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The ‘gritty folk’ who revived central MN’s Cuyuna Country
Main Street is now filled with a plethora of businesses — the turnaround, a testament to not only the popularity of mountain biking, but the people who live there.
CROSBY, Minn. — Just two hours north of the Twin Cities, you’ll find a once-sleepy state park that’s fast becoming an enormous tourist attraction — thanks to the 70 miles of mountain bike trails that crisscross its 5,000 acres.
When you ride the trails at Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area today, it’s hard to believe that 50 years ago, more than 30 iron mines operated in and supported the surrounding towns of Crosby, Ironton, Deerwood and Cuyuna.
But by the 1970s, most of the mines were shut down, forcing many businesses in those towns to do the same.
Aubrey Koop, who now heads the Cuyuna Lakes Chamber of Commerce, grew up in Crosby. She said that through the late 90s and early 2000s, there wasn’t a lot of hope in Crosby, as up to 40% of the businesses on Main Street had been boarded up.
The land around it had become an unofficial dumping zone, with people tossing old couches and cars into the abandoned mine pits, but as the years passed, the land started to heal and the people who lived in the towns nearby decided they’d had enough. That’s when they pulled together and cleaned it up.
“I can’t even tell you about the pounds and pounds of garbage that volunteers went into and pulled out of those mine pits,” Koop said.
Business owner Johnna Johnson ran the Chamber at the time. She said it was the spirit of the volunteers that sparked a movement, which truly caught fire when a mountain bike scout came to town. The scout said the topography created by the mines would make for world-class mountain biking trails.
Once again, volunteers paved the way, building the first five miles of trails that connect the towns of Crosby, Ironton, Cuyuna and Deerwood.
It was a grassroots effort, according to Johnson, involving physical work, fundraising and securing land acquisitions. After the first five miles opened, they gained momentum, and with the help of the DNR and state and federal funding, they built more trails, leading more people to discover what had been hiding all along on the Cuyuna Range.
“I think when the trails opened, there was like, 24,000 people that we saw,” Johnson said, “And that was huge, and now I’m thinking it’s 360,000 people. So, that’s a 10-year change.”
Visitors can find a lot of beauty outside of the mountain biking trails as well, including a network of former mine pits that are now pristine, spring-fed lakes. Some are up to 500-feet-deep, and perfect forkayaking, paddle boarding and scuba diving.
It was all of those activities and visitors that attracted the attention of entrepreneurs, like Jake Zoesch, who used to come to Crosby from Milwaukee to visit his in-laws.
“I saw downtown, and I saw all these other little businesses starting, and kind of watching them just boom in the first year they opened — then stay busy,” he said.
Two years ago, he and his wife decided to open a business of their own. They bought some of the last available land in Crosby and built four cabins that make up The Cuyuna Cabin Collection. They opened June 1 and business, he says, is booming.
“If there was two or three days open for the entire month it was a shock,” he said. “And that number just keeps going up. I don’t see it ending.”
“I’m amazed,” she said. “It seems like every week there’s something else opening in the area.”
Main Street is now filled with coffee shops, restaurants, bike shops and breweries — the turnaround, a testament not just to the popularity of mountain biking trails, but also, to the people who live there.
“We’re gritty folk here,” Koop said. “I think, you know, there’s a kind of grit where a lot of us wanted to show off what we had and we had the vision and the drive.”
She invites everyone to come experience it for themselves.
“You have to see it to believe it, I think,” she said. “Come here, give it a shot, see what it’s all about. There’s something for everyone to do here. You’ll want to come back.”
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Repairs on the bridge began in April, with crews repairing and replacing stone, replacing the mortar, and making other fixes to the historic structure.
MINNEAPOLIS — Starting next week the downtown side of the Stone Arch Bridge will be closed as repairs continue on the popular walking path.
Work began in April, with crews repairing and replacing stone, replacing the mortar on the entire bridge, and making other repairs as needed. According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), this work will slow deterioration and improve the conditions of the bridge.
While the bridge is being worked on, people can still walk and bike halfway across. The first side to close was the St. Anthony Main side, which will be reopening after the downtown side closes on Dec. 2.
The Stone Arch Bridge was built in the 1880s by James J. Hill’s Great Northern Railroad. At its peak, it brought 80 passenger trains a day to Union Station, according to the Minneapolis Parks Board. Ownership of the bridge was transferred to Hennepin County in the 1990s and it was converted to a pedestrian and bicycle path.
The downtown side will be closed through the fall of 2025, and MnDOT anticipates work being done and the bridge reopening by the spring of 2026.
MINNEAPOLIS — Thanksgiving is nearly here again, and it’s a holiday you need to plan ahead for as many grocery stores are closed. But Twin Cities residents aren’t completely without options this Thursday.
Most Cub Foods locations are open until 4 p.m. on Nov. 28. All Cub pharmacies, wine & spirits, and liquor stores will be closed all day. Stores will reopen with regular hours on Friday, November 29th. Please check your store’s hours on cub.com.
Twin Cities locations are open until 1 p.m.
Stores are open until 2 p.m.
The ceremony in the governor’s reception room was the first time Walz had met with reporters at the state Capitol since VP Kamala Harris made him her running mate.
ST PAUL, Minn. — As feathers flew, Tim Walz accepted the symbolic presentation of a turkey Tuesday as he eases back into his duties as Minnesota’s governor following the Harris-Walz ticket’s defeat in the presidential election.
Unlike the Minnesota-grown turkeys that President Joe Biden pardoned at the White House on Monday, Walz didn’t pardon this turkey, he said, “because in Minnesota we know turkeys are delicious.”
The 41.8-pounder (19 kilograms) named Tom was raised by Paisley VonBerge, a Future Farmers of America leader from Hutchinson, and it will star in her family’s Thanksgiving dinner. It flapped its wings and shed feathers as she hoisted it onto a display table but quickly calmed down, oblivious to its fate.
“After today, this bird will go back to my farm to be enjoyed the way that turkeys are intended,” Paisley said.
“That is very Minnesotan,” Walz added to loud laughter. “We don’t hide the fact we love our turkeys.”
Minnesota produces more turkeys annually than any other state. Its farmers raised 38.5 million birds in 2023, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, followed by North Carolina at 29 million. North Carolina edged Minnesota last year in total poundage, producing just over 1.07 billion pounds (485 million kilograms), compared with just over 1.05 billion pounds (467 million kilograms) for Minnesota.
The ceremony in the governor’s reception room was the first time Walz had met with reporters at the state Capitol since last summer, before Vice President Kamala Harris picked him as her running mate.
While Walz has held private meetings in recent weeks with staff, legislative leaders and other public officials, interviewed potential judicial appointees, and fielded some press questions, he’s still ramping back up with public events. He said Tuesday that he had no regrets about agreeing to run — and is proud he did.
The Walz-Harris ticket got over 74 million votes to nearly 77 million for President-elect Donald Trump. While Walz said that shows that many Americans liked the message he and Harris put out, he acknowledged it was “not quite enough.”
“I was just glad to be out there, and to be honest, glad to tell Minnesota’s story — that we get things done together and we’re pretty hopeful people,” he told reporters.
Walz is already preparing for the upcoming legislative session, when he and his fellow Democrats will have to share power with Republicans — a contrast with the last two years when they enjoyed the “trifecta” of controlling the governor’s office and both the state House and Senate.
While Democrats kept their one-vote majority in the Senate, recounts that wrapped up Monday confirmed that the House will be tied 67-67 when lawmakers convene Jan. 14, barring successful court challenges that could be filed in a few races.
That’s going to force compromises if lawmakers are going to pass a balanced budget before the session ends in May. But Walz said they proved power sharing could work in 2019, when Republicans controlled the Senate and Minnesota was one of the few states with a divided Legislature.
“We’re going to have some opportunities to continue to move in the positive direction we’ve gone,” Walz said.
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