2024photos of the year

SCROLL

hen we take a walk through the year in photos, we can pause to take stock of the highs and lows we’ve lived through here in the North Star State: family and joy at the State Fair, the tragedy of first responders killed in the line of duty, defeats and triumphs of our favorite teams. Minnesota Star Tribune photographers captured society’s failures and human adversity: a cycle of homeless encampments; a day in the ER; a battle with cancer. And they also captured the everyday beauty around us: an ancient tree in the Boundary Waters, a high school football player who’s also a Buddhist leader, farm life, a community supporting a friend in need.

Daily life

Pint-sized opponents battle Josh Vana, in a cardboard dragon costume, at the Adventures in Cardboard station at a street fest on Cedar Avenue in September.

Jeff Wheeler

Members of the Swedish group Malmöflickorna perform at the Sculpture Garden in June, one of the events associated with the U.S. Olympics gymnastics trials held in Minneapolis.

Shari L. Gross

Eric Brisson looks out over his herring nets near Hovland, Minn., in October. Brisson and Tyler Smith have been catching or processing fish on Lake Superior for most of their lives.

Richard Tsong-Taatarii

Jalue Dorjee, center, believed by many Tibetan Buddhists to be a reincarnated lama, takes a lunch break during a prayer service in October at the Taksham Buddhist Center, also Jalue’s home, in Columbia Heights.

Aaron Lavinsky

Art teacher Brian Nagel is duct-taped to the wall by middle school students in May, a reward for the students during the last week of school at Upper Mississippi Academy in St. Paul. The charter school closed at the end of the academic year due to financial difficulties.

Leila Navidi

Sirat Aden of Faribault kisses her daughter Ikran Mohamed during a graduation in September. Mohamed is the first Somali woman to become a sworn officer in the Minneapolis Police Department.

Aaron Lavinsky

Maria del Carmen Morra loves the wig a friend made for her wedding day. Friends combined forces to make her dream of a church wedding come true, despite a long journey with breast cancer and a host of other barriers.

Elizabeth Flores

Gerry Kulzer carves a butter sculpture in the likeness of Rachel Visser, the 71st Princess Kay of the Milky Way, inside the glassed-in refrigerator in the Dairy Building at the State Fair in August.

Alex Kormann

Minnesota DNR employee Allie Radle, right, and naturalist Amy Mester help unload live fish to stock the DNR’s State Fair fish pond in August.

Anthony Soufflé

Miss Juneteenth Khadijah Lamah, center, parades with other Juneteenth royalty at a celebration in Minneapolis.

Carlos Gonzalez

Lydia Ewert, 5, competes in the Pedal Pull at Farmfest in Morgan, Minn., in August. Farm policy mixes with commerce and family fun at the gathering.

Shari L. Gross

Paul Schurke, owner of Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge, tucks tobacco into the grooves of the Legacy Tree, perhaps the oldest tree in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, as a sign of respect. Whoopsie, one of his sled dogs, takes a rest.

Anthony Soufflé

Singer and pianist Cornbread Harris, 97, is a consummate entertainer and a fixture in the Twin Cities music scene for 70 years. A biography of Harris came out this year.

Jeff Wheeler

With family and community members behind him, longtime activist Spike Moss watches the unveiling in July of a sign for Spike Moss Way, a section of Plymouth Avenue N. in Minneapolis.

Jerry Holt

Sports

Forwards Grace Zumwinkle (13) and Taylor Heise (27) dance to “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” at Minnesota’s very first home PWHL game at Xcel Energy Center in January. At the end of the season, the team brought the inaugural Walter Cup home to the State of Hockey.

Angelina Katsanis

Suni Lee competes on the balance beam during the U.S. gymnastics Olympic trials in Minneapolis in June. Team USA went on to win gold at the Olympics.

Carlos Gonzalez

Lynx guard Courtney Williams and forward Napheesa Collier celebrate the team advancing to the WNBA Finals in October. The N.Y. Liberty eventually won the Finals with an OT victory in Game 5.

Jeff Wheeler

Rockford’s team celebrates its 6-0 win over Foley in the Class 2A state baseball tournament at Target Field in June. Rockford junior pitcher Will Haas struck out 13 while facing 22 batters in seven innings.

Elizabeth Flores

Gophers defensive back Koi Perich is hoisted up by the crowd after his interception sealed the win against Southern California in October at Huntington Bank Stadium.

Alex Kormann

Anthony Edwards celebrates after the Wolves won Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals in Denver in May. The Timberwolves trailed by 20 points early in the third quarter before rallying to beat the defending champion Nuggets 98-90.

Carlos Gonzalez

Minnesota Vikings cornerback Shaquill Griffin prays with his family before the Vikings take on the Houston Texans at U.S. Bank Stadium in September.

Elizabeth Flores

Joe Mauer and son Chip Mauer wave to fans during the Hall of Fame Legends Parade in Cooperstown, N.Y, in July. The former Twins catcher was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Carlos Gonzalez

Issues

Caskets representing fallen officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge and firefighter-paramedic Adam Finseth are accompanied out of the church after a memorial service in February for the three first responders killed in the line of duty.

Jeff Wheeler

Members of law enforcement salute as the body of officer Jamal Mitchell, 36, leaves HCMC in Minneapolis in May. Mitchell was gunned down as he tried to help a wounded man. “Jamal did not hesitate to answer that final call for service,” Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in his eulogy.

Aaron Lavinsky

Registered nurse Joe Schwartz, from right, finds a vein to start an IV with the help of RN Shanna Jorgenson for patient Juliana Jones, 10, as her mother, Kelly Jones, sits by her bedside in the Emergency Department at Children’s Hospital in St. Paul in March. Juliana ends up being treated for diabetes.

Leila Navidi

Mary Kay Barrett brought her grandfather’s Marine Corps hat from World War II to visit the graves of her parents at Fort Snelling National Cemetery on Memorial Day.

Richard Tsong-Taatarii

Junior Tavarius Hill leaves Upper Mississippi Academy for the last time, headed to the train station to go back to the youth shelter where he lives. The St. Paul charter school closed permanently at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

Leila Navidi

Workers remove razor wire and fencing around the Third Precinct police station in Minneapolis in October, more than four years after it was set on fire during unrest over the police killing of George Floyd.

Jerry Holt

Myah Gray and her grandmother Nancy Uden step outside for some fresh air during a 73rd birthday celebration for Uden in April at her home in Corcoran. Before her death, Uden became a powerful voice for medical aid in dying legislation in Minnesota.

Alex Kormann

Debra Howze opens the blinds as she gets Jay Spika ready for the day at his home in St. Paul in November. Howze has been his home care worker for about 12 years. “I’m going to work until I can’t work no more and somebody takes care of me,” said Howze, who has struggled to save money in the low-paying field.

Glen Stubbe

A homeless encampment edges up against Park Square Condominiums in south Minneapolis, part of a seemingly endless cycle of homeless encampments popping up, being removed, and resurfacing blocks away.

Richard Tsong-Taatarii

Marvin Haynes, Terrance W. Moore, Rev. JaNaé Bates and Aurin Chowdhury formed a circle before they spoke on a book club panel in May sharing their experiences with the prison system. Haynes was exonerated after spending nearly 20 years in prison for a 2004 slaying.

Renée Jones Schneider

Caitlin Benson practices with her band at her small apartment in Minneapolis in April. Benson is making a go of it as a freelance music teacher and musician.

Jerry Holt

Politics

David Wellstone shares memories of his late father as he looks at photos and memorabilia lining the walls of Paul Wellstone’s campaign bus. The famous green school bus was parked after the senator’s death, but this year it’s being repaired so it can one day hit the road again.

Glen Stubbe

Staffers threw U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips a surprise 55th birthday party at a restaurant in Concord, N.H., in January. Sasquatch, featured in Phillips' campaign ads, delivered the cake.

Glen Stubbe

Vice presidential candidate JD Vance walks through downtown Milwaukee with his family in July before the Republican National Convention.

Glen Stubbe

Sloane Rabb, 1, yawns as her father, Jonathan Rabb, votes at an early voting station in Minneapolis in October.

Ayrton Breckenridge

Vice presidential candidate Tim Walz arrives at a rally in Milwaukee in November.

Renée Jones Schneider

about the writer

Star Tribune staff