The Breakaway Music Festival will roll into the parking lots outside Allianz Field next month like a lamb and depart like a lion, gradually ramping up volume throughout two days of electronic dance music performances.

Facing criticism from residents from at least as far away as Lilydale that last year’s music festival got too loud for comfort, the St. Paul City Council voted 5-2 on Wednesday to accept a compromise proposal from event organizers, adjusting hours and maximum volumes to step up gradually throughout DJ sets on June 6 and June 7, a Friday and Saturday.

The latest plan — the fourth to be presented to the council in as many weeks — calls for nightly sound level limits at the main stage of 94 decibels at 3 p.m., 96 decibels around 4 p.m., 98 decibels at 5 p.m., and so forth, topping out at 103 decibels by 10:30 p.m., as measured at 125 feet from the speakers.

Organizers said speakers this year would be reoriented toward the soccer stadium itself, using Allianz Field as a noise buffer, and they will pay for city staff from the Department of Safety and Inspections to assist with sound testing throughout the event, among other efforts to mitigate noise.

“If it sounds good at 101 decibels at 9:15 p.m. we won’t crank it to 103,” said Jarrod Fucci, Breakaway Music Festival president, in a brief interview after the vote. “We’re stepping the sound as we go.”

Unlike last year, this year’s event won’t include a Thursday night sound check and will end at 10:30 p.m., 30 minutes earlier than previously proposed.

Those and other efforts won the favor of Council Members Matt Privratsky and Anika Bowie, whose wards both surround Allianz Field. Bowie had signaled support last month for a blanket sound level limit of 103 decibels but later changed course and called for a lower limit, under pressure from the Union Park District Council and other constituents, before working with Privratsky on the latest plan.

“The request for 103 decibels is not for them to be at that ceiling the entire time,” Bowie noted.

Organizers said they have already sold nearly 25,000 tickets across the two days of performances. “Any event like this is going to have some level of disruption,” acknowledged Privratsky, noting he lives near Allianz Field and welcomed the added vibrancy and tourism dollars.

DSI had recommended a lower sound limit of 100 decibels at 100 feet from the main stage. Not lost on some council members was that the music festival last year was approved for 97 decibels at 50 feet from a sound source but likely blew well past those limits, rattling windows down past Highland Park and into Dakota County.

Council President Rebecca Noecker and Council Member Cheniqua Johnson voted against the compromise proposal, noting previous events throughout the city had been limited to 90-100 decibels at 50 feet without issue.

The new limits are “higher than the entire Kellogg Bridge demolition,” Johnson said. “It’s higher than the Yacht Club Festival. … It’s not, for me, consistent with what has been done (before). Literally, the one thing that hasn’t changed is the sound, and that was the issue.”

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Kids of Ramsey County, we have bad news and good news:

First, the bad news: Battle Creek Waterworks, that popular waterpark designed for younger kids and located within Battle Creek Regional Park, is temporarily closed (for the entire summer).

Now, the good news: The facility, to be renamed Battle Creek Waterpark, will reopen in 2026 after an approximately $4.7 million renovation and maintenance project that will incorporate some new features and amenities as well as updated mechanicals and more.

“We wanted to get the word out there about the closure and the excitement that is coming,” says Kristopher Lencowski, director of park operations for Ramsey County Parks and Recreation.

But what about this summer? For this corner of the metro, the niche waterpark is a popular spot for families to cool off, serving about 25,000 people over the course of those precious 10 weeks that Minnesota calls summer.

“Mostly, we’re directing people to the beaches,” Lencowski says.

Ramsey County has nine swimming beaches that officially open Memorial Day weekend, and St. Paul’s swimming beach at Phalen Regional Park is also an option. Another waterpark alternative is Como Regional Park Pool.

“It’s always painful to have a facility you know and love close for a certain amount of time,” Lencowski acknowledges.

However, after looking at issues and delays that could crop up in a more rushed timeline — think of any snafu you’ve seen when they start opening up walls on an aging structure on an HGTV show — Lencowski said it became clear they couldn’t take the chance.

“We said, ‘Let’s make sure we do it right,’” he said.

Construction is slated to begin soon.

A 25-year-old waterpark

Erin Roth of Vadnais Heights gives the 160-foot-long water slide a test at the Battle Creek Waterworks in Maplewood on May 17, 2000 during a preview before the park opened. (Joe Oden / Pioneer Press)

The waterpark opened in 2000, nearly 19 years after some sort of water facility was proposed for the area.

“Called the Battle Creek Waterworks,” the Pioneer Press wrote in a preview that year, “the $2 million facility is not a swimming pool. It is more of a water playground.”

Although “Waterworks” makes it sound like some sort of water treatment facility, it was named to highlight its focal point located within a shallow pool, a climbing structure with pipes and valves that could be used for water play.

The park was also designed to include a 35-foot-tall, 160-foot-long water slide that emptied swimmers into a 5-foot-deep plunge pool.

Plans for this attraction date to 1981, when the master plan for Battle Creek Regional Park was drawn to include water play for this southeast corner of the county, since the nine natural beaches are located on the northern end of Ramsey County.

The process sped up in the 1990s, when the county qualified for $2 million from the Metropolitan Council for the project.

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The first plan envisioned a sand-bottom swimming pool in the southern section of the park. That proposal, we reported, drew strong opposition from nearby residents and others, who said such a pool would infringe on the natural quality of that part of the 880-acre park. The pool, they said, would attract traffic and people to what basically is a passive part of the park.

After much public debate, the facility was moved to what park officials call “the activity area,” where there is a picnic pavilion and playground.

Although not all residents liked the move, Jody Yungers of the Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Division told the Pioneer Press in 2000 that the shift was a good one.

“Because the public spoke up, the design of the facility was changed, and we are ending up with a very attractive, fun facility in a very attractive setting,” she said.

The waterpark opened on May 27, 2000, with the Teddy Bear Band in attendance and a magic show in celebration. At the time, admission was $3.50. Currently $7, it will increase to $9 when the refreshed park reopens in 2026 (with “twilight” fees, or admission after 5 p.m., increasing from $5 to $7).

Potholes, rust and broken tiles

Tiles have fallen from pool, exposing the disintegrating concrete at Battle Creek Waterworks waterpark at Battle Creek Regional Park in Maplewood on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. The popular water fun gathering place will be closed for the 2025 season as it undergoes renovations. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

If you are following the waterpark signs to Waterworks at 2401 Upper Afton Road E., a road within Battle Creek Regional Park leads onto a bumpy parking lot of patching and potholes.

Signs alerting the public to the closure aren’t posted yet, but they will be soon.

For now, the low-slung building is empty and quiet — construction hasn’t started quite yet. The building itself is in pretty good shape, but the waterplay area is showing the need for a redo: Cracks in the concrete pool decking … broken pool tiles at the bottom of the empty pool … rust on some of the faded, aging play structures.

Pool chemicals and Minnesota winters, Lencowski says, can be tough on outdoor water parks.

Kristopher Lencowski, director of park operations with Ramsey County, talks about the updates the county will be making at Battle Creek Waterworks, located within Battle Creek Regional Park in Maplewood, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. The facility, to be renamed Battle Creek Waterpark, will reopen in 2026 after some updating and refreshing that will include new features and amenities. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“We found ourselves working harder and harder to catch up with the maintenance needs of the facility,” Lencowski said. “Every year, when they’d reopen the pool, there were tiles falling off the wall. The heaters for the pool, the interior parts of it were starting to get corroded so that was going to need to be replaced. There was starting to be rust on some of the columns. It just built up and built up.”

A plan was needed for the waterpark’s future.

“We did a feasibility study about three years ago,” Lencowski says. “And then two years ago, the Legislature had given us some modernization funds for the regional park system. And so that was really the capital we needed to get moving forward on it.”

The funding for the approximate $4.7 million project is coming from state general obligation bonds ($2.4 million); modernization funds, general fund ($1.3 million); and Legacy Amendment Parks & Trails funds, mostly for the parking lot ($1 million).

Ramsey County is partnering with Damon Farber Landscape Architects and Terra Construction on the project.

Updated, accessible and fun

Battle Creek Waterworks, located within Battle Creek Regional Park in Maplewood, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. The facility will be closed for the summer season, reopening in 2026 after some updating and refreshing that will include new features and amenities. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

So what’s changing?

In addition to the mechanical and surface updates, there will be more seating, more shade and more play options.

Some highlights of the project include:

Mechanical, pool, and play structure repairs
Energy and efficiency enhancements
New shaded seating areas and non-water play spaces
ADA accessibility upgrades
Parking lot repaving
Stormwater system repairs and upgrades

Currently, the water park’s pool deck opens up to a sandy play area to the left, with the focal point — the “Waterworks” play structure — at its center. The big waterslide with the deeper pool is to the right. There’s not much shade.

Now, picture next summer: The sandy play area — a messy option for pools — will be gone, replaced with playhouses and other non-water play options. The “Waterworks” play structure will be replaced (thus the need for a new name) and tiered seating will rise above the area, providing more seating and shade. There will be hammocks, too.

An architectural rendering shows what Ramsey County’s outdoor waterpark in Maplewood will look like after a remodeling and maintenance project that is keeping it closed for the 2025 season. (Damon Farber Landscape Architects / Ramsey County Parks and Recreation)

The deeper pool will include a ball play area for bigger kids and adults as well as the refurbished waterslide. There will also be a mural, created by a local artist (stay tuned).

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Be Graceful Bakery and Catering has provided concessions within Waterworks, but the food options are heading outside.

“We will now move food options outside the facility with food trucks in the parking lot,” Lencowski says. “That will be huge, because it can serve the whole park and you will be able to bring food inside the waterpark.”

They hope it’s worth the wait — especially for those about ages 12 and under and their families.

“It does have a nice niche in the Twin Cities, serving the younger demographic,” says Lencowski. “We know the closure will be impactful for people.”

Learn more about this project at ramseycounty.us/residents/parks-recreation/beaches-water-park/waterworks.

Reading Burt Cohen’s obituary — which he wrote himself, before he died May 10, aged 94 and a half — gives you a pretty good sense of the guy.

“He was given plenty of advance notice of his imminent death, but his lifelong habit of procrastination meant he didn’t write this obituary until pretty much the last minute, thereby sacrificing fact checking, proofreading and style,” he wrote. “Readers please note.”

Burt Cohen, at far left, stands with wife Rusty and children Michael, Susan and Jeffery at Burt and Rusty’s 65th wedding anniversary on Sept. 7, 2019. (Courtesy of Jeff Cohen)

This, said his son Jeff Cohen, is indeed what Burt Cohen was like when he wasn’t behind the typewriter, too. (Because, yes, he wrote nearly everything on a typewriter including, famously, his Twitter posts.)

“He was able to have serious, reflective conversations, but always maintained a wry sense of humor,” Jeff Cohen said. “When he was engaged with you, he was really there.”

Cohen was the founding publisher of Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine as it exists today, having taken over a fledgling publication in 1978 and quickly working to build its reputation and make it profitable and sustainable. Later, he also helped launch Twin Cities Business as its founding publisher. And even after retiring, he continued writing a monthly column (print only, of course) in Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine that was, like his obituary, both kind-hearted and witty.

Besides these columns, he also wrote a lot of thank-you notes, Jeff Cohen said. Whether you were a receptionist or the leader of a company, Burt Cohen recognized your personhood and appreciated what you brought to the table, Jeff Cohen said.

“He was big in terms of writing hand-written thank-you notes,” Jeff Cohen said. “Just that spirit of appreciation, whether it was (for) a little thing or not. And in that moment of appreciation, there’s a relationship, however brief, that’s established, and a sense of connection. There’s a pleasure in knowing the people in your community who you interact with.”

(And, to be clear, Burt Cohen also appreciated what you brought to the table in a literal sense: He loved food and eating with people, Jeff Cohen said; Burt Cohen and his wife, Rusty, threw a great dinner party, and for just the family, Burt Cohen would make favorites like fried salami sandwiches.)

Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine founding publisher Burt Cohen, second from right, sits with son Michael Cohen (right), son Jeffery Cohen (standing) and former MSP Communications president Gary Johnson (left) during a lunch at the Minneapolis Club on Nov. 17, 2023. (Courtesy of Jeff Cohen)

In his self-penned obituary, Cohen notes that he “died not of flabbiness, as had been widely predicted, but of advanced aortic stenosis, after choosing to reject the surgical procedure that would have corrected the problem,” which he compared to putting new tires on an old car.

“Almost every other body part or function was deteriorating at an accelerating rate and wouldn’t have supported new tires for very long,” Cohen quotes himself as saying, in a self-aware, almost satirical style. “The two exceptions were my appendix and my hair follicles, which were still performing well, and I feel bad they had to go with the rest.”

This, too, was classic Burt Cohen, Jeff Cohen said.

“He was really good at dealing with reality, and accepting what is,” Jeff Cohen said. “That’s another legacy I take from him — rather than what we wish would be, accepting what is.”

Burt Cohen was born Nov. 13, 1930, in Minneapolis. He was preceded in death by his wife of 70 years, known as Rusty, who died in 2023. He is survived by three children, Michael, Jeffery and Susan; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; and, per Burt Cohen’s own reckoning, “despite his off-putting personality, by so many, so many, so many precious friends.”

Memorial services are at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 15, at Temple Israel (2323 Fremont Ave. S., Minneapolis), with shiva at 7 p.m.

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