MINNEAPOLIS — The LoLa Art Crawl returns this weekend for its 15th year.
Located throughout south Minneapolis' Longfellow Neighborhood, LoLa works like a pub crawl. Only instead of beer, there's art for sale and on display. Instead of pubs, LoLa locations range from front lawns and backyards to professional studios like Squirrel Haus Arts.
Artists were busy getting their displays ready Friday, including LoLa co-chair Lisa Anderson.
"Everybody waits until the last minute," Anderson told KARE 11. "Like, 'Oh my gosh, I need labels, which pieces am I going to put in?'"
While many participating artists set up in places other than where they normally work, Anderson will be stationed at her studio within Squirrel Haus Arts. She's been there three years now.
For the crawl, she set up a gallery in a room next to her studio. The area isn't normally open to the public, except during LoLa and other select events.
In addition to art for sale, some of the sites offer "extras" like live music, live art demonstrations, hands-on activities, giveaways and raffles.
LoLa, which stands for League of Longfellow Artists, started in 2009 with around 40 artists at 20 sites.
Now, 15 years later, organizers are expecting at least 115 artists at 60 sites. Initially, as many as 120 artists registered this year, but a few had to cancel.
This year, there are about two dozen more artists than last year, and organizers say the crawl is now comfortably back to pre-pandemic participation levels. In 2022, there were around 80 artists.
"Yeah, it is a milestone," Anderson said.
To help guide visitors, yellow LoLa signs will be displayed next to the various sites. Visitors may also map their route ahead of time.
Eight artists will be in the Squirrel Haus Arts building alone. Multiple artists will also be located near E 34th St and 42nd Ave S.
Organizers say all of the artists must either live in the Longfellow neighborhood or have ties to the area to participate.
"A lot of people think of northeast when they think of an art community in Minneapolis, and northeast has a lot going on, but so does Longfellow," Anderson said. "I love the energy. It's a lot of work, but it's totally worth the work."
The LoLa Art Crawl runs Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday over the same timeframe.