Families, fans visit Minneapolis on busiest Sunday of the year

Newborn baby Owen Koepplin sported a Packers onesie to match his dad, Douglas, a high school football coach from Elgin, N.D., but mom Becca Koepplin wore a rival Vikings sweatshirt with a backup plan in mind Sunday.

"I have a Vikings onesie just in case he has a blowout," she said.

Like many families and sports fans from across the Midwest, the Koepplins said they didn't hesitate to visit Minneapolis despite ongoing gun violence and public safety concerns.

More than 80,000 people converged downtown to attend games at U.S. Bank Stadium and Target Field on Sunday, marking one of the busiest days in the city against the backdrop of four recent shootings that wounded 11 people, including two pregnant women, and killed a 16-year-old on the North Side and a man at a downtown bar.

Darcia Larsen, who drove here with family from Culbertson, Mont., said she learned about the fatal bar shooting on TV that morning but was undaunted. "You can't let that stop you," she said.

"It'll take care of itself," she said of the violent crime.

Fourteen members of the Calisto family from Logansport, Ind., gathered for a group photo outside U.S. Bank Stadium to commemorate a 30-year tradition of traveling to Minneapolis to watch the Vikings play — and it just so happened to be the season opener.

His sister Cindy Hallam added that Minneapolis will bounce back — a similar hope they hold for the Vikings making it to the Super Bowl.

Mother and son Krista and Jon Pascoe of Duluth said Sunday was special for a few reasons — the obvious one being a handmade Vikings Skol sash for Jon's 30th birthday. They've attended the season opener the past five years, but this is the first time it fell on his actual birthday, Sept. 11.

Krista Pascoe said she remembers sending her son to school 21 years ago with cupcakes that he never got to share with his class and she asked him if that made him sad.

" 'I'm sad that so many people are going to be sad forever on my birthday,' " she recalls her son saying, which she said was "pretty insightful for a little kid."

Claudia and John Flaska, a retired couple from Lake Elmo, said they attended the Twins game Friday night, which was delayed due to rain, and they found themselves out later than they would like to be.

The Flaskas said violent crime isn't going to prevent them from going to events. But John Flaska said he was a little surprised to see such heightened security outside the stadium, notably the private companies hired to use hand-held metal detectors on everyone entering the Commons at U.S. Bank Stadium for a country music concert before kick-off.

Minneapolis officials announced additional precautions to keep sports fans safe Sunday.

With the increased congestion and crowds, the city announced in a "game preparation" news release that police and fire units would be stationed throughout downtown during peak times before and after events, joined by expanded foot patrols. Along with other unspecified units, police patrolled via horseback, bicycle and ATV.

Traffic-control agents were deployed to busy intersections to bring some flow to game-day congestion. Thousands descended downtown on Metro Transit trains and buses to avoid key entrance and exit routes that are closed for construction.

Streets surrounding U.S. Bank were teeming with purple and green jerseys, Zubaz pants and face paint. A jubilant, almost Christmas-morning-like energy infused the atmosphere with the occasional heckling of cheese heads.