Minnesota events take a long time to earn the right to be called a state tradition, but the St. Paul Winter Carnival, the Minneapolis Aquatennial, the State Fair, the Fishing Opener and Grand Old Day are clearly among them. Now, at age 25, it's time to add the summer ritual of "A Taste of Minnesota" to the unofficial list of Minnesota traditions.
Naysayers said it would never last two years because, they claimed, just about everyone leaves town over the holiday. But a quarter-century later, the Fourth of July weekend fest is still going strong, drawing 400,000 to 500,000 visitors to the city's riverfront. This year's six-day food-fireworks-and-music version begins Friday at Harriet Island, its home for the past five years.
For its first 20 years, the festival drew crowds to the state Capitol grounds, often producing massive traffic jams on the Fourth from those eager to see the state's largest fireworks display and hear the Minnesota Orchestra's traditional patriotic salute to the nation. The man behind its entire 25-year run is Ron Maddox, St. Paul's indefatigable promoter who - with his friend, the late mayoral aide Dick Broeker - launched the event in 1982, two years after visiting Chicago's ground-breaking annual Taste fest.
Maddox, then president of the City Council, says they were blown away by what they saw - the crowds, the food and the music, including headliner concerts by soul diva Aretha Franklin and some guy named Frank Sinatra. Over the years, the business community has been a key supporter, with the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Council helping at the start, Maddox says.
Now, the festival is owned by the Capital City Partnership, an organization of business leaders that has sponsored such events as the popular "Peanuts on Parade" statues and the current Diggin' Dinos creations around town. But there's no doubt that Taste always has been Maddox's child. He's been involved every year but one, when he got into a dispute about what he considered inadequate security arrangements.
He's a familiar sight throughout the festival, patrolling the sprawling grounds by golf cart and enforcing the behavior rules. He's used the cart throughout the fest's 25 years but says he has no idea how many miles he's put on. In recent years, he has traded his trademark baseball bat (which bears the words "You agree with me, don't you?
") for a steel walking cane. Health challenges have slowed Maddox, 70, but not dampened his enthusiasm as a booster for the festival or for St. He ticks off an array of ailments that fill several fat medical folders.
He's been shot and stabbed, and battled diabetes. He has had eight heart attacks, cirrhosis of the liver, cancer, stomach-stapling surgery, a brain tumor, three new knees and work on both shoulders. Every day, he takes about 40 pills and six injections.
Still, he calls himself a "very, very lucky man" with five good kids and "the greatest wife on Earth," Linda, who assists with Taste and knows the operation inside out. Maddox is under a three-year contract to run Taste and says he'd never leave the festival in the lurch. He's proud that Taste has made money every year, no small accomplishment when many regional festivals have come and gone during his run.
The annual fest, he says, produces about 600 jobs and fills 250 hotel rooms, and organizers buy about $1.5 million in local goods and services every year. Maddox, not surprisingly, takes criticism of Taste personally, and he's sparred publicly with those unhappy with the high number of nostalgia music acts, the relative lack of contemporary national acts and some of the food prices and choices.
(This year, though, he's snagged the hot local band Tapes 'n Tapes.) His classic response: "We offer a taste of Minnesota, not THE taste." He grants that the musical lineup will not satisfy everyone and is quick to point out that the fest is family-oriented and that everything but the food and drink is free.
In more than three decades in St. Paul, he has become a certifiable city character - a brash, blunt, former politician and bar owner (the Blue Chip and Green Lantern) who proudly says that he has made more than 50 citizen's arrests. Loyalty is big with him, and he says that's one reason the sax-playing former City Council Member Vic Tedesco, an early Taste supporter, can perform at the festival as many years as he wants.
(He's playing on the Fourth.) Maddox regales all in sight with favorite stories of his many promotional efforts - some more successful than others - and talks often about bar-hopping with Bob Hope, hobnobbing with performer Ann-Margret and dancing with actress Barbara Eden. And for good or bad, he is never politically correct.
"If it's in my heart, it's on my lips," he says. His Taste of Minnesota Web site proves his point. The "Contact" section there proudly proclaims: "We try to accommodate vendors from restaurants or those with unique items.
If it isn't fattening or greasy, it's not for the Taste." Return to Top The Pioneer Press is pleased to let readers post comments about an article at the end of the article. Please increase the credibility of your post by including your full name and city when commenting.
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