The biggest musical event of the decade was the return of  Adelina Patti.  Although advertised as her first and last visit to Minneapolis, she had been here in 1856, at the age of 13, a child phenom.  She was now making her farewell tour, slated for March 2, 1887, at the Washington Rink.  This was apparently an enormous roller skating rink, located at 10th Ave. No and Washington Ave.  It measured 330 ft. by 100 ft., with an annex measuring 150 ft. by 50 ft. – at least as reported in 1884 at its Grand Reopening.  The description of this event by the Minneapolis Tribune is pretty funny:

Those who had bewailed the moral condition of Minneapolis, saying that “nothing draws like a prizefight,” were compelled to admit that nothing draws like Patti, for the crowds that set out to attend the concert soon became a jam, and then a moving sea that poured itself into the old Washington rink.  As usual, there were many assisting artists, including Sofia Scalachi, but it was Patti for whom the the audience eagerly waited.  She sang an aria from “Lucia,” using for encore, “Within a Mile of Edinburgh Town,” and “Coming Through the Rye,” and for her second number, “The Last Rose of Summer,” with “Home, Sweet Home” to follow.  The program concluded with selections from “Semiramide” and the audience was finally forced, reluctantly, to say a long farewell to Adelina Patti, queen of song.