THE LEAD LIGHT: Happenings for April 28, 2026

FROM YOUR SENIOR WARDEN: FRITZ WRIGHT

TURF & TEFLON

The Minnesota Twins played baseball in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome from 1982 to 2009 in downtown Minneapolis. Indoor baseball on artificial turf and under a Teflon roof on a nice summer’s day was about as uninspiring as it gets. This stadium has been well documented for its shortcomings, but there were at least three good things that came out of it. Two World Series championships which are now a generation ago, and the appreciation for beautiful outdoor stadiums.

In 1992 Baltimore opened Camden Yards, a retro style ballpark for the Orioles, that changed everything in stadium design. No more cookie cutter stadiums that all looked alike. More cool ballparks were built because the fans would come out to see the facility and the team. The Chicago White Sox built the last cookie cutter stadium in 1991 and kind of missed the boat on fabulous retro ballparks.

A new hobby for Twins fans was born: How many of the other 29 stadiums can I go to since we don’t like our own? I have met baseball fans who have been to all of them. I’ve met people at a game in the Metrodome who were making their stop here to see the Metrodome as part of their stadium tour. I apologized to them for having to come here. All is better now with Target Field being open for the last 16 years, but I still like to see other ballparks when I travel.

WORLD LABYRINTH DAY 2026

This Saturday is World Labyrinth Day and St. Edwards will be open for walking from 10 to 3pm. We will clear the labyrinth of all the chairs for the full experience. On the World Labyrinth website there is a map of all the 6742 open and participating labyrinths. We are one of 1039 indoor labyrinths. In this case an indoor labyrinth is a good thing.

The theme of the 18th Annual World Labyrinth Day is: “Walk as One at 1” local time to create a rolling wave of peaceful energy passing from one time zone to the next. That sounds powerful! Come at 1pm to really feel the energy.

Looking at the map, the farthest North labyrinth is on the northern tip of Sweden and the farthest south is at the bottom of Argentina. There are 25 in the Islands of Hawaii. Minnesota has 342. England 271. Russia, however, has 9.

This could be another travel opportunity like visiting ballparks, except there’s a few more labyrinths than the 30 stadiums in the Major Leagues. I’m guessing many of you have walked other labyrinths in Minnesota and around the world. Let me know on Saturday where you’ve been. In return, I’ll share my list of ballparks.

SPRING CLEAN UP DAY

Someone once said, “Blessed are those hardy souls who show up to spring clean-up day.” What a great day it was! We completed most of the jobs on the list and we were well fed along the way. It started out with a slight bit of light rain, however, as soon as Judy Starkey arrived, the clouds parted and the sun came out. Note for next year: have Judy arrive early. Debbie was the first one there and made coffee and set out the breakfast goodies. Kim brought lunch, Maureen brought fruit. Eliza brought an extra helping of enthusiasm and Dave brought a truckload of tools that made the work much easier. The heavy lifting was done by John, Bryan, Jim, Thomas, Audra, Eliza, Dave and Deb.

Thank you for a job well done!
Fritz Wright