After a three-year hiatus, the Twin Cities’ largest free festival was back Sunday, just in time for its 50th anniversary.

Grand Old Day has been known to attract about a quarter of a million people to St. Paul’s Grand Avenue, and this year, the Grand Avenue Business Association expects the tally will be at least that.

“St. Paul Grand Old Day, Wooooo!” Scott Scheler exclaimed and clapped in reaction to the festival’s return Sunday.

The excitement was palpable, especially following news of the cancellation of the Ramsey County Fair this year and another year without the Rondo Days celebration in the city.

2.25 miles of Grand Avenue closed to traffic for the day. Instead, it was open for business, good eats and a lot of live local music.

“All the good things in life,” Scheler said with excitement.

“It’s not quite the state fair in terms of food, but it’s damn close,” said St. Paul local Kyle Burbey, checking out the festivities with girlfriend Kat Ladwig.

Between the pair, they were equipped with lemonade, beer, and a corndog about as long as Ladwig’s forearm. It’s a premiere date spot for the couple who met living in the area, both attending Grand Old Day for years before they met.

“We are just glad it’s back to being official,” Ladwig said.

“It feels amazing,” Grand Old Day co-chair and Grand Avenue Business Association Board member Brian Wagner reacted.

“I actually get emotional just thinking about it.”

The festival was postponed and abbreviated in 2019 due to a federal investigation into money handling by the Grand Avenue Business Association. Charges were never filed due to a lack of evidence, but the board was reassembled. Then COVID-19 hit in 2020, leaving Grand Avenue quiet for three years.

“We’ve been planning for this, really, honestly, for two years. We knew we weren’t ready to actually come back last year and wanted to get the board in a better position,” Wagner said.

It’s an entirely volunteer-built event, according to Wagner, and on the 50th anniversary, there were 225 vendors and double the music stages.

“We actually have nine this year,” Wagner shared. “And so excited that we’re actually not only back but back bigger than ever.”

It’s the biggest source of revenue for the Grand Avenue Business Association and the businesses themselves, like the Pierogi 2 Gogi food truck.

“Mostly like Ukrainian and Polish food with a Jamaican twist,” shared owner Aneta Lennartson, or ‘Pierogi Queen,’ according to her t-shirt.

“So it’s really important and we’re really grateful to have that opportunity again.”

Part of what went into the extra time planning was security, according to Wagner. This year, the Grand Avenue Business Association put up concrete barriers to block off traffic from Grand Avenue.

Asked if it’s been an issue in the past, Wagner said no.

“You just never know what’s going to happen in the world, and so we have to plan for those crazy, chaotic kinds of things that could happen.”