Star Tribune
What’s the story behind Minnesota enclaves in Arizona, Florida?
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Twin Cities native Derek Grimme left home at 18 to attend college in Arizona, not expecting to make it his permanent home.
But four years have turned into nearly three decades in the Grand Canyon State, where he’s found a new community of Minnesota natives who cheer on the Vikings at a brewery.
“There are a lot of Minnesotans down here,” said Grimme, 46, of Tempe. “Maybe Minnesotans just have a way of finding one another.”
He turned to Curious Minnesota, the Star Tribune’s reader-generated reporting project, to ask about the history and reason that so many Minnesotans have moved to Arizona and the Southwest.
Arizona is one of several states that boasts enclaves of Minnesota natives, some of whom are snowbirds who fly back north as temperatures rise. Data show that outside of the Midwest, Sun Belt states like California, Florida and Texas are top destinations for former Minnesotans. Warm weather is obviously one draw. But research is limited on why people leave or return.
Do you have a story about one of these communities? Send us a note at Curious@StarTribune.com and we may feature it in a future column or episode of the Curious Minnesota podcast.
‘A warm Edina’
There is a long tradition of Minnesotans uniting in places like Phoenix and Naples, Fla. Some of these Minnesota enclaves began popping up in the 1940s and 1950s as improved air and auto travel inspired Americans to explore. Then, in the 1960s, the development of RV resorts and retirement communities drew more retirees and snowbirds.
A 1949 Minneapolis Star article noted that Arizona had taken off as a popular destination for winter getaways in that decade, thanks to air travel. By the 1950s, a Minnesota Club had started in Mesa. The developer of the Sun City retirement community near Phoenix estimated in 1976 that 10% of the residents were former Minnesotans, according to an article in the Star.
A survey in the late 1980s found that Minnesota snowbirds were the largest contingent of U.S. snowbirds in Arizona, representing 11% of its seasonal residents.
Naples had barely established roads when a few Minnesotans started vacationing there in the 1950s, luring other friends and family to escape winter on the Gulf Coast, said Mike Schumann, a St. Louis Park furniture store owner who lives in Naples.
Once described in a front page Star Tribune headline as “a warm Edina,” the affluent city of Naples had so many Minnesotans by the 1960s that they launched a weekly winter breakfast club in 1964 that still meets today for Q&As with Minnesota politicians and CEOs. (The CEO of General Mills and Speaker of the Minnesota House are scheduled to appear there this month.)
“I run into Minnesotans constantly,” Schumann, 72, said from Florida on a 70-degree day last week.
Half the Minnesotans at the weekly breakfast are transplants, while others are snowbirds or even weekend visitors, Schumann said. He said that people often vacation or move where they already have family or friends. Plus, southwest Florida hosts the Twins’ spring training.
“It kind of grows on them,” he said. “They come down here on a vacation … and start talking about buying a house.”
There are about 44,000 snowbirds who keep a residence in Minnesota but live elsewhere part-time, with Arizona, Florida and Texas being the most popular spots, according to a 2015 survey by the Minnesota Board of Aging.
For Schumann and his wife, it was an April blizzard that spurred them to board a flight, desperate for sunshine and palm trees. That 2002 vacation quickly snowballed into the couple buying a house and opening a business in Naples. A couple years ago, they became Florida residents so he could get politically involved, though they still return to Minnesota often — including for health care and summers on a Wisconsin lake.
“Minnesota is still a really important part of people’s lives here,” he said.
Losing college students
Minnesota drew more new residents than it lost to other states during the 1990s. But that trend has changed since 2001. On average, from 2018 to 2022, Minnesota gained 104,000 residents and lost 121,000 residents each year, said State Demographer Susan Brower. Other Midwest states are experiencing similar losses.
Brower said 18- to 19-year-olds represent the highest number of net losses in domestic migration, moving elsewhere for college or to start careers. In fact, Minnesota loses more college students than it attracts.
When Fridley native Andria Fennig was 25, she traded blizzards for dust storms and moved to Phoenix for an affordable graduate school program. She didn’t plan to stay 30 years. But she’s built a musical career and life there after nixing plans to relocate to pricey New York City.
“Phoenix has been a bargain until the last four or five years. But you don’t need four seasons of clothes,” Fennig, 53. “You grow your roots and say, ‘I’m very content here.'”
She’s also found a community of former Minnesotans, including Grimme, at Four Peaks Brewing Co. in Tempe. The business was started by ex-Minnesotans.
“It’s a big Vikings hangout,” she said.
Minnesotans changing their addresses on income tax returns most often relocate to Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, North Dakota, California and Arizona, according to IRS data. Census surveys show similar patterns, and that people are also moving to Minnesota from those places. California, Florida and Arizona are among the top states of origin for people relocating to Minnesota, according to Census data.
Minnesota’s workforce shortages and low unemployment rate are making it more urgent to attract and retain residents. A 2023 Minnesota Chamber Foundation report noted that, unlike with immigration, state policymakers have more control over factors that influence state-to-state migration. States that retain residents better have favorable climates and competitive tax rates, according to the report.
In March, Explore Minnesota is launching its first-ever national brand campaign to sell Americans on a move to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The agency has started a new division to draw newcomers. But Brower said it will take a significant and sustained shift in state-by-state migration to address workforce shortages.
Why people permanently move is harder to track, she said, adding that there’s limited academic research of tax policy impacting state-by-state migration, except among high-earners or inventors.
“There really is no one clear explanation,” Brower said. “It’s not necessarily about policies or amenities or taxes that are occurring here. These trends are much larger than we are.”
If you’d like to submit a Curious Minnesota question, fill out the form below:
Read more Curious Minnesota stories:
Does Minnesota have the coldest and longest winters of any of the US states?
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Why workers are reluctant to come to Minnesota, but stay once they’re here
How did Minnesota become a recurring ‘Golden Girls’ joke?
What are Minnesota’s most popular tourist attractions?
A 19-year-old driver trying to get around slower vehicles collided head-on with an SUV in Wright County and killed one person and injured several others, officials said Thursday.
SUV passenger Janice Evelyn Johnson, 92, of Arden Hills, died Monday at HCMC from injuries she suffered in the collision on Oct. 22 in Monticello Township on County Road 37 near County Road 12, the Sheriff’s Office said in a search warrant affidavit filed in Hennepin County District Court.
The driver and two other people in the SUV survived their injuries, according to the affidavit, which the Sheriff’s Office filed to collect Johnson’s medical records at HCMC as part of its investigation.
According to the affidavit:
Deputies arrived at the crash scene and spoke with the car’s driver, Christian Kabunangu, of Brooklyn Park, who said he was heading west on County Road 37 and found himself behind two vehicles traveling below the speed limit.
“He was late for work, so he decided to pass them,” the affidavit read. Kabunangu said he saw the oncoming SUV and estimated it was about a half-mile down the road.
As he attempted to pass one of the slower vehicles, he explained, the other driver “sped up, preventing him from getting back into the westbound lane,” the filing continued.
As the Honda drew near, he swerved to the left, but the SUV did the same and they collided.
Star Tribune
University of Minnesota researchers find that native plants can beat invasive buckthorn on their own turf.
If the invasive buckthorn that is strangling the life out of Minnesota’s forest floor has a weakness, it is right now, in the shortening daylight of the late fall.
With a little help and planning, certain native plants have the best chance of beating buckthorn back and helping to eradicate it from the woods, according to new research from the University of Minnesota.
The sprawling bush has been one of the most formidable invasive species to take root in Minnesota since it was brought from Europe in the mid-1800s. It was prized as an ornamental privacy hedge. All the attributes that make buckthorn good at that job — dense thick leaves that stay late into the fall, toughness and resilience to damage and pruning, unappealing taste to wildlife and herbivores — have allowed it to thrive in the wild.
It grows fast and thick, out-competing the vast majority of native plants and shrubs for sunlight and then starving them under its shade. It creates damaging feedback loops, providing ideal habitat and calcium-rich food for invasive earthworms, which in turn kill off and uproot native plants. That leaves even less competition for buckthorn to take root, said Mike Schuster, a researcher for the university’s Department of Forest Resources.
When it takes over a natural area, buckthorn creates a “green desert,” Schuster said. “All that’s left is just a perpetual hedge, with little biodiversity.”
Since the 1990s, when the spread became impossible to ignore, Minnesota foresters, park managers and cities have spent millions of dollars a year trying to beat it back. They’ve used chainsaws and trimmers, poisons and herbicides, and even goats for hire. The buckthorn almost always grows back within a few years.
It’s been so pervasive that a conventional wisdom formed that buckthorn seeds could survive dormant in the soil for up to six years. That thought has led to a sort of fatalism: even if the plant were entirely removed from a property there would be a looming threat that it would sprout back, Schuster said.
But there is nothing special about buckthorn seeds. They only survive for a year or two.
Eden Prairie Eagles (6-3) at Maple Grove Crimson (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Maple Grove faithful are understandably jittery about getting Eden Prairie this early in the playoffs, but they should trust their eyes. The Crimson are loaded, with quality playmakers at every turn, like safety/receiver Dylan Vokal. Eden Prairie is built for games like this, but while the Eagles will keep things tight for awhile, Maple Grove will pull away in the second half, leading to a seismic sigh-of-relief from northwest metro. The pick: Maple Grove 35, Eden Prairie 21
David says: Eden Prairie’s time, however decorated an success-filled, is done and over. Provided the Crimson are able to take it. Maple Grove is capable of success as long as players don’t make the moment too big. Former coach Matt Lombardi cracked the code. What about his replacement, Adam Spurrell? The pick: Maple Grove 21, Eden Prairie 14
Edina Hornets (7-2) at Eagan Wildcats (5-3), 7 p.m.
Jim says: On paper, this leans toward an Edina victory. The Hornets have top-end talent on offense (QB Mason West, WR Meyer Swinney), an under-appreciated defense and a season-opening 35-14 victory over Eagan. But the Wildcats are resilient and don’t back down from anyone. Quarterback Brooklyn Evans is adept at running the Wildcats option offense and will keep them in the game. The pick: Edina 28, Eagan 15
David says: Tempting as it is to pick against Edina and revel in another office cake party, let’s go with the Hornets in this one. Expect an improved Eagan team to keep Edina within reach, however. The pick: Edina 21, Eagan 20
Alexandria Cardinals (7-2) at Moorhead Spuds (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Alexandria came oh-so-close to beating Moorhead on Oct. 11, falling 36-34 when a game-winning field goal went wide-left. While the Cardinals hoped for this rematch, Moorhead has the look of a team on a mission. Outside of the head-to-head matchup, Moorhead dominated every other opponent with a series of 30-point plus victories. No one mashes the Spuds. The pick: Moorhead 44, Alexandria 34
David says: The Game of the Year, Part II. Only thing to make this more juicy would be an upset. Is Alexandria up to that task? I don’t have the courage to go out on that limb in this space. The pick: Moorhead 42, Alexandria 24
Andover Huskies (7-2) at Elk River Elks (8-1), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Another highly anticipated rematch. Andover handed mistake-prone Elk River it’s only loss, 47-31, on Sept. 20. With three lost fumbles, Elks’ coach Steve Hamilton called it the worst game they’ve played in five years. You can bet they’re itching to prove they’re better than they showed that night. The pick: Elk River 49, Andover 37
David says: Bet the over when these two teams clash. Andover’s quarterback Joseph Mapson is a much more polished and proven signal caller that he was in late September. The Pick: Andover 49, Elk River 48.
