30th Annual Art & Artists Celebration
September 26, 2026 | 11am-5pm
Experience a day filled with creativity and community, featuring free art-making workshops,
It’s Franconia’s 30th birthday, and we want to make it YOUR best day at the park! Join us at Franconia Sculpture Park on September 26, 2026 from 11am-5pm for our 30th Birthday Party! Save the date for a classic birthday party with “best-day-ever” activities for everyone: bouncy houses, mural making, scavenger hunt, party hats, live t-shirt printing, a photo booth, food trucks, and more!
Plus, it’s our annual Art and Artists Celebration. Meet our 2026 Artists-in-Residence and check out the park’s newest additions.
Collaborators
Marlena Myles
Marlena Myles is a self-taught Native American (enrolled Spirit Lake Dakota & also Mohegan/Muscogee) artist located in St Paul, Minnesota. Her art brings modernity to Indigenous history, languages and oral traditions while using the land as a teacher. Growing up on her traditional Dakota homelands here in the Twin Cities, she enjoys using her artwork to teach Minnesotans of all backgrounds the Indigenous history of this place we call home.
Her professional work includes children’s books, augmented reality, murals, fabrics, animations and has shown her fine art in galleries such as the Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Museum of Russian Art, and the Minnesota Museum of American Art to name a few. In 2022, she created the Google Doodle for Native American Heritage Month (November) to celebrate North American Indigenous Stickball.
She has installed three site-specific augmented reality public art installations: the Dakota Spirit Walk (Saint Paul), the Sacred Hoop Walk (Minnesota Landscape Arboretum) and the Wodakota Walk (Caponi Art Park). She owns a Dakota publishing company, Wíyouŋkihipi (We Are Capable) Productions, to create a wider platform that educates and honors the culture, language and history of Dakota people. In 2023, she was awarded the Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship, Joyce Award, Rise25 Mozilla Honoree and is a 2024 ALL ARTS Artist in Residence.
Marlena’s upcoming project at Franconia Sculpture Park is made possible with support from the Joyce Foundation.
Bibs Printing
Bibs Printing is a husband-and-wife woodblock printing company based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. They use an ancient form of printing in which they hand carve wood in a reductive process and then run their woodcuts through a printing press. Their designs feature playful creatures and natural elements.
Bibs Printing has created a custom “Franconia” design for the 30th Birthday Party and will be doing live printing of t-shirts and posters at the event! You can choose from the custom “Franconia” design or one of their many unique blocks.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the East Central Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Location
29836 St. Croix Trail
Shafer, MN 55074
Franconia Sculpture Park resides on the ancestral Dakota lands of the Wahpekute in Mni Sota Makoce, along the St. Croix River which also holds significance by the Ojibwe and other Native peoples. We recognize, support and advocate for all Native nations and will actively center Native voices in our work.
Hours
The grounds of Franconia Sculpture Park are open 365 days a year from 8am-8pm.
The Franconia Commons building is open:
May 4 – Nov. 14:
Everyday, 10am-5pm
Nov. 15 – May 3: Friday-Sunday, 10am-4pm
Closed on National Holidays
