Six fire crews fough the blaze.

​On the eve of its closing weekend, a fire has burned several booths at the Minnesota Renaissance Fair in Shakopee.

The fire started around 6:15 a.m. this morning, a few hours before the fair was set to open. The fire was thought to have started in a chicken shack, which had burned up by the time firefighters arrived.

Six different firefighting crews were called to the scene, MPR reports. Firefighters were hampered by the fact that there are no fire hydrants in the area, and all water to douse the blaze had to be trucked in.

Fair officials still say the festivities will go on today, though the fair's opening might be delayed.
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Go fly a kite.

​Reason No. 4,629 we love winter in Minneapolis? The Lake Harriet Kite Festival. It gets going tomorrow at noon and runs until 4 p.m., free, at the band shell on West Lake Harriet Parkway.

Yes, it will be cold. But that's the point. And please take care not to inadvertently back into an ice fishing hole while you crane your neck skyward.

Here are some photos from last year:

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SarahHeiman

"Wait, we're getting married WHERE?"

​Something terrifyingly saccharine this way comes.

On Saturday morning, 50 couples from "Brainerd to Mankato and everywhere in between" will descend on the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre for a mass wedding called "The Big Whopping Wedding."

We get a big, whopping headache just thinking about it.

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If you've been toying with the idea of running this year's Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, your window of opportunity is officially starting to close. This year race officials bumped up online registration two months earlier than usual--it starts today. Organizers said the reason is to allow runners around the world more time to make travel plans and include the Twin Cities on their schedule.

The marathon will take place October 3, with 11,000 runners expected. The event usually reaches that cap within a month after registration opens. You can find out more information about the race here.

Darn those Brits, they always get the best of everything: sounding cool no matter how dull the conversation, casually swearing on network TV, claiming both the Rolling Stones and Noel Fielding (pause, please, for a quick swoon). The same is true when it comes to television commercials. We get Budweiser frogs and they get Muppets, life-size puzzles, pasty nudity that's somehow hilarious and 15-minute PSAs that entertain all the way through to the very end. You can see the best spots of the year this month through January 2nd at the Walker, The British Television Advertising Awards always a hot installment that cheekily point to a different kind of marketing strategy 'cross the pond. Twin Cities Anglophiles unite.More >>

​(Photo by quinn.anya)

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​With Halloween a distant memory of zombies, party crashers, and packets of Skittles, it is now time to turn our attention to the upcoming holidays that celebrate grocery stores and shopping malls. While some of us will stare blankly at Amazon's lame gift suggestions, others will trek out to the Mall of America. However, those looking to avoid the mega-mall and/or the internet this holiday season should check out MNfashion Holiday at Gaviidae Commons.

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Photo by tirebiterz

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Photo courtesy of Tinker Bell Talks

You probably wouldn't believe it if you crossed her on the street, but Margaret Kerry is the closest you could ever get to meeting the real Disney Tinker Bell. Kerry was the inspiration and original model for the famous Disney fairy covered in pixie dust from the Peter Pan movie. That was 60 years ago.

Kerry has a daughter who lives in Duluth and is in town from California for a fundraising event Saturday. Not quite as amazing as our sighting of a Wizard of Oz Lollipop Guild member, but Tinker Bell would be a nice one to add to the list.

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