Bloomington Parks and Recreation won 4 of the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association's 2025 Awards of Excellence, and the honors were formally presented to the City Council. The 4th award, missing from earlier accounts, went to the Dred Scott Field Improvement Kickoff in MRPA's volunteer initiatives category. That puts the department on the list in 4 different categories this cycle.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNThe Minnesota Recreation and Park Association presented Bloomington with four 2025 Awards of Excellence: for its data-driven park maintenance and operations plan, the Logan Lodge interim senior activity center (created after the Creekside Community Center closure), the new Bloomington Indigenous Art Fair, and the Dred Scott Field volunteer improvement project done in partnership with the Bloomington Fastpitch Association and Toro Company.07/20
MRPA honored 28 Awards of Excellence recipients for projects and programs finished in 2025. Its list shows Bloomington's data-driven park maintenance and operations plan under administrative or management strategies, the Bloomington Indigenous Art Fair under programming and events, and the Dred Scott Field kickoff under volunteer initiatives. The association lists the Logan Lodge interim senior activity center under park and facility. MRPA says it usually presents the awards in front of each agency's governing body, which explains why the plaques showed up at a council meeting rather than a banquet.
The Logan Lodge award is for the city's quick fix after Creekside Community Center closed at the beginning of June 2025 to make room for the future Community Health and Wellness Center. The city moved about 95% of its senior programs to Logan Lodge, 9930 Logan Ave. S., which opened June 16, 2025. Card groups, needleworking and craft programs went there. Fitness classes went to the Bloomington Center for the Arts at 1800 W. Old Shakopee Road.
The city says Logan Lodge is the temporary home for its 50+ programs. Residents can follow schedules through The Penn Post, a free monthly mailer.
The art fair award recognizes a first-year event that turned out well. The inaugural Indigenous Arts and Crafts Fair, held with Bloomington Public Schools' American Indian Education Program during Minnesota's American Indian Month, brought more than 1,700 people to Civic Plaza. More than 30 Indigenous artists and vendors from around the Midwest sold jewelry, textiles, pottery and beadwork, alongside live performances and Indigenous food trucks.
The fair returned. The 2nd annual edition ran Sunday, May 17, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Civic Plaza. Admission was free, and the city promised more than 30 Indigenous artists plus music, dance and hands-on art activities.
Taken together, the awards cover a lot of the department's work in a single year: a planning document most residents will never read, a senior center set up on short notice, a new cultural event and a volunteer push at a ballfield. The honors don't require any council action. This is recognition, not a vote.
From the meeting: City Council Meeting, July 20, 2026.
