No 'Grand Old Day' In St. Paul This Summer

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Grand Old Day has been a St. Paul tradition for the past 45 years, and a way for people to ring in the summer with a quarter million of their closest friends.

On Tuesday, organizers announced the celebration's 46th anniversary won't be happening. The Grand Avenue Business Association made a vague announcement on their Facebook page, saying the board of directors made the "difficult and unanimous decision" to "keep the event fresh for 2020."

Later on, the association's interim president told WCCO-TV money was the leading factor in the cancellation, blaming the high cost of putting on the event and a decline in sponsorship dollars.

Jeremy Nilson owns the Gaming Goat on the corner of Grand and Hamline avenues.

"This was a forgone conclusion, that it was, what, a month-and-a-half away or less now … there was nothing that I had ever seen that had hinted at problems," Nilson said.

Last year's Grand Old Day was the second-best sales day the store had ever seen.

"I was cleaned out that day last year, so I was already in the midst of planning better this year, building up some inventory," Nilson said.

The cancellation of Grand Old Day means lost business that Nilson will never make up.

"There's not going to be any way to replace it, that's just a lost day now," he said. "That makes me wonder what's going to happen next year."

Right now, organizers are claiming the event will be back in 2020.

This is the second St. Paul summer tradition to fizzle out in recent years. The city cancelled Fourth of July fireworks last year due to budget reasons.