Doggie Walk benefits Page Education Foundation

A Minnesota Vikings Legend is using the power of pets to help students of color have access to higher education. Justice Alan Page is the Founder of the Page Education Foundation. Saturday July 15th is their annual summer celebration, its called the Doggie Walk, and it’s in partnership with local non-profit The Rescue Pack. Cody Matz chatted to the former Vikings player about the big event. For tickets, visit: https://events.page-ed.org/event/2023-doggie-walk/

MN Science Museum hosting Air & Space Festival

This weekend, the Science Museum of Minnesota is helping people of all ages explore the great unknown. As part of their Stem Adventure Saturdays series, they are hosting an Air and Space Festival. Staff member Melanie Wehrmacher joined the FOX 9 Morning news to show of a quick experiment from the event.

Hennepin Co. garden tour, see the prettiest ones

There’s a garden tour happening this weekend in Hennepin County. The Learning Garden Tour is this Saturday from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm. It features nine unique gardens and goes the extra step of also posting a master gardener in each location to answer your questions. Shayne Wells visited a few stops.

St. Joseph Joe's manager to be honored

The FOX 9 Town Ball Tour is headed to St. Joseph on Wednesday. The manager of the Joe's, Pat Schneider, spoke with FOX 9 ahead of the game, at which he'll be honored.

Cooks of Crocus Hill, Bellecour Bakery have merged

It’s official, Cooks of Crocus Hill and Bellecour Bakery have merged to become Cooks | Bellecour. Along with the new name, the team behind the brands have opened a third location in Edina. The shop is on Market Street in the 50th & France shopping district. Like the North Loop and St. Paul locations, it will offer cooking classes, kitchen retail and a bakery counter with the Bellecour staples. The owners, Marie Dwyer, Karl Benson and Chef Gavin Kaysen call it a fully immersive culinary experience. The Edina shop is open seven days a week and is located at 3934 Market St.

Kids create battlescape out of cardboard

Adventures in Cardboard traces its beginnings to 2010. Since then, it’s grown immensely adding multiple locations and themes. Throughout this summer, 4,200 kids from the metro will spend a week at cardboard camp. We visited one of the camps happening at Central Park in South Bloomington. There were 100 kids running through the woods with cardboard weapons and armor playing an amped-up version of capture the flag. They also spent the week building a village with a giant cardboard castle. The camp combines theatrics, hands-on creative building and open play in natural places.

Lake Minnetonka's new boat-up restaurant

There’s a new restaurant to dine lakeside. Lost Bay on Tonka Bay has a tropical tiki vibe and stunning lake views. It will be a seasonal restaurant in the Caribbean Marina on Lake Minnetonka because there’s no indoor seating though there is a covered area. Lost Bay is from the Innerbloom Hospitality team. They run many popular spots like Macanda, Josephina and Yumi. The restaurant took over the space from Tequila Butcher. They are open seven days a week. Diners can boat up or drive up and the patio is dog-friendly.

Cottage Grove opens kid-friendly coffee shop

The Little Village is both a coffee shop and a safe space for kids to play and get creative. It’s located in the Shoppes at Gateway North. Right inside the doors, is the coffee shop and a retail area with kids clothing and toys. Also in the building, a modern indoor play area for kids 0-6. It does cost to use the space and there’s drop-in pricing, but also monthly passes. The coffee shop is open seven days a week. The play space has some times that closed for open play and are dedicated to workshops, so check the hours before visiting.

Excelsior sleepaway camp begins its 99th season

It’s summer camp season and one located in the west metro is in its 99th season. Camp Fire Minnesota in Excelsior opened up in 1924 as an all-girls camp. Today it’s inclusive to all young people. The camp is located on the shores of Lake Minnewashta and offers both day camp and sleepaway options. While there have been many updates and renovations to the buildings, camp life hasn’t changed that much, even in the age of technology. There are no cellphones at camp, which the counselors-in-training say is a challenge. Instead they dive into books and make plenty of friendship bracelets.

Jersey Boys at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre

Some of your favorite juke box tunes are coming to the stage at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Jersey Boys follows the evolution of four blue-collar kids who became one of the greatest names in pop-music history. The show runs through February 24th.

Snake Discovery Center opens in Maplewood

With nearly three million subscribers, Emily Roberts is a hit on YouTube. She creates educational videos about her reptiles at the Snake Discovery Center in Maplewood. Most of her creatures are rescues. There’s a pair of Boa Constrictors who survived a house fire, and an alligator who spent 27 years in an enclosure that was too small, stunting her growth. Emily’s videos took off in the pandemic and the revenue from that allowed her to build the Snake Discovery Center. Her most popular videos are of baby snakes hatching. In fact, one of her hognose snakes just laid 24 eggs. Starting in July the center will be open seven days a week. Guided tours are available at no additional cost at 12pm, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm.

Swifties gear up for Eras Tour in Minneapolis

Taylor Swift Fans in Minneapolis are gearing up ahead of the first Eras Tour show at U.S. Bank Stadium Friday night. FOX 9 met one dedicated mom who flew in from St. Louis to be first in line for the merchandise tent.

Taylor Swift Eras Tour tips

FOX 9's Digital Marketing Lead and resident Swiftie, Addy Van Pelt, stopped by Good Day to break down everything you need to know for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.