The City Cast Twin Cities team bring you the day's conversations about life in the Twin Cities. On the podcast, our cast of journalists, activists, experts and residents, celebrate our wins with beaming pride, critique our shortcomings with the attention of a seed art judge and mutter “that’s interesting” for anything in between.

Alongside our daily newsletter, we put the spotlight on the news and culture of the Twin Cities from every perspective we can find – including yours. It’s like a potluck where everyone’s invited and no one brings grape salad. So whether you've been here long enough to remember the Halloween blizzard of 1991, or you just bought your first winter coat, bring your dish over and let's talk.

Podcast Host

A tourist trap that's actually great:

Minnehaha Falls

A Twin Cities icon:

Stokley. The leader and founder of Mint Condition. He's a legend who can't even go the grocery store in many cities but we don't give him his flowers here.

Best piece of pop culture about the Twin Cities:

Purple Rain.

Executive Producer

A Twin Cities hidden gem:

The Medicine Lake Swimming Beach is the most ocean-like setting I've ever experienced in the Twin Cities. I just stumbled upon it one day with my family. It has nice sand, clear water and enough open space to make it feel expansive.

We do this best:

Snow plowing. People complain about it - because we love to complain about it - but on the days when it works like a well-oiled machine it makes me so proud to live in the tundra...by CHOICE!

A Twin Cities hero:

Cornbread Harris! He's a Minneapolis music legend who helped write one of the state’s first rock hits ("Hi Yo Silver") and played blues and jazz around town for nearly a century. He’s also Jimmy Jam’s dad!

Creative Producer

A tourist trap that's actually great:

I have an emotional attachment to the Cherry Spoon.

A Twin Cities hidden gem:

Believe it or not, Hopkins is definitely worth a visit. They've been hard at work revamping their downtown, and it's quickly becoming a happening yet still cozy suburb!

Twin Cities icons:

The band Kiss the Tiger. Their frontwoman Meghan Kreidler is a phenomenal performer and vocalist. All of their albums are heavy hitters which rattle your bones and make you wanna hug the person next to you at the same time.

Adam Sage

Creative Producer

A Twin Cities hidden gem:

Father Hennepin Bluff Park. It's an awesome slice of nature right next to downtown, and you can get to it via an unassuming wood staircase near the Main Cinema that goes down towards the Mississippi River. There's some beautiful rock bluffs, a waterfall that you can get right up to, and it's usually pretty empty.

A Twin CIites icon:

Seth Stattmiller - he's one of the owners of Recovery Bike Shop in Northeast Minneapolis, and he helps lead a casual group bike ride from Sociable Cider Werks every Wednesday. His bike shop is awesome, he is a wealth of knowledge about the history of Minneapolis and cycling infrastructure, and he has made me feel so welcome in my neighborhood in NE.

A tourist trap that's actually great:

Can Can Wonderland - it's a minigolf place and arcade in an old canning facility. The minigolf has some of the craziest cartoonish obstacles you can imagine, and there's a pour-your-own-beer wall of taps.

Audience Development Manager

A Twin Cities hidden gem:

Saint Paul's West Side!

Let's eat here:

If we're being fancy: Owamni. Order anything on that menu and you'll be delighted. For a surprisingly great cheap eat, the banh mi from Mi Sant in Roseville is one of my new favorites.

A tourist trap that's actually great:

Stone Arch Bridge

Contributors

Denzel Belin

Hans Buetow

Em Cassel

Sam Choo

Tane Danger

PaviElle French

Winter Keefer

Kirstie Kimball