jam has brought live music up to Brainerd, with the weekend divided up by musical styles; one day is given over to rock and two are for country music. This year’s headliners are Live, Jake Owen, and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line, but the music is only the start of a festival that takes advantage of its rural setting, offering plenty of outdoor activities, including mud trucks and watercross.

Motion City Soundtrack at Taste of Minnesota 2023

Minneapolis’ own Motion City Soundtrack at Taste of Minnesota 2023 


TASTE OF MINNESOTA

Minneapolis, July 6-7

This festival celebrated food and music for 20 years in St. Paul before calling it quits. But last summer Taste of Minnesota was reborn, relocating to Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis and attracting 100,000 people over the weekend. This year’s Saturday headliners are the Wallflowers and Martina McBride, while Sunday’s lineup showcases Minneapolis Sound architects Morris Day & the Time and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Hungry? There will be 60 food vendors on site.

Gully Boys performs in Philadelphia

Local band Gully Boys performs in Philadelphia 


MINNESOTA YACHT CLUB 

St. Paul, July 19-20

The debut installment of this two-day festival hits Harriet Island this summer with the help of major concert promoters C3 Presents (Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo). Gwen Stefani and Alanis Morrissette headline day one; day two belongs to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But don’t sleep on the down bill action, which includes hot locals Durry, Gully Boys, and Soul Asylum, as well as former Minnesotans The Hold Steady.

Bayfront Reggae & World Music Festival

Bayfront Reggae & World Music Festival


BAYFRONT REGGAE & WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL

Duluth, July 20

Reggae gets top billing here for good reason. This summer’s performers include Jamaican-Americans Gramps Morgan, Alaine, and dancehall duo Tanto Metro and Devonte. This fest is committed to a truly global groove; headliner Nigerian-American Rotimi (of the Starz hit “Power”) introduces hot West African dance styles amapiano and Afrobeats to the mix this time around. There may be no prettier vantage point for enjoying a concert in the state than the Duluth waterfront, too.

Concert stage at dusk

WE Fest in Detroit Lakes is America’s biggest country music and camping festival

/ Keith Griner


WE FEST 

Detroit Lakes, August 1-3

This three-day event bills itself as “America’s biggest country music and camping festival,” and with 2023 attendance back up over 100,000 after a pandemic-related dip, it may well be. Camping options abound, from quiet areas where you can actually sleep to rowdier spots for those who came to party. There’s even a glamping site. And of course, there’s music: This year’s headliners are Jelly Roll, Parker McCollum, and Eric Church.

Basilica Block Party crowd

Basilica Block Party 

/ Cooper Smith Photography, Courtesy of Meet Minneapolis


BASILICA BLOCK PARTY

Minneapolis, August 2 & 3

This festival began in 1995 as a fundraiser for the Basilica of St. Mary in downtown Minneapolis. After two years off, it returns in 2024 with a new location: Boom Island Park. The Goo Goo Dolls and Counting Crows will headline, but don’t overlook the local stage, with a lineup that Includes veteran rockers Run Westy Run and up-and-coming rapper Nur-D.

Boats and Bluegrass festival

Boats and Bluegrass


BOATS AND BLUEGRASS 

Winona, Sept. 26-29

Summer may technically be over, but late September is one of the most gorgeous times to spend outdoors in Minnesota. Why not spend it on Prairie Island, on the banks of the Mississippi, in Winona. This year’s Boats and Bluegrass lineup hasn’t been announced yet, but last year drew performers of the caliber of Charlie Parr and Pert Near Sandstone. And if you want to get your summer concert season started early, head back to Winona in May for the Mid West Music Fest.

all-other

Basilica Block Party 2021

Basilica Block Party 2021 

/ Ryan Taylor


Summer

Basilica Block Party 2021

This article: Minnesota's Best Summer Music Festivals has been curated from our friends at Explore Minnesota and the original in it's entirety can be found here: https://www.exploreminnesota.com/best-summer-music-festivals-minnesota