This weekend the Minneapolis Institute of Arts offers its own kick-off to spring with the 26th Annual "Art in Bloom."  For this four-day festival of flowers and fine art, the museum invited more than 150 floral artists to riff on work in the MIA's collection with creations of their own. The resulting flower arrangements will be showcased side-by-side with the pieces of artwork that inspired them.

This yearly celebration of spring is always a crowd-pleaser — there are special docent-led tours through the fragrant displays, a number of landscaping and floral design expert speakers, and an array of arty trinkets to buy in the Art in Bloom Shop. Best of all, admission to "Art in Bloom" is, as always, free and open to the public.

In addition to the flowers-and-art exhibition itself, the MIA is hosting a number of affiliated events, and foremost among them is Thursday night's "Flowers After Hours: A Minnesota Carnival of Fun." This free public reception promises a movie trivia contest, free wine and beer sampling, and live music by the honky-tonk band Trailer Trash. (Click here for a day-by-day schedule of this year's "Art in Bloom" events.)

The 26th Annual "Art in Bloom" festival runs from Thursday, April 30, through Sunday, May 3, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.