"Gopher Hole," by Locus Architecture

Since its 1988 debut, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden has become a Twin Cities landmark attracting more than 325,000 people annually. To mark its 25th birthday, Walker Art Center is bringing back such popular diversions as artist-designed mini-golf, Monday-night movies and music across the freeway in Loring Park, and an artist in residence.

The annual Rock the Garden street party, co-sponsored with 89.3 The Current, is booked for Saturday, June 15, 4 p.m. - 11 p.m. with band line-up to be announced April 16.

Artist-in-residence Fritz Haeg is on a tear to replace front lawns with productive, edible gardens. He plans to transform a local yard into an organic edible garden and to launch a "Foraging Circle" filled with wild plants native to Minnesota at the heart of the Sculpture Garden. The Walker will also host Haeg's "Domestic Integrities A05" exhibition including a crocheted rug made on site plus local foods and DIY projects. (May 11 - November 17)

A quasi retrospective of Claes Oldenburg's sculpture rounds out the season. Popularly known for the gigantic "Spoonbridge and Cherry" sculpture that he and his late wife Coosje van Bruggen designed for the garden, Oldenburg is the quintessential Pop artist, inventor of soft-sculpture, extreme scale shifts, and unlikely objects including shoestring potatoes made from canvas and a "Mouse Museum." (September 21, 2013 - January 12, 2014)

Two seven-hole mini-golf courses are being designed by local artists, architects and designers. They will share an 8th hole and include such mini-golf classics as a tiered Zen garden and gnomes plus novelties including a giant ant farm, bee hives, spiraling gopher holes, a French bagatelle game and, of course, rocks.

The mini-golf course, open May 23 - September 8, will be designed by Locus Architecture; Makesh!t; David Lefkowitz and Stephen Mohring; Nicola Carpenter, Susanne Carpenter and Bryan Carpenter; Sarah Balk McGrill and Wesley Thayne Petersen; David Hultman and David Wulfman; Aaron Dysart; Tom Loftus and Robin Schwartzman; Sean Donovan; Stormi Balise; Jeffrey and Tyler Whitehead; Karl Unnasch; Alyssa Baguss and Alison Hiltner; Chris Larson and U. of Mn. students.