Things to Do in Columbia Heights

It's not everyday you see a brown raccoon on roller skates being chased by a group of children. Unless, of course, you're a regular at Cheap Skate. The shop's mascot, Ricky the Raccoon, has been known to take to the rink during some of the rink's special skating events, which include weekly all-you-can-eat pizza nights and family skate sessions. The calendar also offers plenty of open skate sessions so families can fit in a few laps around the rink at a time that works best for them. And, between spins, skaters can head to Cheap Skate's snack bar where they can fuel up with a warm snack, sip on a refreshing beverage, or rest their feet to ensure toes can still text on the way home.

Capital City Trolleys charters a fleet of vintage-style vehicles and trolleys, ushering up to 20 passengers through New Orleans's historical and picturesque streets. Certified drivers cart revelers to their desired destinations during chartered rentals, cultivating a memorable corporate outing or ride to the airport. For weddings, Capital can transport brides, grooms, and ring-bearing bulldogs around town in a classic 1952 Bentley Mark VI luxury car.

Bead Basics lavishes jewelers of all skill levels with the necessary equipage and abilities to craft their own bead masterpieces. Instructors string together a monthly calendar of more than 25 classes that teach up to 16 students at a time techniques or specific projects such as Beading Basics, Tila Spiral Bracelet, and Viking Knit. The online catalog's virtual glass cases brim with exquisitely crafted pieces and the requisite tools for shaping bracelets, stringing necklaces, and swapping out the queen's jewels with decoys.

Ever since its inception in 1935, the South St. Paul Rod & Gun Club has challenged visitors’ aim and timing in the rugged backwoods surrounding the Mississippi River. At year-round shooting ranges, visiting marksmen raise their rifles on four trap-shooting fields and three skeet-shooting fields. They can also travel to eight raised, wooden stands on a 50-target sporting-clay course or switch up positions on a five-stand field, blasting at targets shot to simulate the flight patterns of various game birds, which is easier than tracking the deceptive tumbling of blown kisses. To challenge technique and speed, staffers fire a range of specialty targets such as vertical-launching springing teals and arcing chandelles. When not training new shooters or catering to recreational marksmen, the club’s staffers host leagues and seasonal tournaments where competitors test their shooting prowess and showcase the season’s hottest camouflage tuxedos. All visitors can refuel at an onsite restaurant and bar, or stock up on shells, earplugs, and apparel at the pro shop.

A tall painted portrait, illuminated from above, shows a woman standing barefoot holding a lamb. Follow her glance downwards and sideways, and you'll sight row upon brightly colored row of carefully stacked skeins of yarn from brands such as Blue Sky and Spud & Chloë. Classes teach tender-footed knitters to wield these materials with care, and more advanced offerings cover refined and specialized stitching skills. The shop also carries its own line of all-natural soaps, household cleaners, and moisturizers designed to soften hands toughened by efforts to wrestle needles away from uncooperative porcupines.

When struck with a cheese craving, Whitney McChane used to turn her sights toward Wisconsin. It wasn’t until the budding cheese connoisseur began to explore co-ops and cheese shops across Minnesota that she came to appreciate the skill and diversity of cheese artisans in her own backyard. In Faribault, she sampled cheeses aged in sandstone caves and in Mankato, she shook hands with the Alemar Cheese Company’s organic, creamy camembert. “People love artisan cheeses but are shocked to learn we have a cheese-making community here producing world-class cheeses,” she says.

Now, Ms. McChane unites those artisanal cheese aficionados—makers and mongers alike—for one day of gustatory exploration. In addition to sampling a clattering of cheeses, visitors can glean inspiration from recipe demos, cheese-pairing workshops, and roundtable discussions with cartoon mice. Additionally, local food trucks will dole out cheese-inspired dishes. The festival even includes a cheese-wrapping competition, wherein competitors skillfully enfold morsels with flavor-preserving Formaticum cheese paper. Ultimately, Ms. McChane hopes the festival will raise awareness of local cheese culture. “We have so many thriving dairy farms here,” says Ms. McChane. "And where there’s great milk, there’s great cheese."