Anoka’s Popular Vintage Event Ends After 4 Years & Thousands Of Visitors

Anoka’s Popular Vintage Event Ends After 4 Years & Thousands Of Visitors

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Nostalgia is big right now. From fashion to pop culture, even music has embraced the nostalgic feeling of years gone by. One North metro festival that also embraced the throwback feels is ending after 4 years and thousands of visitors. The cancellation of the event was announced yesterday, leaving its future in limbo.

Anoka's Vintage Fest Canceled After 4 Years

Anoka's Vintage Fest, which was held in the fall for the last 4 years, has been canceled for this year, but the door hasn't been closed on the event, as the person behind it is open to letting someone else take over.

According to a post from the event, the reason for the cancellation is straightforward; the organizer, Brandon Altenweg of Amore Antiques in Anoka, stated in the post that they "no longer have the time or the desire to put in the effort to make the event happen".

I'm sorry to inform you, but I've had to make the hard decision to end Anoka Vintage Fest.
AVF wasn’t just a great day in Anoka, but a great day for the north metro as well. I'd rather it didn't go away, but the workload and the time it was going to take has been weighing on me for months now.
My situation has changed from where I was 5 years ago when I first started Anoka Vintage Fest, and I no longer have the time or the desire to put in the effort to make the event happen.
If you, or anyone you know, are interested in assuming the Anoka Vintage Fest LLC and the domains, please reach out. I’d love to see someone take the event over.
AVF was all about community and everyone involved. It simply was my pleasure; I enjoyed the work making the event happen. Bringing all the pieces of the puzzle together for one amazing day of vintage treasures, food trucks, and live music filling the streets of downtown Anoka. It was the perfect event for the Anoka Social District and great timing to kick off the month-long event that is Halloween in Anoka.
For me, it was hosting a party in downtown Anoka that 20 thousand+ people came to that was pretty f'n cool, but it was a lot of work. Especially, doing it all by myself right up to day of, but with that said… Vintage Fest would not have happened without the help from some amazing people!
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A BIG Thank You goes out to the Racers softball team, Kalena from Havig Tax, Barb T from Amoré Antiques, Shane the hardest working Mf'er up in this joint, my loving handsome fiancé Alex, all my DTA small business sponsors, and to everyone else who helped along the way.
Because of AVF, I’m proud to say I was able to donate over $12 thousand dollars to Haven for Heroes. They operate out of three old State Hospital buildings right here in Anoka. Their mission is to provide a place of safety and refuge for Veterans and/or their family members who, for whatever reason, need assistance.
Simply by making the decision to end AVF, I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and I can now focus on more important things in my life. It was about to consume the next two months of my life, and I just don’t have it in me.
Thank you to all the vendors and customers who attended over the years, and the City of Anoka for allowing me to put the event on.
Thank you,
Brandon - Owner of Amoré Antiques

The post goes on to state that if someone or an organization is interested in taking over the event, Brandon would have interest in seeing the event continue, just without him running the show.

In the past, the event had over 100 vintage/antique vendors, a classic car show, live music, and food trucks that filled a portion of downtown Anoka.

The Event Raised Money For Veterans

The event was also a fundraiser for the Anoka-based Haven for Heroes, which is "a stand-alone, non-profit, substance and alcohol-free board and lodging facility that provides recovery and transitional housing to service members and veterans."

It's unclear if the event is taken over by another entity and would still be viable for 2026, or if the event would return in 2027.

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