Where are the street vendors? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: how much, zoning, licenses)

[tvdxer]

I don't think I've ever seen a street vendor downtown in Duluth, despite a possibly captive audience (selling tacos, hot dogs, bagels, or merchandise). Nor have I seen one in Minneapolis or St. Paul. This would be an excellent way for a jobless person to make some extra money until their next "real job" (or perhaps it could be their "real job") and would add life to the street. What's up with no street vendors here? Would you like to see them in Minnesota?

[Slig]

That's also one thing I miss from other places. I couldn't even tell you how many times I've been walking down the street and have had the desire to magically walk by a hot dog/hamburger/taco vendor. Some of the best food I've ever had was purchased from random street grills and vendors.

[fromupthere]

Rochester has a hot dog vendor out there sometimes. I'm not sure how much of the day is spent outside and I don't think he's out on the weekends, but I stopped there before. It is definitely a neat thing I'd like to see more of.

[uptown_urbanist]

I'm not sure what the story is with food vendors in MN. In LA we had guys pushing ice cream carts up the street, along with lots of hot dog vendors, fruit vendors, the plentiful taco trucks, and a lot of other options, some legal, some not. It was great, and I wish Minnesota's cities had those options. One year in December Uptown actually had a street vendor selling roasted chestnuts. Unfortunately it never seemed to catch on.

An interesting article about the history of street food in Minneapolis, and some speculations on the reasons hungry Minneapolitans are missing out now:
The Missing Street Food of Minneapolis « The Heavy Table

You do see some vendors in downtown Minneapolis along Nicollet Mall.

[KregAXN]

In the summer Alexandria has some kettle corn vendors and sweet corn vendors scattered along Broadway.

[MrMinneapolis]

zoning/permits/licenses etc probably...add to that our seemingly endless winter...

there is a hotdog stand i saw alot on nicollet and 7th I wanna say...also theres a caravan setup outside city center that sells some stuff like popcorn, ice cream, cotton candy etc.

But yeah theres not enough out there. Plus some street vendors are hella shady...

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by MrMinneapolis

zoning/permits/licenses etc probably...add to that our seemingly endless winter...

there is a hotdog stand i saw alot on nicollet and 7th I wanna say...also theres a caravan setup outside city center that sells some stuff like popcorn, ice cream, cotton candy etc.

But yeah theres not enough out there. Plus some street vendors are hella shady...

Hella? You from Boston or what?

[Slig]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Hella? You from Boston or what?

From my knowledge "hella" is an west thing, people from Washington, Oregon and Northern California use it quite a bit.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Slig

From my knowledge "hella" is an west thing, people from Washington, Oregon and Northern California use it quite a bit.

I thought I remembered Matt Damon saying it was Boston slang on Inside the Actors Studio. But Google seems to agree with you more than me, so I've learned something today! Time to go home!