Minnesota Yacht Club Festival — which almost didn’t happen — draws fans from across the Midwest

Harriet Island was transformed into a true music house on Friday and Saturday, attracting an estimated 60,000 enthusiastic rock ‘n’ roll fans.

“Alanis Morissette was great, Gwen Stefani was great,” shouted Dustin Thill, who drove from Green Bay. “Great weather, no complaints.”

The first Minnesota Yacht Club Festival received much praise from music lovers.

Chopper 5 shows the true size of the crowd: a sea of ​​people.

“It’s overwhelming at first, but then you get used to it,” said Brooke Bline of Sioux City, Iowa. “It’s really fun.”

From Gen Z to Millennials… some said they were having a great time, even with their kids.

“Chili Peppers and the Offspring,” smiled Amanda Welder, who came from Bismarck, North Dakota. “We love concerts.”

But the festival almost didn’t happen.

That’s because the water level of the Mississippi River rose 20 feet (6 meters) in early July due to heavy spring rainfall.

Much of the site was underwater, making it the seventh-highest peak ever recorded in St. Paul.

“I was really worried about it happening two weeks ago,” noted Trevor Olson of Andover. “The flood water was up to the bottom of the window. I went out last Friday to figure out where we were going to park and stuff.”

But that was then, and this is now.

The river has dropped more than three meters in two weeks.

Festival-goers say the grass at the viewing areas was perfectly dry.

“This was really fun,” Welder said. “The lines were short, the bathrooms were organized, the crowd was good, everything was great.”

Bline only took her 5-year-old daughter Winter with her.

It was her very first concert.

“We went to Lollapalooza one year and every year she asked if we could go,” Bline explains.

So… is this all like the state fair, or maybe Woodstock?

“I would say a mix of both, because it’s really Minnesota-ish,” she said. “Everyone’s really polite and cool. I don’t know, so far a good time.”

According to the city, hotels in downtown St. Paul were fully booked and bars and restaurants were busy.

The organizers are already thinking about doing this next year.