The Blue Toad is a “crowd-pleaser,” Jennifer Pennington said. Golfers hit the ball up the toad’s tongue and it comes out the toad’s hind end.
Take a giant polka-dot mastodon, a blue toad, a few natural disasters and your grandma’s 1970s living room, throw in some colorful cocktails that aim to conjure up flashes from your past (Jell-O shots? Boones Farm?), add vintage pinball machines and a soda fountain that will spin your favorite sugary cereal into your milkshake, and you’ve got many of the ingredients stirred into the newest, and probably most colorful, entertainment venue this side of the Mississippi.
Salad Days: A cocktail, featuring the makings of an ambrosia salad, complete with grapes, coconut and Jell-O shots. Photos by Kristal Leebrick
Can Can Wonderland, the 18-hole indoor mini-golf course and multi-purpose art space, opened Jan. 12 in the former American Can Factory at 755 N. Prior Ave., just north of Menard’s off University Avenue.
The day before Can Can Wonderland opened, Amy Sparks was busy posting mini-golf rules on the wall.
The brainchild of Jennifer and Chris Pennington, Christi Atkinson and Rob Clapp, Can Can has been six years in the making. These are the folks behind the Soap Factory’s Haunted Basement in Minneapolis and the artist-designed mini-golf course at the Walker’s Sculpture Garden. They recently hired Tonya Preston as general manager and “luminary of magnificence.” Preston’s resume includes the once-annual Holidazzle parade and the Haunted Basement.
Yes, you can can mix Froot Loops with your cocktail.
The space has two stages (they are thinking of adding a third “secret” stage) and a kids art area. Entertainment will include dance parties, a weekly variety act and free kids’ art activities Thursdays-Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Can Can Wonderland is open Thursday, 10 a.m.-11p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-midnight; and Sunday 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Check out the website, www.cancanwonderland.com, or Facebook page www.facebook.com/cancanwonderland, for more details.
