Justin: Friendly dogs, concerts, movies — and other free ways to kill time at MSP Airport

If you have to deal with flight delays this holiday season, pray that it happens in the Twin Cities.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport consistently wins awards for being the best in North America, thanks largely to top-notch restaurants and bars, as well as services that range from spinal adjustments to golf simulators. But you could wind up spending more on those activities than you did on your plane ticket.

Thanks to Airport Foundation MSP, a nonprofit foundation committed to soothing frustrated fliers, there are plenty of free ways to kill time that don’t involve screaming into your travel pillow.

On most afternoons, you can meet dogs in the Terminal 1 mall area that look like members of the Westminster Kennel Club. During my visit last month, people were lined up to get selfies with Trek, a keeshond buried under layers of fur.

“You can pet him,” Trek’s handler said as visitors flashed the kind of smiles you only see around the airport when there’s no line at Starbucks. “That’s why we’re here.”

Diane Prange, one of more than 60 Animal Ambassadors who volunteer to take shifts, said the program is especially popular with kids.

“Even if children have just left their homes, it’s been 45 minutes since they’ve seen their pet. They’re eager to see dogs and cats,” said Prange, a retired marketing specialist. “They are also exasperated by the wait time. It’s good at preventing meltdowns.”

Grown-ups also find relief. She recalls meeting one man who was flying to visit his ill grandmother while grieving the recent loss of his own dog.

“He just laid on the floor and hugged my dog and cried,” she said. “But it was a positive thing. He was really able to make a connection.”

Humans aren’t the only ones loving the program. Prange’s huskies get excited as soon as she pulls into the airport parking lot. Perhaps it’s because they know that the staff at Dunkin’ will most likely toss them a couple of doughnut holes when they trot in.

Luke Pickman stopped doing concerts more than a decade ago to focus on his YouTube videos. But since he became one of the 19 musicians in rotation for airport gigs, he’s rekindled his love of live performance.

Because he’s playing the flute, everything he tootles sounds like a tune drifting across a Renaissance Fair. But those who stick around long enough figure out that he’s interpreting pop songs like Britney Spears’ “...Baby One More Time.”

“I love watching kids’ faces when they realize I’m playing a Disney song,” he said. “They’ve never heard it that way before.”

You can expect plenty of holiday-related concerts during the next month, including dances from “The Nutcracker” by members of Ballet Minnesota and Christmas hymns from a Mankato State University choral group.

Those looking for something a bit edgier can pop into Prince, a gift shop in the Terminal 1 mall area where you can peruse Prince-related socks, candles and sleep masks while enjoying classic concerts on screens. There are also museum-quality items on display, including handwritten lyrics to “Starfish and Coffee.”

The space-age designed theater — it looks like George Jetson’s man cave — doesn’t offer first-run flicks. But if you’re looking for documentaries that showcase our state, you’ve come to the right place. During my last visit, the schedule included TPT shorts on St. Paul shoemaker Amara Hark-Weber and artist Nancy Valentine, whose work is inspired by her life as a Chinese American in rural Minnesota.

“It really is a nice way to tell the stories of our region,” said the Airport Foundation’s communications director, David Rivard, who believes they have the only 24-hour cinema in any U.S. airport.

The theater is a little hard to find. When I asked someone at a volunteer booth for directions, he had to look it up. Its obscure location, between Gates C18 and C19, might explain why the only other person there during my visit was an airport custodian, using the space to make phone calls. Maybe more folks would stop by if they start screening “Jingle All the Way.”

When Gena Cohen first picked up a paintbrush, it’s doubtful she dreamed about being showcased in an airport. But she’s getting a kick out of responses from friends and strangers since her “Illumine” exhibit first went on display near Gate E4 in March.

“Artists don’t usually get to see the direct impact their work has on people, so it’s been great that friends, families and even strangers send me selfies of them in front of my paintings,” said Cohen, who will be featured in a showcase in Spain next year. “They seem surprised.”

Cohen, like most of the artists, gets paid an honorarium. But she also has been able to sell pieces out of her Minnetonka studio to customers who got turned on to her talent on the way to their gate.

“It’s been good for business,” she said.

One of my favorite pieces from October was “The Voting Line,” Carol Hancuh’s display of life-size quilt figures ranging from Lyndon B. Johnson to a college student, all waiting to cast their ballot. That exhibit has rotated out, but current travelers have plenty of other options, including pieces celebrating Indigenous culture, fossils on loan from the Science Museum of Minnesota and seed art from the State Fair, spread out across both terminals.

There are play areas in both terminals (one is near the movie theater, the other is near Gate H6 in Terminal 2), each featuring pint-size versions of airplanes and air traffic control towers designed by Eagan’s Blue Rhino Studio. A few weeks ago, a kid was having a blast operating a toy fire truck.

The only thing missing was a dog in the back seat.