Super Bowl Live: What you need to know

CLOSE

About 10,000 people from around the world will help make the Super Bowl happen in Minneapolis on Feb. 4, 2018. Stephanie Dickrell, sdickrell@stcloudtimes.com

Thousands of fans crowded Nicollet Mall on Friday to see Broadway star Idina Menzel perform her hit “Let it Go” from the Disney movie “Frozen.” Many, however, had to settle for merely hearing her.

Menzel, former Viking Esera Tuaolo, local chorus VocalEssence and Cynthia “Funkytown” Johnson were among the performers to take the Ice Mountain stage for the kickoff of Super Bowl Live, 10 free nights of concerts and other activities on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. The 65-foot-tall stage will host shows through game day, and there are lights, dubbed the Aurora Borealis, choreographed to the beat of the music all down the mall.

It’s situated in a fenced-in area at Nicollet Mall and Eighth Street, but Friday night, many would-be concertgoers were turned away at the entrances due to the overwhelming crush of people already inside.

The warm-for-February weather and excitement of opening night surely led to the large crowds, but those hoping to see high-interest shows like Monday’s Prince tribute with the Revolution and the Soul Asylum-led Minnesota classic rock bill on Feb. 3 are advised to show up early and have plenty of patience.

(That said, members of the VerizonUp rewards program have access to a special member lounge and viewing area. Find details on that at verizonwireless.com.)

Luckily, Super Bowl Live offers more than just music, with activities to try and things to taste and watch and hear and … the Hallmark Channel’s Kitten Bowl.

Here are a few tips and highlights from a media tour Friday afternoon.

Take mass transit. Bus, train, Uber, something. All of the ramps around the six-block stretch of the mall where Super Bowl Live is set up are at least $30. Even if you’re just going to take a quick, one-hour tour. $30.

Things you can try. There’s an ice skating rink near Orchestra Hall. And they have skates, so you don’t even have to bring your own blades. At Ninth Street, The Loppet Trail is a snow-covered bridge for tubing, cross-country skiing and fat-tire biking. (They brought in 85 truckloads of snow for the 200-foot span.) The bridge comes from the Birkebeiner ski race in Hayward, Wis. If you want to try out these activities, register at loppet.org/loppet-trail/register/ and you’ll get a time to time it a try.

Eats everywhere. In addition to the downtown restaurants in the area, there will be food trucks at every intersection along the six-block stretch of Super Bowl Live. There are food and beverage tents all along the mall, including the Delta (airlines) grill, which looks like a small airplane and will sell tasty sausages and burgers. We’re told it can grill 500 burgers at a pop. And don’t miss the three-tiered food truck from Schwan’s on Eighth Street, just west of the stage.

And about that Kitten Bowl. The old Dayton’s/Macy’s building at Seventh and Nicollet has displays from Sleep Number beds (inside giant football helmets), a look at Prince’s costumes and a trunk full of his glittery high-heeled shoes, and a broadcast studio for CNN. At Hormel Foods Operation Gratitude, send a note to a serviceman and Hormel will put them in care packages sent directly to active duty service members. And Hallmark Channel’s Kitten Bowl has teams of kittens playing hard on a tiny football field. The event features players from Minnesota shelters and some kittens who were rescued from hurricane-ravaged Houston and South Florida and brought to Minnesota to be adopted.

Virtual reality. Try on VR glasses and use a giant Q-tip swab to help find a match at the Be The Match Interactive Zone. Or try VR at a Sleep Number kiosk. You can also get inside a 40-foot football dome and recline in a chair to see an immersive 360-degree Super Bowl movie experience.

Warm it up. It’s warm inside the Dayton’s Project building, and Target Corporation is opening its Target Plaza Commons space – located across the street from its headquarters – to the public for the first time. Fans and families can have free hot cocoa and try out a bunch of Minnesota- and football-themed activities. And the Warming Bench near the 12th Street entrance lets you cozy up to statues of players on a toasty heated bench.

If you go ...

Super Bowl Live

When: Through Feb. 4.

Where: Nicollet Mall, downtown Minneapolis between Seventh and 12th streets.

For more information, visit mnsuperbowl.com.