Mississippi Park Connection

On Tour Highlight

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour is coming to the Twin Cities! 

Mississippi Park Connection out of Minneapolis, MN is joining the Wild and Scenic On Tour this year for the first time on February 9, 2025 at the historic Main Theater on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis! We are excited to bring both a full-length custom program and our Wild Child matinee for kids to the Twin Cities area with proceeds going to help protect the Mississippi River and recreation area. 

February in Minnesota can oftentimes leave folks yearning for the longer days when warmth returns. Mississippi Park Connection hopes that, through their On Tour event, they can provide breathtaking visuals and stories about ways people not only enjoy nature, but ways they protect it too. The curated features in Water Tales, while most were not filmed locally, have themes that speak to similar work the National Park Service and Mississippi Park Connection are doing on local issues that need more attention. Their hope is to entice viewers with the stunning imagery and informative storylines to become stewards of the Mississippi River. 

WHO IS MISSISSIPPI PARK CONNECTION?  

Mississippi Park Connection began as the local fund of the National Park Foundation, under the name Mississippi River Fund. In 2007, their organization became the official 501(c)3 nonprofit organization or “friends” group of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. Since that time, they have contributed more than $6 million to the National Park Service and its many partners in the community, improving the health of the Mississippi River and their community.  

In October 2015, they changed their name to Mississippi Park Connection to better reflect their mission and programs. Mississippi Park Connection continues to play a pivotal role in connecting youth to the Mississippi River, steward the river’s wildlife habitat, and create meaningful connections between the community and the Mississippi River. 

WHAT DOES MISSISSIPPI PARK CONNECTION DO? 

Providing park experiences for everyone is one of the leading goals of Mississippi Park Connection. Together with the National Park Service and many other organizations in the community, they provide year-round programs and events for adults, families, and kids.  

Mississippi Park Connection provides opportunities for people to get to and on the river—and have a national park experience in the Twin Cities. Paddle Share is a kayak sharing system on the Mississippi River which provides visitors with everything they need for an enjoyable experience on the river. Folks simply reserve their kayak online, unlock their boat and equipment from the lockers, launch, and enjoy! This is the first kayak sharing system of its kind in the country and the first in a national park. 

As well, Mississippi Park Connection and the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, in collaboration with Fearless Comedy Productions, bring an immersive murder mystery theatrical experience to life. Mystery on the Mississippi combines performance art, education, entertainment, and nature to create a unique, social experience out on the river in a national park.  

Additionally, they have their Working River Tour series where visitors explore various industries along the river to deepen their knowledge of the Mississippi River community.  

In partnership with the National Park Service, their outdoor and online youth education programs provide a fresh, hands-on approach to the ways learning can be integrated with the outdoors, empowering students to become avid learners, and enabling them to begin building a lifelong relationship with the river.  Their goal is to reach more than 20,000 youth and their families annually— increasing student achievement and encouraging outdoor recreation and environmental stewardship as life-long pursuits.  

There are two visitor centers. One at Science Museum of Minnesota in downtown Saint Paul, the other at the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in downtown Minneapolis. 

HOW THE WILD & SCENIC FILM FESTIVAL HELPS   

The profits from this film festival go to support the National Park, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. Specifically, it helps to secure equitable access to paddling on the Mississippi River through Paddle Share. The Paddle share system is such an asset to their community, and Mississippi Park Connection wants to get the word out to let everyone know that you don’t need a roof rack, your own watercraft, or even a car to embark on a memory making adventure within stone’s throw from home.

Devin A. Brown, Mississippi Park Connection’s Community Program Director, notes that, “This is the inaugural year that we will be hosting the WSFF and the most exciting part about it is giving the community a nature-based film festival that the