Here’s Where Rochester’s ‘Thursdays Downtown’ Could Be Moving Next Year

Katie Adelman, Director of Content & Communications for the Rochester Downtown Alliance, confirmed earlier this year that Thursdays Downtown will need a new home for 2020 and possibly 2021 because of construction scheduled in the Peace Plaza area. She said moving the huge festival will be a challenge, "A lot of logistics go into it - power, parking, how it affects our stakeholders downtown - so a lot of variables."

The relocation will undergo a formal permitting process with the City of Rochester before the final layout is confirmed but organizers have released their plan for a new home and it looks like the popular summer event won't be moving far. As you can see in the map above, the majority of the festivities will remain on 1st Ave and 3rd St. The plan for next year is to relocate everything that happened north of 2nd St Southwest and at the Peace Plaza to 4th St SW.

Adelman said the location change should only be temporary and they hope to return to the normal location as soon as the construction is complete. Read the full press release below:

Thursdays Downtown Makes a Move in 2020

ROCHESTER, Minn.—With Peace Plaza in downtown Rochester under construction in 2020, Thursdays Downtown is relocating next year.

After consulting with the City of Rochester and community partners, the Rochester Downtown Alliance has identified a preferred layout for Thursdays Downtown 2020. The most feasible event footprint option activates the following downtown areas:

• 1st Avenue Southwest from 2nd Street Southwest to 4th Street Southwest
• 3rd Street Southwest from the 3rd Street Alley to 1st Avenue Southwest
• 4th Street Southwest from 2nd Avenue Southwest to Broadway Avenue

“Downtown stakeholders, various City departments, and additional community partners were involved in the RDA’s vetting process of multiple Thursdays Downtown 2020 options,” said Holly Masek, RDA executive director. “The layout direction in which we’re likely heading utilizes 1st Avenue, which will be familiar to attendees, and gets people experiencing the event in a new section of downtown.”

The event footprint will undergo a formal permitting process with the City of Rochester before the final layout is confirmed. This potential event footprint is a completely contiguous event—making it safer for attendees—and presents the opportunity for creating different atmospheres within the event’s footprint. Some aspects of Thursdays Downtown 2020 like the use of two stages will remain the same.

“We view Peace Plaza’s upcoming construction as an opportunity to rethink and to relocate some of our core events, activating new areas of downtown in the process,” said Masek.

Because Peace Plaza construction won’t begin until spring 2020, SocialICE is being planned at Peace Plaza in 2020.

For more about this year’s Thursdays Downtown details, visit the event website at DowntownRochesterMN.com/ThursdaysDowntown and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.