Beyond Winter Carnival 2020: Slide into CHS Field, visit a museum, take a trip across the river

It can’t be all Winter Carnival parades, glittery ice sculptures and ice bar antics for the end of January.

Here’s a little taste of what else is going on in St. Paul and across the river.

Destination Winter St. Paul

That huge tent on Landmark Plaza isn’t covering Wells Fargo WinterSkate. The outdoor rink that’s usually set up outside Landmark during Carnival moved to the St. Paul Saints ballpark in Lowertown this winter. It’s part of activities that will wrap up the Greatest Day Celebration on Feb. 22 — a day that will honor the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey triumph over the Soviet Union on its way to Olympic gold and St. Paul’s own Herb Brooks, coach of that team, with a parade and festivities.

WinterSkate is open through the Greatest Day event, as is the Securian SuperSlide next to it. The slide has two snow-covered chutes that take inner tube riders 130 feet from the ballpark stands out onto the infield. For info: visitsaintpaul.com.

Warm up at a museum

Kids, history buffs, science-seekers and art enthusiasts don’t have to go far to find refuge from the cold and exhibits to feed their interests. Here’s a sample of featured exhibits (in addition to all of the standard attractions) at museums in St. Paul:

Minnesota Children’s Museum: A new exhibit, “Hot Wheels: Race to Win,” opened Jan. 18. Kids and families get a behind-the-scenes look at the world of racing and investigate the science behind super-fast cars. And they get to play with those mini motor vehicles from Mattel. The exhibit is included in the price of museum admission. mcm.org

Science Museum of Minnesota: The museum, which recently reopened its digitized omnitheater, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing with a new exhibit, a new giant-screen movie and a lot of space-related programming. It starts Feb. 1 with the kickoff to the national tour of “Apollo: When We Went to the Moon,” which explores the U.S./Soviet space race and has mission manuals, a space suit, moon boots and more. smm.org

Minnesota History Center: Featured exhibits at the History Center are “Our Home: Native Minnesota,” a multiyear exhibit that looks at the history and traditions of Minnesota’s Ojibwe and Dakota; and “First Avenue: Stories of Minnesota’s Mainroom,” which celebrates legendary Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue. mnhs.org

Minnesota Museum of American Art: The M is opening “A Choice of Weapons, Honor and Dignity: The Visions of Gordon Parks and Jamel Shabazz” on Jan. 23. It will feature “photographs that document expressions of dignity, honor, hope, and love in the African-American community by two towering photographers.” Parks, who grew up in St. Paul, is known for his images from the Jim Crow-era through the civil rights movement. Shabazz has followed in Parks’ footsteps from the 1980s to the present day. mmaa.org

Outside and Across the River

U.S. Pond Hockey Championships: It’s the 15th year for this event that some say brings hockey out where it belongs: on a frozen lake surface. Games take place Jan. 23-26 on multiple rinks on Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. uspondhockey.comhttp://uspondhockey.com

Art Shanty Projects: Fish houses become art galleries out on the ice of Lake Harriet in Minneapolis for four weekends starting this weekend. There’s interactive art, entertainment, tours and inventive, sometimes head-scratching projects. artshantyprojects.org

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