Fans of Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark tried to get an autograph during warm-ups before the Minnesota Lynx-Indiana Fever game at the Target Center in Minneapolis on July 14. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Anyone who was downtown Minneapolis on Sunday could feel it and see it. The excitement and activity around basketball star Caitlin Clark’s first WNBA pro appearance there was palpable. Iowa shirts and jerseys were everywhere, and the Minnesota Lynx and Indiana Fever played before a sold-out Target Center crowd.

That’s an example of what’s fueling the welcome recovery of downtown Minneapolis following the COVID pandemic that began in early 2020. It’s one of a series of big events that demonstrate how the city’s core is successfully rebounding — and it shows how some of the marketing efforts to resurrect visits to Minneapolis events are paying off.

Courtney Ries, a senior vice president at Meet Minneapolis, said the organization reaches out to attract those who fly into town for conferences, concerts and other events. But it also focuses on marketing to people in the Upper Midwest who can drive here for events (such as Lynx games) and are likely to return to the city regularly after having positive experiences there.

Last month, Meet Minneapolis leaders reported an all-time record of hotel spending for June — about two-thirds of the city’s 10,200-plus rooms were occupied, generating $42.3 million in guest room revenue. The June record was set because of events such as the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials and Pride and Prince celebrations and other events.

And Ries told an editorial writer that this month the city had 7,000 people in town for the GALA Choruses Festival, which draws LGBTQ choirs from around the world. On Wednesday, July 10, hotel occupancy hit 92.7% — the highest single-day July occupancy mark since 2019. July is also expected to be a high hotel revenue month in part because beginning on Friday, the city will host the Herbalife North America Extravaganza, during which more than 14,500 attendees will stay at 24 hotels across the city.

“We’ve made a very, very strong recovery,” Melvin Tennant, president and CEO of Meet Minneapolis, told the Star Tribune.

“Anecdotally, there’s a feeling that this is the best summer that we’ve had downtown in a long time,” Adam Duininck, president and CEO of the Downtown Council, told reporters. “It feels pre-pandemic, and to see the data back that up feels good.”

The improved spending and activity are welcome news for downtown, which continues to work to bring employees back into offices and customers to cafes and restaurants during the day. Much of the renewed activity downtown is associated with evening events.

In recent years downtown Minneapolis has been associated with a narrative of being unsafe for visitors. But event organizers said they’ve successfully navigated security and safety issues so that more people feel comfortable going to the area.

Because downtown is a major financial and economic driver, the improved activity there is excellent, encouraging news not only for the city but for the entire state and region.