Wise Bread group write: Things to do for under $5

[Will]

Open call: You are invited!

This will the be first in our new series of open Wise Bread group writes. It's a chance to showcase great bloggers and commenters in the Wise Bread community and provide more resources for our readers.

How to participate

If you don't have a blog simply post your entry in this forum thread.

If you have a blog, write a post on the topic and email us your link at editor@wisebread.com. Please put "Group Write: $5 Fun" as the subject of the email. Wise Bread will post an article with links to all qualified articles in a few weeks.

The topic: Things to do for under $5

Share the best events and activities to do in your city for under $5. Keep it region specific -- please don't say "go to the closest park." Tell us which park and why it is worth going to.

Please keep most of your list relevant for an unlimited time. Try not to include too many soon-to-expire events or activities (annual events on the other hand are great to include). We want this list to still be useful and relevant long after it's been posted.

The rules

We accept blog posts written in the past, as long as it's still relevant. The article must be region specific. An article on "The top 10 things to do in the US" will not be included.

Submitting your link does not guarantee its inclusion on the final post. We will only include relevant and useful articles.

Links need to be submitted by August 29.

Submission Requirements

Please include:

• Name (alias ok)
• City/State the article pertains to
• Permalink to article if you are submitting a blog entry

[Mary Webber]

For heavens' sake, Will, what were you doing posting to WiseBread at that ungodly hour!

[lucille]

I am assuming this means $5 per person?

[Titanic Dawn]

I hope so Lucille....

It would be pretty hard to plan a $5 outing for a family. Gas alone would make that impossible!!!

[Lynn]

Yes! $5/person -- and transportation costs shouldn't be included -- unless it's a required cost of the venue and there's no way around it. Thanks!

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Mary Webber

For heavens' sake, Will, what were you doing posting to WiseBread at that ungodly hour!

Will is a robot we put to work 24/7.

[Myscha Theriault]

OK, so Lynn asked that we post our articles here when completed to be part of the reference list for the full round up:

http://www.wisebread.com/family-fun-...oostook-county

[lucille]

The Twin Cities (Minneapolis & St. Paul) for under $5.

Outdoors:

Como Zoo in St. Paul is one of the best free or nearly free activities in the Twin Cities. The zoo is free and includes a large lion and tiger exhibit and aquatic exhibits. They are currently rebuilding the polar bear exhibit. The old one included an underwater viewing area that the polar bears seemed to love going under water and watching the people. St. Paul has put quite a bit of effort into keeping the zoo evolving over the years. In the same park there is also a large Conservatory and gardens. A fully restored historical carousel with functioning organ and an amusement park. Paddle boats can be rented by the lake.
Como Zoo - free
Historical Carousel $1.50
Amusement Park .75 cent ride tickets
Conservatory and gardens $2 admission
Paddle Boat rentals available, price not listed

The Minneapolis parks system has a great group of lakes and parks close to downtown. Lake Harriet and Calhoun wind together just south of downtown. The Lake Harriet bandshell has a wide variety of concerts throughout the summer. Both lakes also have decent swimming beaches, bike and walking paths and a number of historical sites includes in the chain of lakes park system.


Woodlake Nature Center is located in Richfield but still near the center of town. It boasts three miles of nature trails and an interpretive center that is free to the public. They also have lots of low cost classes and events throughout the year.


The Minnesota Heritage Park near the Minnesota River is a restored historical site full of homes and businesses set up to explore life in the 1800's. It is open to tour on your own or with a guide.
Weekdays
Adults, seniors and children (3-11) - $5 with a Guided Tour
Adults, seniors and children (3-11) - $3 without a Guided Tour
Children under 3 - free

Museums:

The main exhibits at the Minneapolis Institute of Art are free to the public. The main exhibits area is huge and showcases an extremely diverse display of items. You could easily spend most of a day going through the offerings.


The Walker Art Center always has something new and interesting going on. The Walker showcases everything from local artist to the King Tut Exhibit and more recently Frida Kahlo. The Walker campus includes the art center, sculpture gardens and Cowles Conservatory. The Walker is on the west edge of downtown.
Free to all every Thursday evening (5–9 pm) and on the first Saturday of each month (10 am–5 pm)
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
Admission free. Open daily, 6 am-midnight.
Cowles Conservatory: Admission free. Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am-8 pm; Sunday, 10 am-5 pm; closed Monday.

The Bell Museum of Natural History, located on the U of M campus has been around forever. Even today they constantly evolve the exhibits, events and offerings while keeping the original diorama halls. This is also close to downtown.

Non-UMN Students: $3
Adults: $5
Children 3-16: $3
Children under 3 years: Free
Seniors 62+: $3

Other Things To Do:

Summit Brewing Company offers free brewery tours and (I think) still free beer at the end of the tour. Reservations are needed for the Saturday tours.


The Mall of America, yes I know someone's going to say you can't find anything cheap to do in a mall. The MOA is huge, it is a great place to get out and do some walking in the middle of winter. Events, celebrity appearances, contests, books signings, and various competitions go on all the time in the large event area at the mall. They also have a Toddler Tuesday program where they have weekly events, activities or kid related appearances. Various stores in the mall also run discounts on Tuesdays. The mall also has a large flagship Lego store full of huge lego sculptures and a hands on area. There are plenty of free events, free parking and finding a snack for under $5 can be easily had.


You used to be able to go to the observation deck of the IDS tower, the tallest building in Minneapolis but that was closed to the public a number of years ago. The little sister to the IDS, the Foshay Tower is a very unique art deco skyscraper built in 1929. If your at all a fan of architecture this building is a must see. The Foshay has a very colored history in the construction and demise of the owner during the stock market crash. I was sad to find out that it has recently been turned into a W hotel. But you can still enjoy the building and a great view since they put in a sky level bar where the old observation tower was located. Starwood Hotels worked with historical preservation societies in renovating the hotel and putting it back to the former splendor from when it opened. For the cost of a drink at the bar you can check out this unique piece of history.


Events:

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is held every summer. Minneapolis has a booming theater and arts community. This event is a great way to experience it.


One of Minneapolis's great traditions has traded hands as Dayton's turned to Marshal Fields turned to Macy's. Dayton's annual tradition of the Christmas display heald every year on the top floor of their downtown flag ship store continues. The walk through display of trees and animatronic Christmas scenes with a visit to Santa at the end is a city tradition. Macy's has also continued the winter holiday parade held outside, now called the Hollidazzle.

The St. Paul Winter Carnival also has plenty of free things to do in the winter. Parades, contests and the ice castle happen throughout St. Paul in January and February.

[Mary Webber]

Portland Maine is an absolutegem among America's small cities, welcoming visitors with its rich history, unexpectedly broad cultural mix, dynamic arts scenes, sports teams, award-winning microbreweries, and restuarants of every conceivable type, enough to keep even the best-fed foodie v-e-r-y happy. And even better, the seaside city of Portland offers many ways for a frugal family to have fun on a tight budget. Let's take a look at two art-related possibilities.

First Friday Art Walk - From 5-8 on the first Friday of each month (year 'round), over twenty art venues showcasing a wide variety of media open their doors and studios. A brochure for this self-guided walking tour leads you to traditional artwork in oil and watercolor, but you'll also discover sculpture, jewelry, tribal arts, photography, glass, even tattoo artistry. While other cities and even small towns are beginning to offer art walks (check out your local area), Portland's is unusual - and well known - for it depth and diversity.

Some studios offer demonstrations of their creative processes, others provide live music, while a few offer light nibblies or a cash bar. The Art Walk is a visual smorgasbord, rich, interactive, and broadly inclusive with lively conversations among artists and guests happening everywhere. For descriptive listings of participants, maps, a downloadable brochure and more, check out www.firstfridayartwalk.com

While Art Walkers may initially visit the PMA on First Friday, The Portland Museum of Art is free every Friday night (again, year 'round) from 5-9, thanks to the generous sponsorship of LL Bean. The museum hosts world-class exhibits (Dale Chihuly's glassworks is my all-time favorite) and boasts a permanent collection that includes works by three generations of Wyeths, pieces by just about every major Maine artist and a wide respresentation of American and European artisits, both classic and contemporary. There are aslo galleries focusing on glass, American domestic and decorative arts, a great museum shop and a cafe.

Friday nights at the PMA attract large and eclectic crowds, the atmospere is bright and buzzy. This is the perfect introduction for anyone who may think of art museums as hushed, dull or dusty places. And it's free! For info on current exhibits, maps and more, go to www.portlandmuseum.org

[herbertanzer]

Philadelphia, PA
Have lunch at the ridiculously good and ridiculously cheap Lan Zhou noodle house at Race & 9th (in Chinatown). Ginormous bowls of soup starting at 3.50 (for the vegetarian soup, my personal favorite). (The most expensive soup is 6.00 and the most expensive menu item is half a duck at 7)

However, the restaurant is NOT celiac friendly -these are wheat based noodles.

I could probably come up with more, but I had to plug this restaurant. It was my favorite before I was diagnosed gluten-intolerant.

In Washington, DC:
You can spend days, if not weeks, at the Smithsonian museums - Natural History, American History, American Art, National Gallery/National Portrait Gallery, the Sackler, the Freer, the Jim Henson Exhibit, the Caste, the Air and Space Museum, the National Zoo, the Native American Museum. I know I'm forgetting some. It's kind of ridiculous. And they're all free. You can use your 5$ for a donation, ice cream, two merry-go-round rides, or an all day Circulator pass (3$) for the bus that circles the Mall on weekends.