Madison Bloomquist

Minneapolis

Associate Editor at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine

Associate editor @mspmag. Cycle instructor. Thrifter. Not a big Tweeter.

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Articles

Home & Design | Très Chic

1 week ago | mspmag.com | Madison Bloomquist

Rachel Muller believes everyday objects can, and should, hold meaning. As the daughter and sister of vintage and antiques store owners—her mother, Teresa DeJarlais, owns The Porch in Buffalo, and her brother, Adam DeJarlais, owns Minneapolis’s Twelve Vultures—she’s spent much of her life spelunking at estate sales, secondhand shops, and her family’s own collections to uncover the tarnished and treasured versions of simple objects.
By the Numbers: MN-Made Mascots

2 weeks ago | mspmag.com | Madison Bloomquist

If you’re wondering what it’s like to gather nine of our state’s most beloved mascots in one iconic venue (in this case, First Avenue), well, it’s pandemonium. During every free moment, there are shenanigans—Goldy Gopher absconding with T.C. Bear’s bat, Viktor the Viking cartwheeling across the dance floor. Professional fun is part of the job, and even though these mascots make their careers posing for photos with kids, waving in parades, and doing viral TikToks look easy, it’s far from it.
Home & Design | Meet the Maker: History Lessons

2 weeks ago | mspmag.com | Madison Bloomquist

Ashley Brazil’s quirky-modern-meets-old-world-inspired line of ceramics represents a lifetime of learning and curiosities. “When you first start in ceramics, you’re just kind of throwing stuff at a wall,” says the Oregon native, who studied painting and art history at Portland State University before moving to Minnesota to study ceramics at the U of M. “It’s hard to have a unique perspective right away.
Insider: Art-A-Whirl Is Back

1 month ago | mspmag.com | Madison Bloomquist

Could one neighborhood really be so densely packed with painters, sculptors, jewelers, and more that its creative industry effectively takes over the city for a weekend? At Art-A-Whirl, the 1,500-plus artists who will fling open their studio doors from May 16–18 for art-loving mayhem in Northeast would indicate that the answer is a resounding yes.
Home & Design | Artist Spotlight: Maria Larson Manske’s Working Girls

1 month ago | mspmag.com | Madison Bloomquist

Just because artist Maria Larson Manske’s latest series is based on women she’s dreamed up doesn’t mean her subjects don’t have stories to tell. The collection, The Heart of Saint Paul: Portraits of Imaginary Women, 1930s–1980s, which debuted at Succotash in St. Paul in February, celebrates women inspired by those who flitted through Larson Manske’s life while growing up and raising a family around St. Paul.
Shoreline Hotel Opens on Lake Minnetonka

1 month ago | mspmag.com | Madison Bloomquist

Ever since her husband died far too young in a car accident in 2008, Kelly Olsen’s life goal has been to encourage people to slow down, take a breath, and appreciate the little moments with their loved ones. After all, she knows, those moments aren’t guaranteed.
Twin Cities Bookstores Become Places for Community

1 month ago | mspmag.com | Madison Bloomquist

For years, it seemed like all readers heard about when it came to bookstores was bad news: Amazon and big-box stores were Goliath; local shops were David, hapless against big money and bigger power. But in 2025, things have changed. Our Twin Cities have seen a significant growth in the local bookstore scene in the last handful of years—and we’re not alone. In 2023, the American Booksellers Association boasted 2,433 members, almost double its numbers from 2016 and some 200 greater than 2022.
The Cherry Trees at St. Paul’s Como Park Will Soon Bloom

1 month ago | mspmag.com | Madison Bloomquist

Owing to our temperamental climate and late frost potential, Minnesota doesn’t seem like the most hospitable environment for springtime cherry blooms. But for a short, fickle moment in late April or early May, the area near Como Park’s Mannheimer Memorial glows with blush-pink blooms, just like a scene out of Washington, D.C., or Japan, which is where, as fate would have it, St. Paul got its cherry trees in the first place.
By the Numbers: Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s Tulip Gardens

1 month ago | mspmag.com | Madison Bloomquist

This spring, visitors in droves will make a pilgrimage to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum looking for the sorely needed color explosion that only MLA’s sprawling tulip displays can provide. “People think of tulips as perennials, but they’re not really, anymore,” says Arb senior gardener Aimee Thuen. “We consider them annuals. So, every year, a new display and color design gets planned.
By the Numbers: Allianz Field Giant Loon

2 months ago | mspmag.com | Madison Bloomquist

Last fall, a fleet of flatbed trucks carrying mysterious cargo appeared near Minnesota United’s soccer pitch, Allianz Field, in St. Paul’s Midway. Over the next handful of days, as the contents of those flatbeds were unpacked, a gigantic stainless steel loon emerged right there on the southeast corner of Snelling and University. Wings outstretched, beak pointed skyward, the loon beckons people to the home base of the soccer team colloquially nicknamed after the state bird.