Wayzata makes national spotlight with feature role in Coors Light TV ad

Minnesotans soon may notice a familiar Lake Minnetonka city on TV.

A Los Angeles production company shot a commercial in February for Coors Light in Wayzata, sending more than 50 film crew members to a city park for a day. With drones and cranes of lights, they filmed a 30-second ad that featured local hockey players in a pickup game on an iced-over ball field.

City officials had said the commercial would air during the NCAA Final Four last weekend. That didn't happen, but they now believe it will air April 10.

"The first one I thought of was Wayzata, because it's so pretty," said Anne Healy Shapiro, a location scout who told the production company to skip shooting in Denver. "Why would you go to Denver for a pond hockey shoot? You should come here."

Production company Super Prime was sold by her photos from a black-and-white ad showing small-town hockey in Klapprich Park. The lake city, population 4,200, fit the bill.

Healy Shapiro said the ad represents a shift that has seen more companies coming to film in Minnesota and especially places like Wayzata, where Target has shot beach ads.

Even if viewers don't know the commercial was filmed there, she said, the business benefits Wayzata, with the crew eating at the city's booming restaurant scene.

"It's like a secret place," she said. "It's nice to show that off. Anyone that's from here will know where it is."

Kurt Klapprich, who works for the parks department and whose grandfather was the park's namesake, said the filming was a big operation for the small city. "It was pretty neat," he added.