FAQ

Will there be tickets available at the door?

Online registration is now closed. Passes for individual dances (and full weekend passes) will be available at the door via Venmo (preferred), Paypal, or card. No cash or check.

  • Full Weekend: $180
  • Thursday night pre-party: $25
  • Friday night: $50
  • Saturday afternoon: free, suggested donation
  • Saturday night: $55
  • Sunday afternoon: $20
  • Sunday night: $40

Can I transfer or postpone my pass or get a refund?

No refunds for North Star Blues 2024 passes will be issued for any reason. Dancers may transfer a pass to another person (email the pass recipient and northstarblues.exchange@gmail.com to coordinate), or in the case of last minute illness/injury/other emergency may defer their pass to North Star Blues 2025.

Can I get merch?

Shirt orders through the event are closed, but you can still buy your own at TeePublic!

Will there be a themed outfit night again this year?

Yes! Sunday night our clothing theme will be ‘birds of a feather.’ If you’re looking for an easy shortcut to be on-theme, may we recommend our lovely looney North Star 2024 shirts? But we’d also love to see your fun and creative interpretations!

What is the covid policy?

In alignment with 2024 general social norms we will not have COVID-19 vaccine/testing requirements for North Star Blues 2024. Masks will be welcome but not required. N95s will be available for free at the door.

What if I get sick?

To protect our community, if you are experiencing symptoms of any communicable illness at the time of the event, you will not be allowed to attend and your pass will be deferred to North Star Blues 2025. All dancers are expected to pay attention to their own health and send an email to northstarblues.exchange@gmail.com if they have attended part of the event and have developed symptoms consistent with a communicable illness. The North Star Blues organizer team will then alert all event attendees via the email addresses provided on this registration form. We will not reveal the name of the person reporting, unless they explicitly say that they prefer we do.

I requested housing, when will I hear more?

Housing assignments went out on August 19 to the email address you used to register. If you haven't received a housing assignment, you'll need to make your own arrangements.

Will there be air conditioning?

Yes! All of our venues have AC and we’ll be switching rooms between the main dance and late night on Friday and Saturday to get a nice cool room. Air conditioning cannot always keep up with a full room of dancers, but we'll do our best. We'll have water, please drink it! There will be some cold treats! We’ll also be spreading out our competition more this year so it’s easier to take breaks and still participate.

Will I miss information if I don't have social media?

The facebook event is public — at least on desktop you should be able to see the posts there without signing in. But we'll do our best to make sure all information is on the website too!

What is the fragrance policy?

Please don't bring or use strongly fragranced products, including scented hand sanitizers.

Are children welcome?

Daytime venues are public and kid friendly, please bring them! We're working on a group childcare option for the evenings (caregivers are on board — working on a venue). Our plan will be to ask parents to cost-share for the caregivers. If you're interested, let us know when you register and we'll get in touch.

How accessible are the venues?

Except for Lindy’s house (which has several front steps) our venues all have access ramps and are either all one floor or have elevators. Lindy’s house does have a first floor bathroom. All our venues except Midtown Global Market (which has multi-stall mens/womens bathrooms) have exclusively single-stall all-gender bathrooms. All the public bathrooms have ADA accessible stalls. We’d love to hear from you if any of this brings up any concerns for you or if there are other aspects of accessibility you have questions about or need help with.

What is the public transit/rideshare situation in the Twin Cities?

We have a bus and light rail system, including a light rail line directly to the airport. You can use google maps to navigate it. It works, but as with most US cities it can take a while. Lyft and Uber are also available.

Is there a State Fair trip this year?

We are not organizing an official trip to the MN State Fair this year, but North Star Blues does coincide with the fair again! Come in early for the Thursday kick-off house party, and then you'll have all the sunlit hours of Friday to go sample every odd food-on-a-stick your little heart desires! You can also go on Monday!

I’ll be in town Friday/Monday, but I’m not interested in the fair. What should I do?

We encourage locals to post on the facebook group if they are interested in hosting folks who want to do things like play board games. We’d also recommend:

Where should I eat?

Here's a map with the venues and a bunch of recommendations!

What food will you provide? How do you handle allergies and dietary restrictions?

We will provide late night snacks (think: cookies, fruits and veggies, hummus and chips, cheese and crackers, etc) on Friday just after the band ends around midnight. Saturday we’ll do a hot food item, also right after the band ends around midnight. Sunday we’ll do snacks again and likely put them out a little earlier since we won’t have a live band. We will label allergens attendees identify in their registration in these items and make sure we have options that will work for a variety of diets (gluten free, vegetarian, vegan for sure). We will avoid any foods with peanuts or tree nuts and ask that you do not bring any into any of our venues.

Will there be a competition?

Yes! It will again be the Comfy Cozy Comp, but with improvements made from 2023 feedback. The comp will be spread out to make it more accessible for folks who need to take breaks between dances and people willing to judge will be better indicated. Leads will be judged Friday evening from the start of the first band set through the end of the second band set (including the DJed band break) and follows will be judged Saturday evening for the same time period.

What if my question isn’t in the FAQ?

If you still have questions, please email northstarblues.exchange@gmail.com and we will get back to you within a few days. This is an organization run on enthusiasm, we try to respond quickly but sometimes the rest of life gets busy!

black and white photo of people dancing