12-02-2025
The Basilica Block Party won't happen in 2025
The Basilica Block Party returned in 2024 after a two-year hiatus, but it's not reverting to its original form of being an annual event.
Organizers of the Basilica Block Party announced on Wednesday that there won't be a festival in 2025. The group isn't saying farewell, but will again hit pause.
"The 2024 Basilica Block Party at a new venue, Boom Island, was a success on many fronts and garnered great reviews from all who participated," Fr. Daniel Griffith, Pastor and Rector at The Basilica of Saint Mary, said in a statement provided to Bring Me The News.
"In evaluating the event and our learnings, we are considering some new options and looking forward to an even brighter future in 2026. While these options are being evaluated, the Block Party will pause for 2025."
Details on why it will reassess were not provided.
In recent years, the Basilica Block Party, a fundraiser for the Basilica, has been an on-again, off-again affair. It was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, returning with a smaller footprint the following year.
Then it took two years off before relocating from the Basilica of St. Mary in downtown Minneapolis to Boom Island last summer. Last year's fest featured the Goo Goo Dolls, Counting Crows, The Fray, Needtobreathe, and others, a lineup focused on nostalgia acts and local artists.
While the Basilica Block Party will not take place, the summer festival landscape in the state continues to expand. The Minnesota Yacht Club Festival has expanded to three days in its second year, and Treasure Island's Music by the Mississippi fest will also expand in its second installment.
In St. Paul, the EDM-focused Breakaway Music Fest will return to Allianz Field for its second year, and a pair of new festivals — Summer Jam and Force Fields — are set to debut in western Wisconsin this summer. That's all in addition to festivals like the Lakefront Music Festival, Blue Ox Music Festival, The Great Beyond, and others, including outdoor concert series at The Ledge Amphitheater, Surly Brewing Festival Field, and elsewhere.
