This central Minnesota city is taking a true punk-rock approach to revive its downtown

ST. CLOUD – For years, officials here have been trying to enliven a lackluster downtown beset with empty storefronts, hollowed-out offices and nearly empty sidewalks.

Now some punk rockers are striking a chord.

They, along with other musicians and artists, are stepping up in ways beyond what officials have done, adding cultural attractions and events.

A new all-ages music venue that opened this past summer — the B-Side Indie Music Cafe — has already established itself as a gathering spot, jumping with punk rock kids one night, with singer-songwriters another.

In the works next door is a community arts space run by the Wirth Center for the Performing Arts. And in the future? Leaders dream of an arts magnet school or art museum.

“I have a three-part plan to revitalize downtown into an arts district,” said James Newman, executive director of the Wirth Center, which has provided music lessons in central Minnesota for more than four decades. “Downtown has so much potential, and I think an arts focus would be a great thing to bring people in.”

The planned hub is part of a trend playing out across the state as cities work to revamp downtowns with arts and experiences as retail stores struggle to stay open and offices shutter as more employees work from home.

“I think we need to rethink what our downtowns are offering,” said St. Cloud Mayor Jake Anderson. “When you begin creating those cultural draws, that’s what then drives businesses to be like, ‘Hey, that’s cool. There’s a vibe down here.’”

Already sprinkled throughout downtown St. Cloud are several arts spots, including the Paramount Center for the Arts — which hosts musicals, plays and concerts, as well as art classes — and Pioneer Place on Fifth, which offers music and local radio theater. There are also stages at the Red Carpet Nightclub and an intimate venue at Gnarly Bard Theater, which opened last year.

The nonprofit St. Cloud Downtown Alliance hosts a handful of art crawls each year, inviting artists to set up downtown. And every August for the past decade, local musicians have taken over sidewalks and storefronts for the weekend-long Common Roots Festival.

Newman said the Wirth Center already closely works with the Paramount and other venues and he hopes the new spaces will create “synergy and not competition.”

The arts hub is planned for two adjacent buildings just steps from the historic Stearns County Courthouse and downtown’s main drag, St. Germain Street.

“We’re really trying to bring that social aspect to creativity,” Newman said. “It’s not just for artists. It’s for people that just want something to do other than go to the bar.”

The Wirth Center is now housed in a downtown building that’s hidden from the street and has accessibility barriers, Newman said.

The Wirth Center recently launched a $3 million campaign to renovate the former funeral home — with hopes the center can move to the new space early next year.

The B-Side Indie Music Cafe is part of the Project 37 all-ages and sober music program run by the nonprofit Independent Music Collaborative of Central Minnesota. Anna Bovitz, a guitar and ukulele instructor at the Wirth Center, is executive director of the nonprofit and oversees the cafe.

Growing up in St. Cloud, Bovitz picked up the guitar in high school and joined some local bands, but said they had nowhere to perform. The generation before Bovitz had Java Joint, a beloved downtown spot for teens that had a small stage for local bands, dartboards and poetry nights.

Since opening, the cafe has hosted a handful of concerts, some of the most popular being punk nights and singer/songwriter nights.

“That has been a really cool experience — just to see the talent that is in our community that I never knew about because they weren’t playing shows,” Bovitz said.

St. Cloud has submitted two bonding requests to be considered in the next legislative session: $3.4 million to improve 5th Avenue and create a better connection between downtown and St. Cloud State University, and $3.1 million to improve trails and the Mississippi River shoreline north of downtown. If the requests are included in a bonding bill, construction could start in 2027.

Beyond that, Newman said he’s shared his big ideas with the mayor and other leaders. One of those dreams is for an art museum, possibly inside the soon-to-be-vacant historic courthouse. Another is a downtown magnet arts school that would be part of the St. Cloud school district. St. Cloud Superintendent Laurie Putnam is on board with the idea.

Newman and Bovitz said they hope the recent projects help spur further revitalization in downtown.