MEA weekend is the closest thing Minnesota has to a statewide long weekend in October. Education Minnesota holds its annual MEA conference on Thursday, October 15, 2026, at Saint Paul RiverCentre, and school districts across the state build a two-day break around it. That means Thursday and Friday, October 15 and 16, plus the weekend that follows: four days when families from Duluth to Rochester point the car at the Cities. If you are one of them, here is the case for staying at 300 Clifton, a mansion in Loring Park that welcomes children, and a plan for what to do once you get here.
Yes, kids are welcome at the mansion
People assume a bed and breakfast in a National Register mansion is grown-ups only. Not this one. Children are welcome at 300 Clifton, and we wrote a whole post about what a family stay here actually looks like. The short version: check-in is at 3:00 PM and check-out at 10:00 AM, every room has air conditioning, and breakfast is not served on site, so there is no formal dining-room ritual to survive with a six-year-old. There is complimentary coffee in the common area for the parents.
The room to ask for is the Hayloft, in the Carriage House. The bed is built from an actual wagon, the walls are barn wood, and there are wagon wheels at the bedside. It is the room children remember years later. The Estate Rooms are the other family-friendly option: they are the only rooms in the house with a shared bath, which keeps the price down for a family taking two.
Two things at the mansion your kids will not find at a hotel
The first is the four-season hot tub in the garden. Mid-October in Minneapolis is jacket weather in the daytime and properly cold after dark, which is exactly when a hot tub under the stars earns its keep. The second is the movie room, Gertrude’s Cistern, with heated reclining seats and a screen big enough to make a Friday night in feel like an outing. Bring the family film; we have the room.
What to do with two free weekdays in Minneapolis
Thursday and Friday: the Children’s Theatre has matinees
The Children’s Theatre Company knows what MEA weekend is. Its season opener, Pinocchio, adapted and directed by Greg Banks and recommended for ages 5 to 10, closes on Sunday, October 18, and the calendar adds 2:00 PM weekday matinees on Thursday, October 15, and Friday, October 16, plus a 7:00 PM Friday show and 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM performances on Saturday and Sunday. If your children are older, the world-premiere musical Twelve Kinds of Ice opens on the Cargill Stage on October 13 and is recommended for ages 10 and up. The theatre is a short drive south of the mansion and shares a building with the art museum.
The free museum next door to the theatre
General admission to the Minneapolis Institute of Art is always free, no tickets, no reservations, and it stays open until 9:00 PM on Thursdays. A hundred thousand objects across five thousand years sounds like a lot for a nine-year-old, so aim for the armour, the period rooms and the Asian galleries and call it a win after ninety minutes. The Children’s Theatre even publishes a self-guided Pinocchio tour of the museum for before or after the show.
Saturday: the river, the mill and the sculpture garden
Downtown, Mill City Museum is built inside the ruins of the Washburn A Mill on the riverfront, and its Flour Tower elevator ride is the rare museum exhibit that works for every age in the car. Back near the mansion, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is free, outdoors and home to the giant cherry on a spoon; it is a short walk from our front door across Loring Park, which has a playground and a pond full of ducks for the youngest members of the party.
If a parent is at the conference
Plenty of MEA-weekend families include one teacher who spends Thursday at RiverCentre in Saint Paul while everybody else plays. The mansion is a straightforward drive across the river, and the conference runs 7:30 AM to 4:45 PM, which leaves the evening for the hot tub. Read what to expect when you stay at a bed and breakfast if this is your first time at one.
Book direct and take the trolley
Book directly with us and your stay includes a $20 Minneapolis Trolley voucher and a $20 Pillsbury Club dining voucher, both per stay; the details are on our vouchers page. The trolley’s tours board at the Pillsbury Mansion, a couple of blocks from the art museum, so a Saturday can run museum, dinner, trolley and back to the hot tub without much driving at all.
MEA weekend rooms go early in a house with eight room types and a Hayloft that everyone wants. Check availability for October 15 to 18 and give the kids a mansion to talk about when school starts again on Monday.
Keep reading: How Far in Advance Should You Book a Bed and Breakfast in Minneapolis?