"This is very impactful for our parade route, which was super fun on Saturday. But we are unable to accommodate a different route for it, so we will be canceling it for 2024."

Jennifer Tomlinson, Plymouth's parks and recreation director, said that to the City Council in late September 2023, a few days after the 25th annual Plymouth on Parade had rolled down the boulevard. At the time, CCX Media reported that "every September, thousands of people pack Plymouth Boulevard" for the parade. That edition ran on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. Free family activities and sponsor booths ran from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and the parade stepped off at 10:30 a.m.

Plymouth went two years without it. On Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, at 10:30 a.m., Plymouth on Parade returns. It runs from City Hall at 3400 Plymouth Blvd. along Plymouth Boulevard and 34th Avenue to the Plymouth Community Center at 14800 34th Ave. N. Those are the same two endpoints as before. The street between them is different. The parade was the price of the rebuild, and this year's procession is the first to travel the corridor the rebuild produced.

Why the Parade Couldn't Take Another Route

The project started with worn-out pavement. "Ultimately this project started because the pavement is starting to deteriorate on Plymouth Boulevard and we needed to do some improvements," Deputy Public Works Director Chris LaBounty told the council in September 2023.

The plan city staff presented went well beyond a repaving. It called for roundabouts at the intersections, easier pedestrian movement, and a complete revamp of the main entrance to the Hilde Performance Center, all from Highway 55 to Rockford Road. CCX put the estimated cost at $12.85 million. City Manager Dave Callister told the council the money would come from surplus, a capital improvement fund and community improvement funds.

That scope explains why the parade couldn't simply move a few blocks. The procession had always gone through the City Center core, from City Hall to the Community Center. That core is the corridor the city planned to rebuild. In 2023, the city's hope was to start construction the following April and finish all the work by September 2025.

From Barricades to Reopening, in Dates

The road reopened at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, which was the night before Thanksgiving. Even then, the city said streetlight installation and stormwater pond construction would continue for several more weeks. A second, slower phase followed. In October 2025, crews started installing irrigation, landscaping, signage and other placemaking elements inside the roundabouts and along the roadway, with completion expected by the end of November 2025. The Sun Sailor reported a Nov. 30 estimate for most of that work and final completion in May.

The 2024 cancellation is documented. No public explanation for the 2025 pause turned up. The landscaping timeline overlaps that year, but the city hasn't given that as the reason.

What Now Lines the Route

People who last watched from the curb in 2023 will be standing along a rebuilt corridor this time. Here is what's new near the City Hall end:

1. The City Hall roundabout. A city construction update refers to the 34th Avenue and City Hall entrance intersection as a roundabout. That's where the parade turns off Plymouth Boulevard onto 34th Avenue. In October 2024, CCX reported that the project was adding four roundabouts to the corridor.
2. Sidewalk work between 34th and 35th avenues. Concrete sidewalk on that block was scheduled for the week of Aug. 12, 2024, as part of a project the city described as improved crossings, upgraded trail connections and roadway safety improvements.
3. The swing bench by the oak. A Hello! Plymouth branded swing-bench now sits along Plymouth Boulevard next to the large oak in front of City Hall. It's made from upcycled wind turbine blades.
4. Gateway monuments. According to the Sun Sailor, the landscaping package included a Hilde entrance monument, two smaller city gateway monuments, and trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials.

Some planned elements were cut. The same Sun Sailor report said a change order took column lighting, a maintenance strip and pedestrian-scale wayfinding signs out of the landscaping contract, and that the signs could be installed later.

A Parade of a Different Kind at 3500 Plymouth Blvd.

The most photographed addition doesn't move. "Animal Parade" is a set of five geometric sculptures by artist Kirk Seese. They were commissioned with the Plymouth Arts Council and installed at the Hilde Performance Center entrance after a community engagement process that drew feedback from more than 3,500 people.

• Koda, a 6-foot grey howling wolf
• Sindri, a 4-foot teal squirrel
• Freya, a 3-foot pink fox
• Percy, a 10-foot orange buck
• Edie, a 10-foot purple owl on a concrete pillar

Each figure uses a color from the Hello! Plymouth palette. Percy is named for Seese's wife's grandfather. Several of the other names come from Norse myth, a connection to Minnesota's Scandinavian roots. Freya debuted at Discover Plymouth in March, three more installations began the last week of April, and Seese gave June 9 as the official unveiling date. The city designed the collection as a gathering spot with photo opportunities outside the Hilde entrance. A family walking up from the parade route could easily stop there.

What Changed in the Parade Itself

The procession looks familiar. The city lists local organizations, city vehicles and equipment, musical acts, dance and gymnastics groups, and floats. The schedule around it has changed.

The date has moved from late September to the second Saturday of October. In 2023, the event was a three-hour block of family activities with the parade in the middle of it, and the city tried a similar format in 2019 when it called the 22nd annual parade a "new format" with activities set up along the Plymouth Boulevard route. The 2026 listing describes the parade itself, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., plus food trucks. It doesn't mention a separate activity block. Food truck vendors take cash or credit cards.

This year's grand marshal is Greg Gibson, former president of the Wayzata Youth Hockey Association, who has more than 20 years of hockey administration experience. KSTP covered the return on Sept. 23. If you can't make it in person, CCX Media is streaming the parade live. The city's materials don't include spectator parking instructions, so check the route map on the event page before you head out.

The Same Five Names Carry the Rest of the Fall

Five organizations cosponsor the parade: the City of Plymouth, the Plymouth Lions, Kyle Vitense State Farm Agency, Renewal by Andersen and First Class Plumbing. The same five cosponsor Halloween at the Lake, so the two events share sponsors as well as a season.

Halloween at the Lake runs from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30, at Parkers Lake. It's free, with games, inflatables and treats, and the Parks and Recreation, Police and Fire departments bring first-responder vehicles for kids to see. The city lists two addresses. The newsletter uses Parkers Lake Playfield at 15500 County Road 6, and the event calendar uses Parkers Lake Park at 15205 County Road 6. Parking was tight last year. In 2025, the city ran a free shuttle between Parkers Lake and the Plymouth Community Center because parking at the event was limited.

After that, the season ends where the parade does. The Plymouth Artisan Market fills the Plymouth Community Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14. It's a free public market of local vendors.

If you're staking out a spot on 34th Avenue on Oct. 10 and thinking about how much has changed around City Center since your last parade, Aaron Lowe has spent more than 20 years watching this corridor change and is glad to talk through what that means for your corner of Plymouth. Let's Connect.