Open Access Connections Walk : Great Day at Minnehaha Park

This past Saturday's 5th Annual Walk & Picnic was a huge success! It was a beautiful and cool morning to begin Open Access Connection Annual Walk at Minnehaha Park. We had a great turnout among the Board, Staff, 50+ Generation Group, Open Access voice mail participants, and other community members. Big thanks to all that came out to enjoy the nice day, great food, and wonderful music!

Though we can be thankful that everyone was able to come together to put this together, special thanks are in order:

The event could not have been such a great success without the Picnic & Walk Committee! Big thanks to everyone on this committee (Mike Menner, Cheri Speeter Margoles, Debra Bean, and Monstuer Herring) that took time out of their already busy schedules to assure for yet another successful Walk & Picnic at Minnehaha. Special thanks to Cheri Speeter Margoles for chairing the committee and organizing the event including all of the details that made the event a success. Special thanks to Mike Menner, our board chair, for being the MC and grilling all of the great food.

Thanks to Mike, Cheri, and Debra for organizing, making, and bringing all of the food.

Thanks to Monstuer for bringing Root Beer Floats!

Thanks to Manuel Moore and 50+ Group for donating buns and hamburgers.

Thanks to Simon Cavalho for taking great photos of the event!

The event could not have run so smoothly without an awesome set up and clean up crew! Thanks to all that showed up early and stayed late!

John Ward was with us once again playing his guitar and singing. He has developed a fan club at Open Access. Thanks to him for his wonderful music.

Over 80 people showed up and we were able to raise over $4,200 (including the match by the Frey Foundation) for Open Access Connections programming for come year. Thanks Walk Committee and everybody that gave their time, money, and organizing to make this year's Walk and Picnic a huge success!

Big thanks to our door prize donors, an inexhaustible list of Minneapolis and St. Paul businesses willing to give to Open Access Connections:

Cub Foods, University Avenue, St. Paul

Dunn Brothers, University Avenue, St. Paul

Five Two Six Salon, St. Paul

Gingko Coffee House, St. Paul

Great Harvest Bread Company, St. Paul

Isles Bun and Coffee, Minneapolis

Izzy’s Ice Cream, St. Paul

May Day Café, Minneapolis

Mill City Museum, Minneapolis

Minnesota Renaissance Festival, Shakopee

PC Afterhours, St. Paul

Peace Coffee, Minneapolis