Stop the ReRoute: taking a stand on sacred land will show at the Riverview Theater at 7pm on Thursday, May 22.

Stope the ReRoute tells the dramatic story of a community’s opposition to the State of Minnesota’s plan to drive a road through its birthplace, Camp Coldwater between Minnehaha Park and Fort Snelling – land considered historic to some and sacred to others. This inspiring film bears witness to the commitment of citizen activists to live lightly on Grandmother Earth, preserve precious natural resources, and resist car culture at the end of the Petroleum Age, as neighborhood and environmental champions, Native American activists, and young people coalesce in nonviolent civil disobedience.

Cost is $10. Doors open at 6pm, there’s “entertainment” at 6:30, and then the film screening will be followed by “honoring of activitists” and Q&A with the film’s producers.

I’m not sure if the Preserve Camp Coldwater Coalition is at all affiliated with the folks who made the documentary. A pagan activist person I know suggested that there’s not complete alignment between different groups with interest in preserving the land.

I attended a winter solstice celebration at Coldwater Spring last year.

“Coldwater Spring is a 10,000-year old spring located just upstream of the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers in Minneapolis. Flowing at about 90,000 gallons per day, Coldwater is the last natural spring of size in the Twin Cities, birthplace of the state of Minnesota (where the soldiers lived who built Fort Snelling), and before white settlement, a traditional sacred site for Dakota, Anishinabe, Ho Chunk, Iowa, Sauk and Fox peoples.” — Friends of Coldwater

Access to the spring is pretty limited, so I would imagine not many people have randomly happened through there. It was really a very peaceful, serene spot on a winter afternoon. The spring water was tasty and refreshing. There’s a labyrinth and an abandoned Bureau of Mines research center nearby.

I’d say check out the movie, but it’ll be an even better experience if you visit the spring. (Off of Hwy 55, turn west on E 54th St, take an immediate right, follow the road south/parallel to 55, and you’ll come to a gate which is only open during park hours. The spring is another few hundred feet past that.)