The two brightest nighttime stars available in the Minnesota and Wisconsin sky are Sirius and Arcturus. April is the only month of the year we can enjoy both of them at the same time in the early evening: Sirius in the low southwest sky and Arcturus in the low eastern heavens.

Sirius is the king of stellar brightness and is often referred to as the star of winter, although it’s visible every evening from late December into early May. As most stars do in our celestial dome, it migrates from east to west from night to night as Earth orbits the sun. This is Sirius’ swan song as it shines away in the southwest evening sky. By mid-May, it’ll already be below the horizon as twilight ends, as it begins its summer vacation. Incidentally, when you’re looking for Sirius in the southwest this week, don’t mistake Jupiter for Sirius. Without a doubt, Jupiter is brighter than Sirius, but of course, Jupiter isn’t a star. It just happens to be in that part of the heavens this spring.

(Mike Lynch)

Sirius is so bright because it’s one of the closest stars to the Earth, a little over eight and a half light-years away, with just one light-year, the distance light travels in a year, equaling nearly 6 trillion miles. That puts Sirius at nearly 50 trillion miles away. Astronomically, that is considered just down the street. Sirius’ brightness is also helped by its size, nearly 1.5 million miles in diameter. Our sun isn’t even a million miles across.

Meanwhile, Arcturus, the star of summer, is on the rise in the eastern sky. It’s by far the brightest evening star in the east this spring. You’ll notice that it has an orange glow to it. That’s because it’s considered a red giant star, a bloated star nearing the end of its life. It’s over 25 times the diameter of our sun. It’s also considered to be a nearby star at a little over 36 light-years away. Since a light-year is the distance light travels in a year, the light that we see from Arcturus tonight left that star just over 36 years ago when Madonna was in her prime. Eventually Arcturus will belch away most of its gas and will shrink down to a white dwarf star.

Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Bootes, which is supposed to outline a herdsman or plowman, but honestly, it much more resembles a sideways kite with Arcturus marking the tail. Just below Bootes is a very small constellation, Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown. It arguably resembles a crown or a tiara on its side. To me, I see it this time of year as a backward C.

T-Coronae Borealis (Mike Lynch)

Corona Borealis is the home of a potential “guest star.” At the lower left side of the backward C that makes up the northern crown is an extremely faint star, T-Coronae Borealis. It’s very close to the star Epsilon at the end of the C. There’s no way you can see that star with the naked eye. Even with a moderately large telescope, it’s extremely difficult to find. The big news about T- Coronae Borealis is that there’s a decent chance that it’ll suddenly dramatically brighten into a new naked star, at least temporarily. T-Coronae Borealis is also known as the “Blaze Star,” but it sure doesn’t blaze that often. In the last 150 years, it’s only blazed up for a few days back in 1866 and again in 1946, but many astronomers predict it could blaze again in the very near future.

So, what’s going on? T-Coronae Borealis, about 3,000 light-years away, is a double star system comprising a large red giant star and a dying white dwarf star. As the two orbit each other, the intense gravity of the white dwarf pulls gas off the red giant star. The details are complicated, but the white dwarf star can only acquire so much additional gas before it becomes extremely unstable and ignites in a brief flash of nuclear fusion on its surface, triggering what is known as a nova outburst. When this happens to T-Coronae Borealis, it could temporarily become as bright as Polaris, the North Star. But after about a week, T-Coronae Borealis will fade back to obscurity.

No one really knows for sure when T-Coronae Borealis will flare up but most astronomers think it’ll be soon. In fact, there were predictions that it would flare up last summer. I heard one wild prediction about a month ago that it would brighten up on March 27. Obviously, that didn’t pan out. I think someone was trying to create some overhyped headlines. My advice is to keep an eye on Corona Borealis. The Northern Crown might soon process another jewel very, very soon!

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The west side of Tanners Lake in Oakdale, formerly the site of two restaurants and a glass-repair company, will soon be home to a 126-unit apartment building and 12 townhomes.

The 3.25-acre lakeside project, just east of Century Avenue and north of Hudson Boulevard and Interstate 94, is being developed by McGlynn Partners and Boo Realty. Construction is expected to start soon, said Jim Boo, the owner of Boo Realty.

The project includes market-rate apartments and townhomes and a number of public attractions such as a boardwalk, patio, pier launch and lakeside amenity building, Boo said.

Key selling points were the area’s proximity to the headquarters of 3M Corp. in Maplewood, and the recent opening of the new Metro Gold Line, the $505 million 10-mile bus rapid transit line that runs between Woodbury and St. Paul, Boo said.

“We know there’s a need,” Boo said. “It’s a wonderful site with the connectivity and the lakeshore. It feels like what should be there, including the townhouses that are on the thinner piece of land. We tried to blend two different uses. It’s taking something that’s not performing and turning it into something that should be good for the community. We’re very cognizant of the connectivity and the water amenity, and we’re excited about it.”

City officials have worked for more than 15 years to redevelop the property. Plans for condos, a hotel, medical offices and different restaurants have all previously fallen through, said Andrew Gitzlaff, the city’s community development director.

“It feels good to finally get this going,” he said.

The two parcels that make up the majority of the site once housed restaurants Toby’s on the Lake and Blackie’s Eatery and Saloon. The city’s Economic Development Authority in 2008 received special legislative approval to form a redevelopment tax-increment financing district to purchase the former Blackie’s Eatery site on the north side for about $1.5 million and demolish the building, Gitzlaff said.

In 2014, the city’s EDA purchased the parcel to the south, the former site of Toby’s on the Lake, for $843,000. The total capital expenditure for both sites was approximately $2.4 million, including demolition, Gitzlaff said.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development recently awarded the city of Oakdale $430,937 for soil stabilization and stormwater infrastructure on site. Officials anticipate the project will increase the tax base by $326,107 and leverage $32.1 million of private investment, DEED officials said. Matching funds will be provided by the developer.

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Oakdale owns a park, Tanners Lake Park, on the east side of the lake that features a beach for swimming. The lake has a 10 mph speed limit.

The city is contributing $4 million in tax-increment financing assistance for the project, but the developers will pay the city the full amount for the two city-owned properties, which is approximately $2.4 million, Gitzlaff said.

The project is targeted for completion in 2026, Boo said.

“We hope that within 18 months, we’re putting silverware in the drawers,” he said.

St. Paul is set to be a central excursion point for a pair of 50-plus-day river cruises in 2026, billed by American Cruise Lines as the longest such voyages on the market.

At 51 nights, the Great United States Cruise covers 14 states, including visits to three national parks. After heading from the Pacific Northwest to Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks, travelers will fly to New Orleans for a complete Mississippi River cruise ending in St. Paul (or mostly complete; sorry to all the Lake Itasca fans out there), then fly from the Twin Cities to Boston for a New England experience. This cruise runs May 29 to July 19, 2026.

The longer Great American Fall Foliage Cruise, 54 nights, trades the national parks for a cruise of Alaska’s Inside Passage, then a cruise from St. Louis to St. Paul and an exploration of more of the East Coast, cruising from Portland, Maine, to Washington, D.C. This cruise runs Sept. 5 to Oct. 29, 2026.

Both itineraries also include a daylong stop each in Winona and Red Wing.

We did not make the cut, evidently, for the Spring Across America cruise in April and May, which begins in South Carolina and Florida and only explores the Mississippi between Memphis and New Orleans before heading to the Pacific Northwest and up to Alaska.

Prices for these cruises are not made available online; potential customers must request a custom quote. However, American sailed a similar itinerary, covering 20 states in 60 days, in 2024, and the per-person price for that journey ranged from $51,060 to $77,945.

The price is all-inclusive of meals, daily excursions, transportation between cruise segments and, for the Great United States Cruise, an “American Cruise Lines jacket and gear pack.”

The impetus for these extended itineraries, according to the cruise line, is the country’s semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary, in 2026.

River cruising has been making a comeback in St. Paul in recent years, with luxury liners appearing to largely replace the paddle-wheelers of the past.

Run by the international company Viking River Cruises, the splashy Viking Mississippi set sail from St. Paul in 2022, the first luxury cruise liner here in about a decade. Until American Cruise Lines reinstated service here a few years ago, the company’s cruises had not stopped in St. Paul since 2018; its luxury ships made their final port-of-call instead in Red Wing.

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The company currently operates fleets of both modern cruise ships — most of which have been newly constructed within the past half-decade or so — and renovated traditional paddle-wheelers.

Meanwhile, paddle-wheeler stalwart American Queen Voyages stopped operations in St. Paul by 2019 and folded altogether last year.

The broader statewide tourism industry has struggled a bit over the past three years, though, after a brief COVID-induced outdoor vacation surge in 2021. Last summer’s tourism season was especially tough for businesses affected by major flooding along the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers.

Before they all sang “Happy,” by Pharrell Williams, musician Traiveon Dunlap reminded the elementary schoolers seated in a circle in front of him at 825 Arts of their parts in the song.

The whole group will sing the first verse together. Esme will take the first chorus, he said; Summer will sing the next one. Dunlap will clap the beat and cue the ad-libs and “yeah!” shouts. You ready?

This is ComMUSICation, a youth music program centered in Frogtown that runs a variety of after-school programming, including elementary, middle and high school choirs and other music classes focusing on topics like drumming, ukulele, songwriting and cultural music.

Student participants in ComMUSICation, a youth-development program that aims to build life skills through music performance, sing on July 27, 2024. With a focus on making music accessible, ComMUSICation’s after-school programming is all free and snacks or meals are provided at each rehearsal. (Courtesy of ComMUSICation)

Programming is led by professional musicians, like Dunlap, and student groups have previously performed with Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera and VocalEssence and alongside Broadway actor Leslie Odom, Jr. at Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis in 2018. But ComMUSICation is not exactly a music school, per se: The organization’s primary aim is to build access to music so kids can learn the life skills that ensemble music performance can provide: confidence, teamwork, reliability, collaboration, peer leadership.

“It’s not only about singing; it’s about how we use the singing to help facilitate that learning,” said Georgina Chinchilla Gonzalez, ComMUSICation’s executive director. “A lot of what they learn through music (is), ‘This seems really hard, how am I going to do this?’ — and then they figure it out. And that ripples out into school and into communities.”

Performing with ComMUSICation offers a space where you can sing without judgment and feel supported in taking risks, said Angel, a 5th-grader in the elementary choir.

“You think you’re going to be scared, and you could be — but once you get up there, for me, you know you’ve gotta do it,” she said. “And it’s better because you’re not alone.”

ComMUSICation students from a variety of the organization’s choirs and programs are presenting a spring showcase at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at 825 Arts on University Avenue. Free tickets can be reserved online. The following week, the high school Soar choir is also planning and staging its own cabaret-style show, at 5 p.m. Friday, May 2, also at 825 Arts; free to attend with a pay-what-you-can bake sale.

‘Skills to be successful’

The 3rd, 4th and 5th graders rehearsing with Dunlap on a recent afternoon were not singing “Happy” because adult leaders had chosen their repertoire: The participants themselves, even the elementary schoolers, take the lead on choosing their own music.

“The young people are the ones making decisions,” Gonzalez said — which, like in adulthood, also carries responsibilities. At each rehearsal, students can also be assigned jobs: “techie,” who runs the screen that displays the lyrics; secretary, who chooses the order in which they’ll rehearse the songs; time keeper; materials manager. (I asked Esme, a third-grader, what that particular job’s responsibilities include. “They manage the materials,” she told me. Gotcha.)

Younger ComMUSICation participants do tend to pick more popular karaoke-style songs, said Carey Shunskis, the music and program director. But as they get older, she said, it’s gratifying to watch them willingly challenge themselves with more ambitious music.

And in addition to life skills, participants do come away with solid musical chops.

Take Mahogany Robinson, for example. She initially joined ComMUSICation more than a decade ago during its first years in operation, when she was in second grade at St. Paul City School. She returned to the organization as a high schooler, and now is a teaching fellow with ComMUSICation and a freshman music student at the University of Minnesota.

Now, by working with the kids who are sitting where she once did, she said, she is able to help show them that music, even classical performance, is not monolithic and contains many avenues for self-expression.

Student participants in ComMUSICation’s Soar choir, comprised of 9th through 12th graders, jump for a photo in front of the Minnesota State Capitol after performing there March 28, 2025. The group sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as part of Black Youth Mental Health Day. (Courtesy of ComMUSICation)

“I got into the University of Minnesota for vocal performance, which I would credit almost 100 percent to ComMUSICation,” she said. “There are so many barriers to music education…and there’s so much of the musical world that (young people) might not know about because it’s inaccessible.”

ComMUSICation, as Robinson and Gonzalez both explained, is specifically oriented toward making the musical world accessible: All the programs are offered at no cost, free transportation is provided, and snacks or meals are served at every rehearsal.

“We want humans who feel valued and loved and appreciated, and who have the skills to be successful in whatever they choose to do with their lives, whether or not that’s music,” Gonzalez said.

‘Sing your heart out here’

During that recent rehearsal, Shunskis pulled a few kids out into a side room for a brief interview. As one might expect for a group of performative elementary schoolers, things quickly went off the rails.

For example: What would each kid say to someone else in their grade about why they should consider joining ComMUSICation?

Angel, 5th grade: “If you ever wanted to become a singer, then this would be the place. Not a comedian, not a firefighter, not a dance class. But — if you become a celebrity and you don’t know how to dance, then social media is going to eat you, so…”

Shunskis: I think we’ve lost the plot.

Summer, 4th grade: “You can meet new friends. You’ll probably like it because it looks like an old building. And you can sing your heart out here.”

Esme, 3rd grade: “Because we need the money.”

Shunskis: Esme, y’all don’t pay for this program. We don’t get money from you, it’s free for you!

Esme: “Oh. Well in that case, then because it’s free. (Long pause) And because there are a lot of nice teachers, and it’s just really fun. And snack is, like, the best part.”

If You Go

What: ComMUSICation’s Spring Showcase and Cabaret, highlighting the work of the local youth-driven music performance organization

When: 6 p.m. April 24 (youth showcase) and 5 p.m. May 2 (high-school cabaret)

Where: 825 Arts; 825 W. University Ave.

Tickets: Free; reserve tickets for the showcase in advance online. More info at commusicationmn.org.

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