Fancy French Display From MartinPatrick3 Wows Gymnastics Fans
With tens of thousands of fans pouring into downtown Minneapolis this weekend for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in gymnastics, the city is going all out to leave a gold medal impression—setting up a Paris-style street market over several blocks along Nicollet Mall, which they’re calling Promenade du Nord.
And one of the many Instagram-worthy sights is a giant window display at the Dayton’s Project at 8th and Nicollet, created by the experts at MartinPatrick3 in the North Loop.
“We’re doing a Parisian-themed cafe in the window,” said the company’s social engagement manager, Daniel Pinder. “It’s insane. Seeing it come from what the window was before to what it is now, it’s going to blow your mind.”
It features French fashion, champagne, pastries–and even a famous French skunk, Pepé Le Pew.
MartinPatrick3 is well known for its award-winning window displays during the holiday season, which usually come together after nine or ten months of planning. In this case, owners Greg Walsh and Dana Swindler agreed to do it on only about one month’s notice.
“We really want Minneapolis to shine,” Pinder said, “and that has really been Dana and Greg’s focus—what can we do that’s really gonna get people intrigued to come downtown even more?”
Last week, Pinder caused a bit of a stir with a cryptic post on MartinPatrick3’s social media sites.
A video reel showed the outside of the Dayton’s Project with the MartinPatrick3 logo and the caption “STAY TUNED👀” which caused a lot of followers to wonder if the store was expanding–or moving. They solved the mystery a couple days later in a separate reel.
“The biggest thing we wanted with all the attention was for people to get downtown to check the display out. So when we can finally unveil the windows and all the hard work we’ve been putting in, people will go down to see it in person because it’s pretty spectacular.”
Visitors don’t need to have tickets to the Olympic Trials to enjoy all the free events along Nicollet Mall through the end of this weekend.
By Mike Binkley, North Loop volunteer
