Taste Of Minnesota Shut Down After Organizer Retires

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) --  A staple of summer in Minnesota is calling it quits as officials announced Thursday that the Taste of Minnesota is closing its doors.

The general manager of the annual festival, Linda Maddox, said she is retiring. She she said the event was the pride and joy of her husband, Ron, who created it in 1983. They managed it together from 1996 to 2008 before he died in 2010. For years, the celebration was held at the State Capitol in St. Paul over the Fourth of July holiday.

The festival took a three-year break from 2011 to 2013 to hard financial times and bankruptcy. It had to move from Harriet Island in 2014 due to flooding in the area. The event headed west to the Carver County Fairgrounds in Waconia.