Memorial Park
New Prague "POPS"
(Praha Outdoor Performance Stage)
It’s Time!
“It’s Time” to put 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 26, at Giesenbrau Bier Co. on your calendars for our important meeting to learn from Bolton & Menk and the POPS Committee about the priority ranking of the three sites for the POPS venue. This is your time to provide your comments on the project, where it might be built and all other questions surrounding this historic effort in New Prague to build a venue supporting the arts and providing the community with great family entertainment outdoors during the beautiful parts of the year here in Minnesota. Click here to read more about this public meeting.
Cities small and large throughout Minnesota encourage and entertain arts lovers throughout the year at outdoor venues to promote those interested in performing to the public. New Prague, a vibrant city of 8,100 people, has no outdoor performance facility. “It’s Time” is the catchphrase/motto for a community-wide effort to make this type of facility a reality in New Prague.
Why are we undertaking this effort?
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To complete a long-standing need of New Prague to provide this type of venue for community use. Creating outdoor arts events in New Prague with a tent/canopy is not a long-term solution.
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To collaborate with the city, school, community organizations, other community leaders and arts’ groups to build a venue the community can be proud of; and to show the importance of meeting the needs of the community together.
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To provide a venue for family entertainment throughout the year.
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To provide opportunities for people young and old to showcase their talents.
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To create a facility that is a showcase for the southwest metro area that shines a positive light on the city of New Prague.
The New Prague Area Arts Council (NPAAC) is the lead non-profit arts organization that began this undertaking as an important city project to build the Praha Outdoor Performance Stage (POPS) for the community through a private funding effort. It is doing this through an ad hoc POPS Committee of community, city, school, arts groups and other leaders who are dedicated to seeing this project come to fruition in the next three years for the city.
In April of 2023, the activities of the POPS effort transferred its day-to-day efforts to the new Forward New Prague Foundation (FNPF), a 501c3, tax-exempt organization created to help non-profit groups with these types of projects. The NPAAC will remain actively involved in the project.
You can view our full fundraising proposal by clicking here.
Weekly radio spots providing information on POPS can be heard on KCHK Radio. KCHK is a Bronze contributor of POPS through this trade for radio spots and quarterly interviews about POPS with community leaders on the building effort.
Monthly ads are provided on a pro bono basis by the New Prague Times, also a Bronze contributor to POPS.
Enjoy. It’s Time!
The photos below are of potential outdoor performance facility sites in New Prague. These are just potential sites as recommended by the Park Board and city personnel.
the POPS committee contracted with Bolton and Menk to evaluated the three potential sites and score each site. The POPS facilities committee and full leadership team have reviewed and approved the report and sent it on to the Park Board. The Park Board reviewed the information and sent a recommendation on to the City Council. That recommendation was to put the facility in the City Center site. The City Council has not taken any action on that recommendation, yet.
No design or site has been chosen yet.
Potential Sites
Shown Below are three of the potential sites for a new Praha Outdoor Performance Stage.
NO SITE HAS BEEN SELECTED YET.
A study was conducted by Bolton and Menk to evaluate each potential area and determine the pros and cons of each site and the feasibility of each site to handle a facility of the type desired. Their report has been completed, including a priority ranking of the sites, reviewed by the Facilities Committee and the full POPS Leadership Team. These results were presented to the New Prague Park Board who passed report, along with it's recommendation of the City Center site, along to the New Prague City Council.
Click on a site photo to see more information about that site.
