Washington Reporter had a great time exploring Red Lake County!

It was a pretty exciting time for Red Lake County since the Washington Post ran a story written by Christopher Ingraham using data from a USDA study on 6 amenities ranking all 3,111 counties in the United States and Red Lake County, MN came up at the 3,111 spot. Which of course, according to that data, made Red Lake County the worst county to live in. At least that is what came to everyone’s mind. 

Ingraham, immediately felt the backlash of proud Minnesotan’s that live in or near Red Lake County, though we all did it very politely. Oh, there were a few that said things that weren’t very nice in the heat of the moment. But overall, we showed that we are still Minnesota Nice and just wanted this horrible mistake corrected.

As a reporter/editor, I felt sorry for Ingraham, who had looked at legitimate data, came to a conclusion that Red Lake County had the least amenities according to the study and then was for a short period of time the worst enemy to Red Lake County. I really didn’t think he meant the article to come across the way it did, and some took it to mean the county was ugly and lacking physical beauty. It really only meant that we didn’t have high scores in topography (hills & mountains), pleasing temperatures (we have cold winters), and I never saw anywhere in Ingraham’s original article that Red Lake County was ugly. 

Putting that all aside, Voyager View owner, Jason Brumwell saw this as a great advertising opportunity, not only for him, but the entire county, invited him to come see for himself what Red Lake County was all about. Ingraham did just that (the Post paid the bill) and what a fun time it was for him as he learned that Red Lake County was not only a beautiful county, but one with lots hometown pride.

Ingraham says in his most recent article in the Washington Post released on September 3rd, that he wasn’t sure what kind of welcome to expect as he came to the Red Lake County Courthouse in Red Lake Falls on Thursday, August 27th. And to his surprise and relief, he was greeted with a spectacular display of friendliness starting with officials and county residents, faces beaming and full of hometown pride, as the Drum Line from Lafayette High School performed on the steps of the courthouse. 

He was interviewed by many media groups from newspapers and local TV stations to cover the story. And then the tours of our county began. Ingraham only had 36 hours to learn all he could about our beautiful little county.

When Ingraham arrived, he was greeted by the Mayor of Red Lake Falls, Kevin Harmoning. And a full tour was in the works with a tour of Homark Homes, Inc., who builds homes, Paradis, Inc. a company in Brooks that does many things, including the huge storage/transfer building for products coming and going from the area, and all the years the mail has been delivered by a Paradis truck. The tour included visiting a local dairy farm owned by Carl and Joe Schindler. Schindler’s have a dairy herd of about 120 cows. A newborn calf gladly suckled his thumb as he learned about the farm and how important farming is to our local economy. 

Unfortunately, Ingraham missed the small grains harvest in our area where fields are filled with large combines harvesting the wheat, oats, and other small grains, but he did get to experience driving a 40 foot combine, owned by Alex Yaggie.  

Ingraham met many people, some who had left and moved back years later and many who already knew they had the life style they wanted, so never left. At a Meet & Greet gathering TNJ’s on Thursday night, Ingraham was greeted by many of the county residents, eager to visit and tell about what made their community special. After enjoying a TNJ’s Ugly burger, dessert was served. A cake baked in the shape of Red Lake County with all the towns placed accordingly. The cake was created by Matt Weiss, a student at Lafayette High School and avid 4-H Club member.

Ingraham had done some research on Red Lake County and in his article, education was listed as an important element to Red Lake County people. With a population of approx. 4000, the county has two elementary and two high schools and graduates over 40 students between the two school systems.

The next day, Friday, August 28th, Brumwell continued the tour of the county on a bus with a sign that read, “Welcome to America’s Worst Tour.” Places on the tour included the county’s largest asparagus farm, drove through the countryside, stopping at TJ’s Tavern of Oklee (pop. 429) for fried cheese curds and a “Minnesota” burger. There Ingraham was again greeted by many folks from the Oklee area, welcoming him to our county. Minnesota Senator LeRoy Stumpf and U.S. Representative Collin Peterson, also joined the gathering. Velma Oakland, former Red Lake County Commissioner introduced Ingraham to the two politicians, one of which (Peterson) honored the crowd gathered with a song to ugliness on the bar’s stage. Other areas toured in the Oklee area included the Fire Department, the Coya Knutson area in the Oklee Municipal building and before leaving town, the Oklee Area Veteran’s Memorial Park.

With some reservations, Ingraham who writes about gun culture, learned that County Commissioner Chuck Simpson, the one interviewed by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “would be giving me (Ingraham) a tour of the Plummer Area Sportsman’s Club’s shooting range.” This was the commissioner that asked for an apology from Ingraham at the last board meeting, but Simpson was gracious and “we made amends” reported Ingraham and they visited about how residents band together to raise funds and built the shooting range.  Other examples of cooperation in the county where residents banded together to get things done include the Red Lake Falls municipal swimming pool, and Brooks’ Community Hall. Ingraham said the high point of his tour was the kayak trip down the Red Lake River. It is a beautiful way to spend a summer afternoon, meandering past fields and bluffs. And he learned that in the winter, locals skate or ski across its surface. And fishing for walleye and bass in the rivers is a common pastime.

Ingraham ended his article very nicely and said “There’s perhaps something amiss in a ranking that places Red Lake County at the absolute bottom of the nation when it comes to scenery and climate….there’s no doubt that the Red Lake County region is flat-out gorgeous.” And Ingraham trip also reminded him that life flows at different rates and we are very different from the metro areas. It takes places like Red Lake County, a very small county, to realize how big the United States is.

If you would like to read his entire article go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/09/03/i-called-this-...

By Bonny Cote