Renaissance Festival damaged by fire during thunderstorms

A dozen commercial buildings on the Renaissance Festival grounds in Shakopee were destroyed by a four-alarm fire on Thursday night, authorities said.

The Shakopee Fire Department received reports of the fire shortly after 6 p.m. The first engine left the station immediately and arrived 14 minutes later because of the distance between the station and the festival grounds between U.S. 169 and the Minnesota River, according to a Facebook post by the department. While they were on their way, a large smoke column could be seen, so fire officials called for more help, upgrading the call to a two-alarm blaze.

When firefighters arrived, they encountered “heavy fire conditions involving multiple connected commercial structures, which included retail shops and food vendors.”

A four-alarm fire was called and support from 10 area fire departments was needed to fight the blaze as well as help with other coverage in Shakopee.

“Water supply proved to be a significant challenge,” officials said, noting that the festival grounds are not connected to a city water system “requiring water tenders to shuttle water from hydrants nearly eight minutes away.”

In addition, officials said, access to the festival grounds was “further complicated by unlit, minimally maintained gravel roads, recent rainfall, and challenging terrain not designed for large emergency vehicles.”

The full extent of the damage is still being assessed. One firefighter from Shakopee was struck by a fire hose and had a minor injury that was treated at the scene, officials said.

No other injuries were reported.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation by state and local investigators, but it broke out as thunderstorms were moving through the area.

Renaissance Festival organizers said they were making plans to rebuild and that the long-running late-summer event celebrating Elizabethan England would open as planned on Aug. 16.

“We’ll be sharing more updates in the coming weeks,” they said on their Facebook page. “Thank you for your kind messages, encouragement, and continued support.”

— Kristi Miller

Man charged with threat against Congress member

A Minneapolis man has been indicted for threatening to murder a member of Congress, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota said Friday.

On March 26, Michael Paul Lewis, 52, left a voicemail for the Congress member, threatening murder, a press release said. The press release didn’t identify the member but referenced the pronoun “her.”

It was also unclear whether the member was from Minnesota. In Minnesota, there are seven women in the state’s congressional delegation: Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith as well as Reps. Betty McCollum, Angie Craig, Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison and Michelle Fischbach.

“Federal law protects our elected officials from this sort of violent, unhinged, and murderous rhetoric,” Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick said in the press release. “It is entirely unacceptable. Defendants who attempt to terrorize public officials in this way will face the full weight of federal justice. I am grateful for the diligent and swift work of the FBI to hold this defendant to account.”

Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Senior of the Minneapolis FBI office said the threat does not fall under protected speech, but rather is a federal crime that requires immediate and decisive action.

“No one should be subject to violence for fulfilling their elected duty to represent the American people,” he said in the press release. “The FBI and our partners will investigate such threats thoroughly and hold accountable anyone who threatens the safety of our elected leaders.”

Lewis is charged with one count of threatening to murder a U.S. official and one count of interstate transmission of a threat to injure the other person.

He made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court on Friday. He will remain in custody until his arraignment and detention hearing on April 23.

— Kristi Miller