The Basilica Block Party is returning to Minneapolis after a two-year hiatus, but the festival won’t take place outside of its namesake venue in Loring Park or over its usual weekend after the Fourth of July.

The music festival announced on Thursday that it will be held on Aug. 2 and 3 in Northeast’s Boom Island Park, where the Basilica Block Party promises to be bigger and better, just across the Mississippi River from the North Loop.

 "We are thrilled to bring back the Basilica Block Party in 2024. This event has become a cherished tradition for both our community and the city of Minneapolis,”said Father Daniel Griffith, pastor and rector at the Basilica of Saint Mary, in a press release.  “Not only does it provide incredible entertainment for attendees, but it also plays a vital role in supporting The Basilica’s mission and outreach to those in need.” 

The first Basilica Block Party was held in 1995 outside of the Basilica of St. Mary in Loring Park. It was modeled after a block party at Old St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Chicago.

Proceeds from the Basilica Block Party fund the ongoing restoration of the Basilica of St. Mary, a 110-year-old Catholic church.

The festival was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic, returned in 2021 with much lower attendance and then went on hiatus in 2022.

Photo courtesy of Basilica Block Party via Facebook

Organizers told the Star Tribune that the event had to relocate in 2024 because Xcel Energy Center, owner of the parking lot near the basilica where the largest stage always went, needs the area for a construction project.

Boom Island is a spacious riverside park that’s hosted other big events in the past including Rock the Garden, which ended in 2022, and numerous Beer Dabbler events. Plus, there’s still a picturesque backdrop of downtown Minneapolis, just from the other side of the skyline.

A lineup for the Basilica Block Party’s 2024 return is expected in March. Tickets should be on sale soon too.

Previous headliners for the Basilica Block Party include Brandi Carlile, Cake, Death Cab for Cutie, Kacey Musgraves, Spoon, Weezer and Zach Brian.

This year, music will end at 9 p.m. so there's more time to clear people out of Boom Island as the sun is setting, Ward 3 Councilmember Michael Rainville said during a Nicollet Island-East Bank Neighborhood Association meeting on Thursday night.

Another recently revived festival, Taste of Minnesota, announced earlier this year that it’s returning to Nicollet Mall on July 6 and 7, the weekend that the Basilica Block Party historically took place. Its lineup isn’t out yet either.

So far, no other big event in the Twin Cities is planned for Aug. 2 and 3, but that is the same weekend as Hinterland in Saint Charles, Iowa.

The new Minnesota Yacht Club Festival will happen two weekends before the Basilica Block Party on Harriet Island in St. Paul.

There’s still no word on whether TC Summer Fest will return to Target Field in 2024. But if it does, the event will be called something else, since the Minnesota Twins agreed to change the name of the team's music festival after Milwaukee's decades-old Summerfest filed a trademark lawsuit.