Transform Your Town into a Tourist Destination

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The Chisago Lakes area in Minnesota encompasses five small towns: Lindstrom, Chisago City, Shafer, Center City, and Taylor’s Falls. By working together, they created a remarkable story of community collaboration and economic revival. Since the early 2000s, all of these communities have faced significant challenges—particularly the 2008 recession, the collapse of the housing market, and the disruption to downtowns caused by a major highway reconstruction. Instead of being defined by these adversities, the region rallied together to overcome them.

A pivotal moment in the area’s recovery came with the reconstruction of Highway 8, a previously narrow, two-lane road that had limited access and stifled downtown growth. The highway was transformed into a system of one-way streets, opening up space for revitalization. This redesign created pedestrian-friendly, walkable downtown areas, quickly attracting businesses and renewed economic activity. As a result, downtowns are now bustling with commerce, and tourism has flourished.

Lindstrom’s downtown, for example, is now vibrant, with no vacancies, thanks to improved accessibility and strategic planning. The town’s Swedish heritage also plays a vital role in attracting residents and visitors. Lindstrom is a sister city to Tingsryd, Sweden, and its annual Karl Oskar Days festival celebrates its cultural roots, further enhancing its appeal.

A broader sense of regional unity emerged in recent years, most notably through the America’s Best Communities competition in 2015. This national competition, which required collaboration among the five Chisago Lakes towns, helped solidify a shared vision for the area’s future. As Nancy Hoffman, Executive Director of the Chisago County HRA-EDA, explains, “The contest did more than just bring awareness to the Chisago Lakes area; it brought us together as a community. We’re five small towns but one community.”

Their approach to community collaboration has created momentum for entrepreneurs to build upon. The Chisago County Press reported in July of 2023, for example, that Center City had multiple redevelopments underway, which included the Grand Avenue motel site on Main Street being renovated into a classic car showroom and service center, a bungalow motel on Highway 8 being redone, and new restaurants coming to town. New housing development has been another benefit of the area’s focus on collective economic growth. In July of 2024, for example, a 121-unit apartment complex was approved in Chisago City.

The story of the Chisago Lakes area’s revitalization and growth demonstrates that through strategic infrastructure investments, strong community spirit, and an emphasis on heritage, small towns can recover from economic downturns and thrive. Today, the region’s growing tourism sector, vibrant downtowns, and enduring sense of unity serve as a model for small-town revitalization across the country.