The Best-Kept Secret in Northwestern Minnesota
Red Lake Falls — “A scenic community committed to learning, growth, compassion and heritage.” The mission says it well. One leader, who is one of those rare individuals who lives in the house his grandparents built, calls his town “the best-kept secret in northwest Minnesota.” He describes how you drive over miles and miles of flat farmland and all of a sudden discover beautiful river bluffs where two rivers — the Clearwater and the Red Lake — flow together. A local banker agrees that it’s a great location, where shopping and services are nearby, where there’s no traffic congestion, and where students can choose from five or six colleges in the immediate area. He describes an extensive park with good camping, and names diverse local economic interests from recreation to agriculture to the area’s interesting history. He adds, “We’re really an oasis in northwestern Minnesota.”
Some great ideas are surfacing in Red Lake Falls, partly due to the community’s participation in Horizons, a community leadership development program sponsored by the Northwest Area Foundation. The former mayor describes the effort: “It was a rough time in the beginning, and I’d call the first year a learning process for all involved, but now I see us as a stronger community. It’s been great to learn basic methods for generating and selecting ideas out of a group of individuals.” Organizations are now working together and helping each other rather than duplicating services. One of the goals was to engage people who had never stepped up to the plate before as leaders — or maybe had never been asked to be a leader. Through Horizons, the community came to see that everybody has a hope and dream. They have their own thoughts and ideas about how things should be done.
“We planted tulips as a part of Horizons — all the same color, a purple/pink combination, with very unique feathery flowers,” explains one resident. “Now you walk by them sprouting in their second spring and we can see our impact — all those purple blossoms.” He continues, “One lady stopped me just the other day and commented, ‘Those flowers teach me something — that the community should grow together. I’m watching my tulips grow and watching things happen in town that haven’t happened before.’ I think what she mainly sees are people working together — and not always the same individuals either. People are listening better. That’s an eye opener.”
Red Lake Falls may be listening better, but they’ve always been a caring place. Each year the town holds a walkathon for cancer, and this past spring they raised $45,000 in a 12-hour period for this cause. The American Cancer Society honored the walkathon, saying that this per capita fundraising far exceeded expectations.
Yet poverty is real in northwest Minnesota. One leader defines it as, “People who have seen hard times or who grew up in hard times and continue that mode of living.” Reducing poverty was part of the Horizons program’s focus. The community worked hard to include new people in leadership activities and discussions. One participant recalls a turning point when about a hundred people showed up at a community meeting. “That’s when we knew this program was working,” he says. “We had gone out as individuals and everyone was supposed to come with one person, and if they didn’t, then the next time they’d have to bring two people! And it happened. The best part is that they stayed.”
Horizons brought such diversity together that as a result, not only tulips, but also “community seeds” were planted. These are groups to carry on from here. Red Lake Falls, as with many small towns, is challenged by civic leadership that is in transition. Where there used to be 100 volunteers, now they are lucky to get 20. The people who are running the businesses are young, two-earner families who are busy with their kids. “It’s a tough situation,” says one resident. “The volunteer base is slim right when younger people should be taking the lead. That also means that the ‘old school’ group will have to give up the reins. Learning lets people take ownership.”
Informed positional leadership is another regional challenge. A local banker explains, “Somehow we have to get to our elected officials and get them involved in these small communities. They come in with one or two main issues, and they have not been trained in team building or community-building activities. We try to get them involved, but there are still barriers between leaders.”
There are several reasons why regional travelers might disagree that Red Lake Falls is a secret. Two big draws are the two beautiful rivers that flow through town. “Tube the Red” groups migrate in — sometimes there are a thousand people in town on a summer day to float down the Red Lake River. A local businesswoman explains, “In Canada, they get a four-day weekend each month, so the Canadians come down to tube the river and party in the campgrounds. People just come from everywhere on weekends. And I’m a firm believer that the dollar goes ’round. If we have a good summer season, then the local businesses get some of that. It means business for all of us.”
Each summer, during the last weekend in July, Red Lake Falls also draws people to a community celebration now called Summerfest. The festival was once called the Clay Banks Celebration because of the natural deposits of clay that the rivers carry into the community. “We have a local gallery and students make pottery, process it here, and hold clay classes in the summertime,” explains a resident.
Red Lake Falls has worked intentionally to attract tourists — tubers, potters and others — into their town. One of their most innovative public relations schemes is what they call “100 Things to Do in Red Lake Falls for $5 or Less.” This list was dreamed up, printed on placemats and featured in restaurants. Now it is the basis for a bright new town brochure. It is a roster of affordable activies, ways to learn about Red Lake Falls while appreciating the community. Here’s a sampling: rollerblade the streets of Red Lake Falls, swim at the pool, give neighbors veggies from your garden, join 4H, sing the national anthem at a high school game, or tube the Red Lake River. The list goes on: find pink Lady Slippers along the trail, watch for rainbows, see northern lights, or blow bubbles when it’s thirty below. Finally, here’s a friendly one: when you’re filling up your gas tank, put $5 in your neighbor’s tank too! The 100-Things brochure is now an everyday tool — doing its best to give away the secret of Red Lake Falls.