Skip to Content
Opinion

Let’s Continue the ‘Up North’ Discourse on This Friday’s Open Thread

As we do every Friday, we're turning Racket over to you, the readers.

Fight about it!

|mngeo.state.mn.us

Howdy Racket readers, and an emphatic TGIF to you all. My colleague Keith Harris usually tees up these Open Thread prompts, but he's currently enjoying a soggy vacation heatwave in his home state of New Jersey. So I'll be the John Daly (larger, drinks more) to his Rory McIlroy (the best, per Google) and place a conversational catalyst atop this comment-section tee: Let's keep fighting about the geographic boundaries of what constitutes "Up North" in Minnesota.

As you may have seen on Twitter, or possibly at the bottom of yesterday's Flyover, this topic has gained a ton of traction among online squawkers such as me and you...

And as a lifelong Minnesotan, I'll jump right in and say Brainerd is actually kinda the perfect answer—geographically, culturally, Paul Bunyan-ly. Wanna get real nerdy about it? Nearby Lake Mille Lacs is well within the Laurentian Mixed Forest biome which, in the words of the University of Minnesota, is often considered "synonymous with the north woods or boreal forest." (The state's other three biomes are Eastern Broadleaf Forest, Prairie Parkland, and the tiny patch of Tallgrass Aspen Park.)

Now by this biome logic you could make a case for, say, Cambridge, but let's not get crazy. My answer is Brainerd! Brainerd!!! Anyway, I've blathered on enough here. What say you, fellow pedants: At which latitudinal juncture does northern Minnesota really begin?

Or, alternatively, talk about whatever the hell you want. This is your Open Thread, after all.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Racket

Freeloader Friday: 121 Free Things To Do This Weekend

St. Paul Art Crawl happenings, a THC Oktoberfest, outdoor movie screenings, book parties, and a Trekkie bar crawl.

October 10, 2025

On the Big Screen This Week: Cine Latino, Channing Tatum, and All Kind of Screams

Pretty much all the movies you can catch in the Twin Cities this week.

October 9, 2025

Remember When You Could Buy Human Skeletons at the Mall of America?

BareBones was a true MOA oddity—and a place where Kurt Cobain once reportedly spent $4,000 on replica bones.

October 9, 2025

New Music Playlists: Hooligans, Reckonings, Snails, Squirrels, Townies, and the Best Song Ever About Trenton, NJ

5 great new local songs, 5 great new song from everywhere else, and 1 not-great new song that belongs nowhere

October 9, 2025

Mpls Crime: Violence Down, Vibes Off, Chief Silent

Plus National Guard in MN?, former Twin's indie-rock connection, and 'Joe Mauer of Mahtomedi' in today's Flyover news roundup.

October 8, 2025
See all posts