TCSidewalks Live: Noteworthy Taxidermy of Minneapolis Bike Tour

[This moose is plastic, and does not count. We won't go see it.]

I have mixed feelings about taxidermy, and probably you do too. After all, it's a dead animal on the wall.

But when it comes to kitschy decor bespeaking "authenticity" real or imagined, there's nothing like some taxidermy. I've always been curious about its origins, and lest ye forget, Minnesota is something of an epicenter of hunting and fishing cultures.

(The lion-killing Eden Prairie dentist is only the beginning.)

So hunting is a thing. I'm not necessarily against it, though I've never personally partaken. And if you're going to do it, at least you can put some thought into displaying the animal you shot in a public place and putting it on the wall, I guess. Or on a pedestal. Or mounted around a weirdly shaped piece of wood.

I'm doing a little research, poking around, talking to taxidermically endowed proprietors, talking to folks at the Bell Museum (the regional epicenter of the taxidermic arts), and am going to share with you some of the range of taxidermy that can be found in the cozy confines of Minneapolis.

[We won't be seeing these wolves either!]

What: A tour of places in Minneapolis with taxidermy on the wall
Where: Start at the alley behind One on One Bike Shop
When: Friday October 16th at 6:30 until done
Why: Why not?
How: By bicycle, at a leisurely pace.

[Here is the Facebook invite.]

The trip should be about 6 miles by bicycle, beginning in the alley and ending at the third stop. All stops are bars or taprooms, and we will be spending about a half hour at each place admiring the variety of stuffed and mounted fauna in our local alcoholic ecosystem. You're welcome to come for all or part.

See you then!

[See other past tours.]

[See google version of this map.]