Rice Park hosts free MN Wild playoff tailgate party on Monday
Shortly before the Minnesota Wild skate into tonight’s first home playoff game, hundreds of fans will converge this evening in downtown St. Paul’s Rice Park for a free tailgate block party.
The impromptu celebration is being hosted by the St. Paul Downtown Alliance, a partnership between City Hall and the downtown business community. Fans are invited to show up in their Wild apparel and enjoy beer and wine for purchase in a tailgate atmosphere.
No, you can’t just fire up a grill — some 30 fan parties were already allotted grilling locations through a lottery system coordinated by the Downtown Alliance with help from the Minnesota Wild. But bars and restaurants near the Xcel Energy Center will be open and ready for hockey fans.
The Wild playoff tailgate block party runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. tonight, May 2, at 109 W. Fourth St., otherwise known as Rice Park. The Wild skate against the St. Louis Blues at 8:30 p.m., to be carried live on ESPN and Bally Sports North.
Organizers with the Downtown Alliance had to throw the event together in a hurry, not knowing when tonight’s game would be held until the National Hockey League published the playoff schedule on Saturday. As downtown St. Paul reopens to workers, concert-goers and sports fans, the Alliance sees the playoff as testament to downtown’s potential to bring people together.
“We’ve been planning it for a while, but not knowing what day (the game) was going to be,” said Joe Spencer, president of the Downtown Alliance. “Think about the impact of 18,000 Wild fans who are all excited, they’re coming downtown, they’re going to pay for parking, they’re going out to eat, they’re going to get drinks. All of that adds up. It’s a tremendous economic impact on top of the price of the ticket — plus all the people who come downtown to watch the game at the bars and be close to the action.”
The Wild face the St. Louis Blues in this playoff series.
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