Historic sites strut their stuff

Between now and Wednesday, the public can vote for their favorite historic places on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PartnersinPreservation.

The winner of the vote will receive a grant of up to $125,000. The rest of the $1 million will be given to a number of the other sites after a review by American Express, which is donating the money, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and an advisory committee led by R.T. Rybak and Chris Coleman, mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The Twin Cities is the sixth location to participate in the Partners in Preservation program, after San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, Boston and Seattle. Twenty-five competing historic places will throw open their doors this weekend to show why they should win a share:

• American Swedish Institute: Sat. 10- 3; Sun. Noon-8.

• Basilica of St. Mary: Sun. 1-3 p.m.

• Emerge Career and Technology Center (old North Branch Library): Sat.-Sun. 10-3.

• Fort Snelling Upper Post, Building 67: Sat. 10-4.

• Mill Ruins Park: Sat. 9 a.m.-noon.

• Minnehaha Park: Sat. 1-4 p.m.

• Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery: Sat. 1-6:30 p.m., Sun. 1-4 p.m.

• The Soap Factory: Sat. 10-5, Sun. Noon-5 p.m.

• Christ Lutheran Church on Capitol Hill: Sun. 9:30-3.

• Fitzgerald Theater: Sun. Noon-4 p.m.

• James J. Hill House: Sat., 9:30-4, Sun. 12:30-4 p.m.

• Landmark Center: Sun. Noon-5 p.m.

• Minnesota State Fair Grandstand: Sat. 10-3.

• Minnesota Transportation Museum (Jackson Street Roundhouse) Sat. 10-4.

• Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, Fridley: Sat.-Sun. Noon-4 p.m.

• Chaska Athletic Park, Chaska: Sun. Noon-3 p.m.

• Wayzata Depot, Wayzata: Sat. Noon-4 p.m.

• Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, Belle Plaine: Sat. 8-4.

• Historic Pilot Knob, Mendota Heights: Sun. 2-5 p.m.

• Washington County Historic Courthouse, Stillwater: Sat. 9 a.m.-noon.