Pratt ice cream social and picnic

Date & Time: for 2026: Friday, June 5, 4:30-8:00pm
Location: Pratt School and Tower Hill Park (Unfortunately, the Tower will not be open.)

• There will be:
  • Carnival games for the kids,
  • Silent auction,
  • Garden Club plant sale,
  • Entertainment ("Prospect Park's Got Talent" show),
  • FREE ICE CREAM (while supplies last),
  • Food trucks, and
  • Community information tables.
• Bring your own picnic supper and chow down with your neighbors under the pergola … or visit one of the gourmet food trucks parked at the curb. 
  
  
• Ice Cream Social Talent Show Attention all neighborhood artistes: Do you sing? Play an instrument? Tall jokes? Do magic tricks? Here’s your chance to take center stage! Whatever your special talent, we invite you to share it with your neighbors, at the 2026 Ice Cream Social talent show, Prospect Park’s Got Talent! This show is open to both kids and adults. Winners will receive six free tickets to the Minnesota State Fair … plus a pretty good trophy to impress your friends. Prospect Park’s Got Talent will run from 4:30 to around 6:30. No auditions required! Reserve your spot today by contacting Pete Holbrook by E-mail or by text: 651-402-7041.
  
  
• We're looking for volunteers to help out with setup, supervising games, cleanup, etc. E-mail Peter if you can lend a hand. Thanks!

(NOTE: In 2023 Prospect Park Association (PPA) and Friends of Tower Hill Park began working with the City of Minneapolis to reopen the Witches Hat Water Tower to visitors. The City engineer evaluated the Tower and determined that repairs are needed, because the Tower hasn’t been open for several years. In 2024, funding has been approved thanks to Council Member Wonsley. In 2025 the PPA Tower Hill Committee met several times to advocate for repairing the Tower.)

Previous Ice Cream Socials
2024 saw the return of our best attended annual event previously held in 2019. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic we prudently cancelled the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 events. Since the early 1970s, the Pratt Ice Cream Social Fundraiser is one of the most anticipated events of the year! This event is sponsored and co-organized by the Pratt Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) with the Prospect Park Association in order to raise funds for Pratt Community School and PPA. What draws people in from throughout the Twin Cities, though, is that the Witch's Hat Water Tower is open! To manage the crowds waiting to ascend the tower, we use a fixed number of circulating passcards so that only 80 people can be in the tower at any given time. Organization and staffing of the event is on a volunteer basis.

Pratt Ice Cream Socials of the past

Going back to the late 1960s, the Pratt Ice Cream Social was a fundraising event for Pratt Elementary School PTO, organized jointly by PPA and Pratt PTO.

A large community presence is a big part of what makes this event special, as well as:

• Food
  
• Ice Cream (of course)
  
• Live music and entertainment
• A large silent auction, fundraiser for the Pratt School
  
• Plant Sale
• Carnival Games
• Community information tables
  
  

Many Thanks To our Supporters and partners! over the years!

• Pratt Parent-Teacher Organization
• Minneapolis Tap
• Metro Petro
• U-Garden Restaurant
• The Ebenezer Society — The Pillars of Prospect Park
• Prospect Park Garden Club
• Malcolm Yards Market
• Blaze Credit Union
  
• The neighbors of Prospect Park