The Berger Fountain in Loring Park is closer to being restored with $1.8 million in State funding. The fountain, with its dandelion-shaped water design, was a Minneapolis icon for decades at the eastern edge of Loring Park.
Residents have been raising money on their own since the fountain fell into disarray and was permanently shut off in 2018. The high cost of replacing parts for the 50-year-old fountain meant raising millions of dollars.
Restoration work is already happening and the additional work, funded by the State, will likely happen by spring 2027.
Upgrades to the fountain will include a plaza. Designs for the Berger Fountain and surrounding are available online.
Sen. Scott Dibble, who helped harness the funding through a 2026 bonding bill, said the community is the real reason the funding came through.
“Just the persistence and the diligence of the community in raising money, small amounts year in year out year round,” Dibble said. “That community commitment thing was a very, very powerful story.”
Residents also testified and contacted legislators for two years at the State level.
Dibble said the “iconic fountain” was also “a regional landmark enhanced by the fact that we have gigantic, multi-state celebrations here.”
With Pride being at Loring Park, adjacent to downtown, Dibble said it elevates the fountain in a historical sense, too.
“We just had a great story to tell,” Dibble said.
Jana Metge said she was in shock when she heard that the almost full $2 million the community had asked for came through at the State level.
Metge wrote the application for the 2026 funding and received a call from Dibble at 3 p.m. on the last day of the legislative session.
“I knew he was working on a million,” Metge said. But when Dibble said the fountain was in for $1.8 million, “I started screaming,” Metge said.
Metge has been a leader in raising money for the fountain and has helped secure $1.3 million from Arts and Cultural Heritage Legacy Fund, individual donors, the City of Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Fund, and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.
Citizens for a Loring Park Community and Friends of Loring Park are still fundraising for the fountain even though they are now $300,000 above their fundraising goal.
Metge is worried costs will change due to “all the stuff that's going on administratively in the federal government.”
The Berger Fountain fell into disrepair initially because the original funders did not build in long-term repair funding, which is something that weighs heavy on current supporters.
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