Weekend Showcase: Kroening Interpretative Center Revamped
The Kroening Interpretive Center is back open.
“It’s a hidden treasure. It’s really a gem,” said Brooklyn Center resident Diane Sannes.
Just a hop, skip, and a jump over the freeway from Brooklyn Center, sandwiched between the Mississippi River and I-94, is the Carl W. Kroening Interpretive Center.
“We’re very fortunate along the Mississippi River. Brooklyn Center ends at 53rd. Then starts into Minneapolis and the Kroening Interpretive Center, which is where we’re at right now, is just at 49th. So I walk down here three or four times a week,” said Sannes.
The center recently celebrated reopening to the public with the official unveiling of the Nature in the City exhibit.
“The exhibit is meant to spark your curiosity about the natural world and and lure you to go outside,” said Mary Lynn Pulscher, environmental education manager for the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board.
Nature in the City is the new interactive exhibit in the Kroening Interpretive Center
Nature at Your Fingertips
You may be surprised to learn what you can find a few steps from your front door.
“We have a lot of information on pollinators, coyotes, beavers, things that have really adapted to the city. And how much nature is really around you every day,” said Pulscher.
But lest you think your trip to the Kroening Center be spent indoors.
“This park has great paved walking and biking trails, a big playground, a new nature play area, picnic shelters, boating access with a boat launch and kayak rentals,” said La Trisha Vetaw, vice president of the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board.
It’s all part of this 67-acre wonderland hidden behind the I-94 freeway wall.
“They have a lot of programming,” said Sannes.
“So you could come out another time and do like an animal tracking program with us. Or go look for animal scat. We do it all out in the parks. You could come and do a dragon fly catch and release. We do insect safaris. We look for butterflies,” said Pulscher.
