Thousands Swarm Downtown Mpls. For Super Bowl Festivities
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It was a mild, January day for Minnesota, but to warm up just a bit visitors got a chance to step inside NFL 360.
In honor of Super Bowl 52, 52 fans at a time watched a 4 minute video in which football tackled the great outdoors.
"I thought it was awesome. Showed everything that Minnesota is all about," Julie Flynn said.
"I like that we are embracing the Bold North. We are wrapping our arms around who we are," said Ryan Flynn.
And for Minnesotans that means calling an audible when things change. It was too icy to open Birkie Bridge for skiers and snowboarders, but you couldn't stop the Husky pups from taking over.
"More crowded than I thought it would be this weekend. Next weekend I'm sure it will be more crowded," said Dave Kuettler.
Part of the reason for a super-sized crowd was the culture at Super Bowl Live.
There were NFL Live dancers. And later, a pow wow at sundown courtesy of Cass Lake-Bena students.
"For us to come here and dance and show some of our culture and it's a really good experience for our kids too. We are just really thankful that we got to come. It's exciting," said Luann Frazer.
The Super Bowl Committee said there were 65,000 people on Nicollet Mall Friday night, for the first evening of Super Bowl Live.