It was another busy Saturday in downtown Minneapolis as summer winds down.

Thousands capped off the summer racecar-style at the first-time Red Bull Showrun Formula 1 Exhibition on Fourth Street near The Commons. Up the street, the Minnesota Twins also prepared to draw people to Target Field in the evening.

“It’s just pretty amazing to have this event here in the Twin Cities,” said St. Paul resident Christian Zepeda.

He was staking out a spot to watch the Formula 1 drivers in action.

The summer was full of concerts and events, like the return of Taste of Minnesota to downtown and the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Team Trials.

Just ahead of the season, Mayor Jacob Frey touted the revived downtown scene during a May press conference, saying there would be “1,800 events that are taking place through this summer.”

He opened his annual State of the City address with a similar message a couple of weeks earlier.

“We are leading the nation in the rate of visitors returning to downtown with activity, as was mentioned, up by 45% in the past year,” Frey said.

“I really do believe it,” downtown resident Mary Charmoli said as she waited for Red Bull’s main event to begin.

“I just moved actually. I moved here from kind of suburbs area, and I just moved here to Minneapolis.”

Zepeda agreed.

“It’s been an incredible transformation, you know, especially with the events with George Floyd, but if we fast forward here to where we are today, the infrastructure is taking off, the hotels, the vibrancy of downtown, it’s back,” he said.

“And now, I’m looking for a condo down here.”