Saint Joseph, MN

The 2010 Millstream Arts Festival in Downtown Saint Joseph will be held on Sept 26 from 11:00am to 5:00pm. Come join in the fun with art, food and fantastic entertainment.

The Millstream Arts Festival is an outdoor juried art show, on main street Saint Joseph Minnesota, featuring our areas local craftsmen and artisans. A wonderfully festive environment with a wide variety of visual artists, musicians, dancing and fun hands-on activities for children of all ages.

This years featured performers for the 2010 Millstream Arts Festival are the CSB/SJU Jazz Emsemble, The Blue Drifters, The Okee Dokee Brothers, The Stearns County Pachanga Society, wandering folk musician Paul Imholte, The Granite City Cloggers, magician/juggler Sean Emery and one of my favorite musicians and a writer Dennis Warner who will be on stage from 1:30 - 2:30pm.

Other activities will include:

• Children's art area

• Horse-drawn trolley rides

• Vintage auto and tractor show sponsored by the St. Joseph Historical Society

• History tours at Art and Heritage Place at Saint Benedict's Monastery and the St. Joseph Area History Museum

• A wide variety of festival foods and beverages

Each year the Tour of Saints, a heavenly bike ride begins and ends it's journey at the College of St Benedict's Campus in St Joseph Minnesota. The tour has both a 35 mile and 50 mile option for its particitants who enjoy riding along scenic byways through St. Joseph, Cold Spring, Collegeville and Avon.

Preplanned stops along the route allow for a breather and a snack. The first stop is at the fabulous Cold Spring Bakery and another stop along the way is at the Collegeville Orchards. The route is both beautiful and safe with bicycle mechanics and support trucks available if needed. This years Tour of Saints was held on July 11 and was the 30th annual tour.

The College of St Benedict is a private college founded in 1913 and is located in St. Joesph Minnesota. With their small class sizes and excellent curriculum the college is at the heart of this lovely little town in central Minnesota. The beautiful campus with its majestic buildings and wide open spaces is centrally located in downtown St Joseph; a virtual tour of the campus is available to view online.

In most recent news, on August 19 the College of St Benedict will celebrate the lives and contributions of 2 of the colleges past presidents, S. Colman O'Connell, OSB and S. Emmanuel Renner, OSB  at the Benedicta Arts Center. MaryAnn Baenninger, the current president is quoted as saying "Without the tireless work and fierce enthusiasm of Sisters Emmanuel and Colman, the College of Saint Benedict would not be the premiere Catholic, liberal arts institution for women that it is today..."

It is because of places like the College of St Benedict and events like the Tour of Saints that St Joseph has an amazingly stable housing market. Even through the rough times, St Joseph housing has remained strong. Just one more wonderful reason to love central Minnesota and the Saint Cloud area.