METRO 100: Good

Our 5th annual METRO 100 list is mostly good. 62 percent to be exact. To be clear, we’re not talking about the quality of the writing (which is obviously 100 percent good) but rather the nature of the proper nouns listed herein.

This year's list covers the gamut: theatre, sports, music, fashion and art each appear somewhere on the list, which we describe as a sort of ultimate best-of.  And how exactly does one get recognized here? There are no specific criteria, per se. But it's fair to say that we believe the people, places and things that appear on this list enrich our community in a unique way. They are, in a sense, what makes this place not just a collection of streets and buildings, but a home.

Not every item on this list gets a full-write up (sadly, our editors get but few pages to fill), but many will be covered in further detail over the next month. Follow along as we bring you extended coverage of this year's list-makers on our website.

As always, we also encourage your feedback. Tweet us @metromag using the hashtag #metro100, comment on this story, or post your thoughts on our Facebook page.

To view previous METRO 100 lists, visit our Best of page here.

1. Andrew Broder

The songwriter and the journalist are sitting by a lake in South Minneapolis. It’s a warm, bright-blue morning in late August, one of those dog days that feel sort of sad because you know they’re numbered. The songwriter and the journalist are supposed to be fishing—the journalist’s idea, a change of pace from his usual coffee-shop interrogations—but the songwriter doesn’t have a license. It’s not his fault. He tried to buy one at a gas station on his way to this interview, but the place didn’t have power. And so it is that the fish are in the lake and two strangers are on a bench talking about how things don’t work out sometimes.

“Fog stopped working because it tried to be too many things,” says the songwriter of his tragically underrated old band that folded in 2008 after nearly 10 years. The journalist then kisses the songwriter’s ass a bit, but he means it. Says he disagrees with the “too many things” argument, and that the many moods of Fog—wistful, sample-and-guitar tunes; noisy atmospherics; straight-ahead indie rock—were the musical equivalent of a skilled novelist toying with different styles. Just then a plane flies over, and the journalist can’t quite make out the songwriter’s response—something about the sound of almost succeeding but ultimately failing.

“You’re depressing me,” says the journalist. The songwriter laughs and assures him that killing Fog was OK because it allowed him to do other things, like co-write the soundtrack for a multimedia work by comic-book god Alan Moore (V for Vendetta; The Watchmen), and tour the world with his friend Yoni Wolf’s band, WHY? “Plus,” he adds, “the songs stopped coming.”

When the songs returned last year, the songwriter formed a new band, The Cloak Ox, with his old chums and past Fog members Martin Dosh (drums), Mark Erickson (bass) and Jeremy Ylvisaker (guitar). The journalist tells the songwriter that The Cloak Ox’s smart, anthemic rock is just what Minneapolis music needs right now, and the songwriter allows that his new project is more youthful and invigorating than anything Fog ever did. “It’s fun,” he says. “Which is a weird word to use because it conjures up, you know, piggyback rides and Katy Perry, but it is. You can sing along with Cloak Ox.”

The songwriter then lists his current inspirations: Tom Petty, CCR … Lil Wayne. “Lil’ Wayne?” asks the journalist. 

“It sounds funny, but you can hear rap in my lyrical phrasing. If you listen to Lil’ Wayne, his sense of timing—like where lines stop and start and things land and little inflections … he’s so good at that stuff.”

“So you’re the Lil’ Wayne of rock?” asks the journalist.

“Yes,” says the songwriter. “Print that.”

It’s funny how things work out sometimes.

 -- Chris Clayton

2. Walker Art Center’s dance programming

Lucy Guerin’s Structure and Sadness, Morgan Thorson and Alan Sparhawk’s Making Music Series collaboration and Despair Be Damned, a showcase of music and dance from the Democratic Republic of Congo, are just three recent reasons we like the Walker Art Center’s dance programming—which now rivals the breadth of its already-diverse visual-arts collection. The recent (and gigantic) Merce Cunningham Dance Company visual-arts acquisition coupled with the company’s farewell performance (read more on page 48) sees the Walker pushing the envelope even further. walkerart.org

3. Osmo

That would be Osmo Vänskä, music director of the Minnesota Orchestra. When you take our state symphony to the BBC Proms and win it a Grammy, we’ll start referring to you by your first name, too. minnesotaorchestra.org

4. Cult Status gallery

This LynLake gallery hearkens back to the neighborhood’s days as the epicenter of all things cutting edge in the Twin Cities. cultstatusgallery.com

5. Totally Gross National Product

This diverse local label, already home to genres ranging from electro-pop (Digitata) to psych-rock (Leisure Birds) to hardcore (Building Better Bombs), has now added Andrew Broder’s (see #1) The Cloak Ox project to its repertoire—and a near takeover of the 2011 SXSW festival in Austin to its resume. totallygrossnationalproduct.com

6. McNally Smith College of Music’s hip-hop exchange program

It’s not enough that this Minneapolis music school is home to the country’s first accredited hip-hop program (which will produce its first graduating class this fall). The bastion of music-education progress had to go and one-up itself by partnering with Shenyang Conservatory of Music, the second-largest of its kind in China, for a groundbreaking student-exchange program. The deal was sealed this summer after teachers from each school visited each other’s homelands, and the program will be debut this winter. mcnallysmith.edu

7. Northern Spark, June 4 to 5, 2011

Modeled after nuit blanche events in Paris and St. Petersburg, the Twin Cities’ first-ever all-night art party spanned galleries and green space on both sides of the river (it even spilled into the mighty Miss via a variety show aboard an old paddleboat). The highlight? Artist Jim Campbell’s “Scattered Light” installation at Upper Landing Park in St. Paul: hundreds of glowing glass bulbs strung together to create Northern Spark’s unofficial nightlight. We’ve been catching lots of Z’s in preparation for next summer’s citywide sleepover, which promises to be bigger and better than the first. northernspark.org

8. Mixed Blood Theatre’s Radical Hospitality program

This West Bank theater redefined hospitality this year with its no-cost (first come, first served) ticketing option—a bold move that proves going to the theater does not have to equate going broke. mixedblood.com

9. Katie Guentzel

The Ivey Award-winning actor (and U of M grad) first caught our eye in Hardcover Theater’s Savage Joy of Breaking Things and stole the show in Illusion Theater’s My Antonia. After a turn as matriarch Eva Waldvogel in the Guthrie’s The Master Butchers Singing Club, she’s poised to play Giselle in Sandbox Theatre's Beatnik Giselle.

10. New performance spaces

New spaces like Nimbus Theatre, Cowles Center and Loring Theater are a breath of fresh air to the Twin Cities’ performing-arts scene. Hennepin Theatre Trust’s 300-seat New Century Theatre also recently opened, adding a much-needed smaller theater to downtown Minneapolis. nimbustheatre.com; thecowlescenter.org; loringtheater.com; hennepintheatretrust.org

11. Ten Second Film Fest

The Soap Factory’s Ten Second Film Festival, which showcases 100 “dubiously crafted” films by amateurs, has become as much a 4th of July tradition as the fireworks over St. Anthony Main. soapfactory.org

12. Cult Legends series at the Dakota

Mark Trehus (of Treehouse Records fame) curates this showcase of under-the-radar and underrated talent. The series kicked off in August with country-soul legend Dan Penn and, at press time, Trehus was working on booking even more yet-to-be-confirmed legends for upcoming shows—“I can’t even generalize about it for fear of jinxing the possibilities,” he says. dakotacooks.com

13. Yeti Records

This South Minneapolis record store, owned by Lisa and Jake Luck, boasts an insane selection of obscure records, an entire section devoted to local zines and a mix-tape exchange program for the “I wore out my VHS copy of Empire Records” set. twitter.com/yetirecords

14. U2 at TCF Bank Stadium

58,000 people. 27-plus songs. Two inches of rain. One giant, claw-like JumboTron. If only Gophers football games were this entertaining. 

15. Paper Darts

The multifaceted—and decidedly unstuffy—local literary rag (which started out two years ago as a 24-page zine) recently branched out into book publishing with John Jodzio’s Get In If You
Want To Live. The book, illustrated by Paper Darts contributors, only further endears print media in our (admittedly biased) hearts. paperdarts.org*

16. Amina Harper

Imagine a really twisted Care Bears episode in which Cheer Bear and Wish Bear drop acid and embark on a psycho-sexual vision quest through the Kingdom of Caring. That’s a pretty accurate analogy for Amina Harper’s illustrations, which blend hearts and rainbows with sinister imagery like handguns and blood splatter. Sounds shtick-y on paper, but the Minneapolis-based up-and-comer pulls it off, creating disturbing dreamscapes we can’t look away from. aminaharperart.blogspot.com

17. Antoinette Beenders

Over the past six years, Aveda has revamped its image from eco-friendly beauty brand to eco-friendly beauty brand with a high-fashion edge, thanks largely in part to the efforts of global creative director Antoinette Beenders, who travels the world creating strikingly beautiful imagery for the 33-year-old company. “It’s very much about creating wellness with the aesthetic of fashion,” she says, sitting behind a cluttered desk at Aveda’s headquarters in Blaine. “Yes, we sell shampoo, but we’re way beyond that.”

Born and raised in Holland, Beenders became interested in hairdressing at age 12 after seeing Bo Derek’s tiny beach braids in the movie 10. Shortly afterward, she got a job sweeping floors at a local salon and by age 16 was seeing clients of her own. Only then did she enroll in classes to get the proper hairdressing certificates.

Around this time, Beenders saw world-renowned British hair stylist Trevor Sorbie at a seminar in Holland and realized there was a world beyond beauty parlors. She moved to London, speaking hardly any English, and asked Sorbie for a job. It took two attempts, but he finally hired Beenders as an assistant.

Over the next 11 years, she skyrocketed through the company, launching new markets, developing products and teaching seminars around the world. She began styling fashion editorials for magazines and doing runway shows for designers like Prada, Miu Miu, Dolce & Gabbana and Alexander McQueen. Her current office displays awards she’s won over the years, including British Hairdresser of the Year, which was huge, she says, because she was the first woman nominated and she’s not even British.

When Aveda’s founder, Horst Rechelbacher, approached her about coming to work for him, she was hesitant—the brand hadn’t yet established itself in England. “He said, ‘Come to America! I’ll put you in my spa in Osceola [Wisc.] and then you’ll do a little show,’” she recalls, laughing. “I said, “If anyone’s going to pay for me to go to the spa, I’ll do it.’”

The first thing Beenders did at Aveda was throw out all the old brand images and start from scratch, styling all the hair herself and shooting mostly outdoors—a rarity in beauty photography as weather poses such high risks. “Because I’m a hairdresser, I know how far I can push it with hair,” she says. “If I were just a creative director, I wouldn’t know that.”

Beenders has homes in Long Lake, London and New York City, but spends most of her time bouncing around the globe for photo shoots, seminars, product development and Aveda’s philanthropic endeavors. After a styling stint at New York Fashion Week last September, Beenders began orchestrating a performance at this year’s Aveda Congress, a three-day summit that draws stylists from around the world, at the Minneapolis Convention Center in early October. Her show is themed around “trashion,” with dresses made from water bottles, bottlecaps and newspaper—Beenders’ latest avant-garde inspiration. “I think we need to make people more aware of what happens to their trash,” says the creative director, “and I’m going to do that in an artful way.”

—Mary O’Regan

 18. Vintage Pop-Up Shops

The phrase “limited-time offer” may sound like a marketing gimmick, but for the Twin Cities’ new crop of pop-up vintage boutiques, it’s the only way they operate. Shops like Mighty Swell Vintage, Junk Love, Piccadilly Prairie and It’s a Date are only open a few days a month, spreading the word via email, social media and good old-fashioned flyers. The owners spend the rest of the month stocking up on merchandise and selecting fellow vintage vendors to sell their wares out of the shop for—you guessed it—a limited time only. As a result, the clothes, shoes, accessories, housewares and décor are more affordable, constantly turning over and whittled down to only the best options. mightyswell.com, junk-love.com, piccadillyprairie.com, facebook.com/itsadate

19. Parc Boutique’s top-notch Tweets

Shop owners are finally starting to discover the ways that social media can help them interact with customers, and no one’s got it down better than Thao Bui of Parc Boutique. She posts about jewelry giveaways on Facebook, links to photos of new dresses on Twitter and reminds followers about in-store events like “Sip & Shop,” a Friday afternoon happy hour with complimentary wine and storewide discounts. 320 E. Hennepin Ave.; 612.353.4966; parcboutique.com; twitter.com/parcboutique

20. Emerging fashion designers

It’s official: Minneapolis is the perfect place to start a career in fashion design. Why? Because we can’t stop hosting runway shows; we love buying locally made clothes, which are sold at boutiques across the Twin Cities; and it’s way more affordable to launch your own line here than in, say, New York. A few of our favorite new designers include Gina Marie Vintage, a collection of simple, elegant garments in delicate silks, sheers and lace; womenswear brand a.anthony designs, which focuses on refined silhouettes with clean tailoring; Hackwith Design House, a collection of chic, comfortable pieces for men and women; Ina Grau, which creates hand-stitched loafers, oxfords and flats in cute colors and prints; J.Garten, a line of flashy shoes, handbags and accessories inspired by the designer’s Brazilian background; and lingerie brand Anne Kristine, which consists of sweet, feminine, all-white chemises and panties for brides. ginamarievintage.com, aanthonydesigns.com, hackwithdesignhouse.com, inagraushoes.tumblr.com, jgarten.net, annekristinelingerie.com

 21. Duluth Pack

Originally designed for rugged outdoor use—think holding your shotgun shells or fishing lures—Duluth Pack’s classic leather and canvas bags can now be seen on the arms of trend-savvy ladies, from Minneapolis to New York. duluthpack.com

22. High-waisted womenswear

It’s time once again to ditch those low-rise jeans and head north with your waistline. Every couple of decades, skirts, pants and dresses that hug a woman’s natural waist reappear in droves. And it’s no surprise—such bottoms are universally flattering.

23. Selby and Snelling clothing boutiques

The corner of Selby and Snelling Avenues in St. Paul is quickly becoming our favorite spot for a girly shopping date. There’s A. Michele, an elegant women’s boutique full of hip clothes and accessories; Flirt, one of the best lingerie shops in the Twin Cities, known for its superb customer service; Allee Metrochic, an adorable European-inspired boutique that specializes in classic and stylish clothes; Everyday People, a trendy secondhand shop loaded with affordable gems; The Drawbridge, an eclectic antique store so full of décor, furniture, art and clothes it’s like walking though a maze; Patina, a fun, quirky gift shop with items for women and men; and three cute, colorful vintage stores packed with retro clothes: Go Vintage, Up Six and Lula. Selby and Snelling Avenues, St. Paul

 24. The Bachelor Farmer and Marvel Bar

 As if the adorable name wasn’t enough (we mean “adorable” in the manliest way possible), this new restaurant/bar duo in the North Loop counts a commitment to sustainability, a hot-to-trot staff and a unique, Nordic-inspired menu among its virtues. Add in a rooftop garden (the fruits—or vegetables—of which will probably end up on your plate), a swoonworthy private event space and a cocktail program put together by former METRO drinks columnist Pip Hanson, and you just might have to fight us for reservations. thebachelorfarmer.com

 25. North Star Bartender’s Guild

This league of extraordinary bartenders—La Belle Vie’s Johnny Michaels, Marvel Bar’s Pip Hanson and Jesse Held, among others—promotes cocktail culture via events and recipe books (look for North Star Cocktails in bookstores next month).

26. Bartmann sisters

Siblings Kim and Kari Bartmann are on a mission to take over the Twin Cities, and if that means further blanketing Minneapolis in classy, sustainable, reasonably priced food, you won’t hear us complaining. This year the Bartmanns, who already own and manage the Bryant-Lake Bowl, Barbette, Red Stag Supperclub and Gigi’s, added Bread & Pickle (a casual picnic-style spot on Lake Harriet) and, as of press time, are slated to open Pat’s Tap (a South Minneapolis skee-ball and gastro-pub emporium) this fall. breadandpickle.com; patstap.com

27. Nate Dog’s Quality Wieners

The best dog in town is sourced from Pastures A Plenty Farm and served on Nate Beck’s ketchup-red cart, which divides its time between the two downtowns. natedogs.com

28. Aster Café Redo

Matty O’Reilly and Tom Peterson, the owners of Excelsior’s 318 Café, revamped this former coffee shop this year with a live-music series, a small but satisfying menu and a significant ambiance upgrade.fa significant ambiance upgrade. aster-cafe.com

29. Grand Pizza

Pizza Lucé-style ’za that nearly out Lucés Lucé. After you’ve stuffed your pie hole, go next door to its sister space, Grand Ole Creamery, for the finest ice cream in St. Paul. grandolecreamery.com   

30. Beer legislation

With Minneapolis and St. Paul passing ordinances allowing breweries to sell pints of beer on site and the state legislature’s approval of the “Surly Bill” (named for Surly’s proposed new brewery/beer garden), craft-beer lovers can breathe a sigh of relief. Then slam a cold one.

31. Joia soda

The local Boundary Waters Brands company launched this line of not-too-sweet, cocktail recipe-inspired sodas this year, and our lives haven’t been the same since. Check out the July 2011 issue of METRO for a no-fail, boozy punch recipe that features the pineapple-coconut-nutmeg flavor. joialife.com

32. Scott Mayer

In addition to owning MAYER, a sponsorship marketing business, Mayer is the brains behind the Ivey Awards (the Twin Cities’ answer to the Tonys), One Man (an award program in Minneapolis, Dallas and Chicago that honors men active in their respective communities) and Minneapolis MOSAIC, a showcase of cultural diversity through the arts. He’s also the muscle behind many of the local arts community’s fundraising success stories and is the producer of the METRO-sponsored Charlie Awards in November—a celebration of Twin Cities restaurants, businesses and individuals active in the food community. facebook.com/MAYERco

33. Grumpy’s

Our favorite local bar franchise. The downtown Minneapolis locale has an airy, industrial vibe and a sweet staff that remembers your name (and your poison) after you’ve visited just a handful of times. The barkeeps at the chain’s Northeast outpost probably won’t remember your name (you might not, either, after a night there), but you don’t visit for the customer service; you come for the classic, crusty dive that’s literally grumpy in the best possible way. And finally, your name might shine a little brighter at the Roseville iteration, which offers weekly karaoke, trivia, bags and other parlor games in its cavernous digs. grumpys-bar.com

34. Bayport BBQ

Worth-the-drive Texas-style barbacue just south of Stillwater. bayportbbq.com

35. Saucy Burt’s

The best meatball sandwich in town comes off a cart at 5th and Nicollet. twitter.com/saucyburts

36. Increased farmers market access for lower-income customers

It’s no secret that food-related health issues like diabetes and obesity have just as much to do with class as they do with nutrition. This year several farmers markets across the state broke ground—and challenged the idea that health food is for the wealthy—when they started accepting electronic benefits transfer (EBT) purchases. In August they sweetened the deal with Market Bucks, a program that matches the first $5 EBT users spend every market day through Nov. 15. mfma.org

37. American Indian cultural corridor

All My Relations gallery, which played host to the Twin Cities American Indian Arts Festival in June, is just one of Franklin Avenue’s hotspots for American Indian arts and culture. Woodland Indian Crafts, Mille Lacs Band-Ojibwe Urban and the non-profit American Indian Opportunities Industrialization Center all call this neighborhood home. allmyrelationsarts.com

38. American Refugee Committee

Said Sheik-Abdi has just returned from a five-day humanitarian trip to Mogadishu, Somalia. He brings back with him dire stories of disease, starvation and death stemming from the famine oppressing East Africa.

“The situation is difficult to express in words,” he says, interrupting himself to recall specifics: crowded and unsanitary hospital wards, starving families walking three weeks to get to bare-bones refugee camps, illiterate mothers unable to track down medical care for dying children. In the Western world we can’t help but imagine such tragedy in theoretical terms. But for the 11-year Minneapolis resident, the situation is anything but abstract—not just because he encountered it face-to-face, but because it’s happening in his hometown.

Sheik-Abdi, who left his native Mogadishu in 1993 at age 22 (two years after the start of an ongoing civil war), is a program manager for Neighbors Initiative. It’s the newest relief program put forth by the American Refugee Committee, a Minneapolis-based humanitarian organization that helps displaced people in countries like Rwanda, Pakistan and Somalia. He and the ARC, with the blessing of the U.S. State Department and several corporate, civic and non-profit program partners, are at the helm of a first-of-its-kind movement.

The ARC is seeking to bring both long-term development and immediate aid (medical services, sanitation infrastructure, water and other essentials) to the famine-stricken country, as well as awareness (through education, fundraising, music events and other initiatives like a Somali food truck) to the Twin Cities. What’s unprecedented—and has helped the program gain kudos from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—is that it is doing so largely under the leadership of Somali nurses, doctors, volunteers and administrators like Sheik-Abdi, and is backed by large-scale grassroots support from the local Somali community. “This program is made in Minnesota by Minnesotans,” he says.

President and CEO Daniel Wordsworth explains the 30-plus-year-old organization’s residency in Minneapolis is no coincidence: “This state has a longstanding commitment to refugees,” he says. “That’s not just because of policy; it’s everything from the welcoming and inclusive nature of the community to [local] employers helping refugees to get jobs.”

“There’s a willingness of Somali Minnesotans to go back home and help,” says Sheikh-Abdi. “The majority of them have been in the same situation these people are in now—it’s a different narrative, but the same pattern.” He pulls out a snapshot of himself with a Swedish humanitarian worker and explains how she helped facilitate his own education and emigration to the United States. “This can happen to anyone. It’s my responsibility to pass the torch and help.”

—Dana Raidt

 39. Victory neighborhood

This Minneapolis neighborhood, situated in the shadow of Highway 100 in the oft-neglected northwestern corner of the city, is fast becoming a hotspot for recreation (Ryan Lake, Victory Park) and cuisine (Victory 44, Surly Brewing Company). victoryneighborhood.org

40. African Development Center

When North Country Co-op closed its doors in 2007 after a 37-year run, West Bank residents anxiously awaited what would become of the corner of S. 5th Street and Riverside Avenue. Lucky for them, the area’s newest neighbor turned out to be the African Development Center, a non-profit that offers space for community events as well as financial and employment assistance to the Minneapolis African community. Doesn’t hurt that the new guy on the block is also a great cook—the ADC houses Afro Deli & Coffee, which serves sandwiches, curries and other treats. adcminnesota.org; afrodeli.com

41. Serving Our Troops

Founded in 2004 by St. Paul City Council member Pat Harris and other community leaders, Serving Our Troops visits U.S. Military bases around the world, delivering steak dinners to soldiers and their Skyped-in families. servingourtroops.com

42. Michael Cuddyer’s scoreless inning of pitching versus the Texas Rangers, July 25, 2011

Sure, the Twins lost the game by two touchdowns, but the goofball grin that appeared on Cuddy’s face when he heard he’d be pitching the eighth inning reminded us why we love baseball—and the Twins—in the first place. At that instant he was simply a grown man playing a boy’s game (to quote the newly minted Hall of Famer Bert Byleven). One of two happy moments in the Twins’ otherwise miserable 2011 campaign.

43. Mike Haege

After a tornado ripped through North Minneapolis last summer, Hastings tree trimmer Mike Haege decided to take a day off and volunteer his services in the ravaged neighborhood. And what thanks did he get for his random act of benevolence? A $275 ticket from the city for working without a license. 

44. Ricky Rubio and Derrick Williams

Much maligned T-Wolves pres. David Kahn is banking on Rubio—20, Spanish, unproven in the NBA—and Williams—20, Californian, unproven in the NBA—turning things around for the woeful Woofs. We’re not holding our breath, but anything’s gotta be better than the last two seasons, when our combined record was 32-132. Plus, Rubio’s sort of adorable. 

45. Standup Paddle Surfing

Exactly what it sounds like. Though you can pretty much forget the surfing part in Minnesota. We don’t really understand the appeal (maybe gondola drivers know different?), but the sport blew up here last summer. 

46. The Donovan McNabb-Christian Ponder-Joe Webb experiment

Better 1-2-3 than the Favre-T-Jack-Joe Webb experiment? Stay tuned, sports fans.

47. Nature Valley Grand Prix

Held over four days last June, this pro road race is Minnesota’s answer to the Tour De France. naturevalleybicyclefestival.com

48. Mardy Fish

If the ATP ranked players by the awesomeness of their names, Mardy Fish would be number one. Lucky for Fish, he happens to be a pretty good tennis player, too. In fact, the 29-year-old Edina boy is having a career year. It started with a third-round victory over Juan Martin Del Potro at the Sony Ericsson Open, a win that made him the globe’s number-one American men’s tennis player (take that, Andy Roddick!); continued with a third-round appearance in the French Open; and peaked (so far) at the Wimbledon quarterfinals, where he lost to some guy named Rafael Nadal. At press time, he was ranked eighth in the world going into the U.S. Open. Way to go, Mardy Fish.

49. Jim Thome’s 600th career homerun

Happy moment number two. We’ll miss you, Paul Bunyan.

50. The Minnesota Lynx

A.K.A., the only pro sports team worth cheering for in the Twin Cities in 2011. Heading to the playoffs at press time as the top seed in the Western Conference!

51. Jason Litzau

After struggling with substance abuse and near-homelessness in his teens, St. Paul’s Jason Litzau literally fought his way to the top of the super-featherweight boxing scene, where he’s become known for his tough, powerful style and never-say-die approach in the ring (he was once knocked out cold, only to wake up and win the match). The 130-pound warrior lost the world title bout in Mexico last June, but we’d put good money on this guy making a Rocky-style comeback sometime soon.

52. Patch sites employing area reporters

AOL’s HuffPo-managed hyperlocal journalism experiment doubled its number of Minnesota sites this year, which is good news for reporters looking to write hard-hitting exposes on bake sales and lost dogs. We kid, Patch—your community focus is much needed in local media. patch.com

53. Chuck Terhark’s “Before the Falls” column in Downtown Journal

Smart, wistful ruminations on life in Northeast Minneapolis penned by former METRO staffer Chuck Terhark. Sort of reminds us of E.B. White’s underappreciated essays. downtownjournal.com

54. Utne reader’s March-April 2011 Cover

Donald Trump burning at the skyscraper as a symbol for the corporate greed that destroyed America? Looks like the old alt-media aggregator is still relevant as ever. utne.com

55. Biodiesel tax credit

A revived federal tax credit recently brought this ailing alt-fuel industry back from the dead. Here’s hoping Minnesota biodiesel plants (such as SoyMor in Glenville) reap the benefits.

56. R.T. Rybak’s Electric Blue Eyes

They make us feel all mixed-up inside. 

57. Kerrik Wessel’s solar-powered carport

If and when electric cars go mainstream, their owners will need a cheap way to charge ’em. Enter this sexy, solar-powered shelter designed by St. Paul-based architect Kerrik Wessel. Though still in the prototype phase, Wessel sees a future in which his environmentally friendly carport will be as commonplace as the garage. wesseldesign.com

58. The River Otter

This furry aquatic mammal nearly disappeared from Minnesota last century, a victim of pollution and trapping. But it’s making a comeback, says the DNR, which has spotted families of otter hanging out on the Mississippi shoreline in downtown Minneapolis—a good sign for the overall health of our urban ecology. 

59. GoKart Labs

Created a snazzy, easy-to-use site for Bring Me the News, Rick Kupchella’s news aggregator, and invented Sophia, a supplementary educational tool that connects teachers, learners, experts and parents via online classes. Not a bad resume for the self-proclaimed “digital innovation company.”   

60. Fancy Pants Gangsters

We’re biased on this one (our senior editor hosts one of its shows), but this podcast network is the best outlet for a diverse selection of locally produced audio content. TV junkies will appreciate Blogulator Radio (recent episodes include “Julianna Marguiplease” and “I Want My MTV [Not To Suck]”), and foodies can revel in The Well-Fed Guide to Life’s commentary on everything from new restaurants to the benefits of organics and the hosts’ crippling addictions to soda. In the past year former Radio K shows Out of Step, Girl Germs and Locust Lecture switched to podcast formats and joined the network, meaning you get even more bang for your (non-existent, as the downloads are all free) buck. fancypantsgangsters.com

61. University of Minnesota Bee Lab

Honeybees everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief knowing this U of M lab is on their side. Bee Lab researchers work around the clock to study social behavior, pollination and breeding habits, all in the name of preserving the honeybee population—the decline of which spells bad news for the North American food supply. The lab also offers public courses and manuals for aspiring and experienced beekeepers. extension.umn.edu/honeybees

62. You

We see you’re still buying (or at least reading) magazines, so kudos on that. Plus, there really wouldn’t be a METRO 100—or a METRO, for that matter—without you and your inherent benevolence.

* This story was corrected on Oct. 3 to include the correct book title and web address. We apologize for the errors.