Cowles Conservatory

Usually included as part of the Sculpture Garden, the Cowles Conservatory is its own animal, a stand-​alone greenhouse that boasts a phenomenal, quiet, beautiful display of greenery, even in the wintertime. Filled with succulents and ferns and vines, this place is the perfect place to hang out when you’re headed to the Walker in the deeps of winter. PLUS, the Palm Room has a gigantic 22-​foot-​high glass fish sculpture by Frank Gehry. It’s absolutely breathtaking.
It’s also a total DREAM of an event space– it suits up to 150 people for standing events, and the acoustics are lovely. It’s only $ 500 to rent for weddings (CHEAP, folks, MAD CHEAP) and it’s open pretty much any time, including Sundays. As someone who once had to move an outdoor event indoors FAST (a Great Gatsby event in the Sculpture Garden that was threatened by mist/​cold/​rain), this place saved my event and instead of having to cancel we basically upgraded to an even classier venue by moving indoors here!
I’m so grateful that Minneapolis has so many beautiful nooks like this scattered throughout the city– as an event planner, it’s a pure delight to be able to hold interesting gatherings in truly one-​of-​a-​kind places.