Taste of Minnesota to return to Waconia

The Taste of Minnesota festival announced Monday that it will return to the Carver County Fairgrounds in Waconia for a second year.

Organizers said the festival it will be held July 2 to 5 — the July 4th weekend — and feature concerts, food and fireworks.

Last year, after a three-year hiatus, the festival was scheduled for St. Paul's Harriet Island Park, but it had to find a new location after the area flooded.

"We received a very warm welcome in Waconia last year when we were in urgent need of a new home," Linda Maddox, general manager of A Taste of Minnesota, said Monday in a prepared statement. "After carefully evaluating St. Paul and other venue options for 2015, we decided to return to Waconia."

Carver County Fairgrounds is an ideal location because of its proximity to the Twin Cities, the layout of the grounds, and "most of all, the outpouring of support from the Waconia community," the statement said.