Never equate pageviews with effort. Once stories pass through the mysterious vortexes of Google algorithms and social shares, the amount of work put into 'em goes out the window.
That much is obvious when you consider that my silly story about a local music star's tiny house (35K views)—a post that required one phone call, an understanding that Wanna Buys do bonkers traffic, and little else—notched 33,000 more views than, say, my daylong submersion into the world of apparent biz-jargoning crypto hucksters. My colleague Em's deeply reported profiles of families fleeing to Minnesota to protect their LGBTQ+ rights? Just 4,000 clicks. Yet I have it on good authority that last year's most-read Star Tribune story is about where a celeb got dinner. You get the idea.
In any event, our most-read stories of 2024 are all over the place—they're fun, helpful, serious, silly, bloggy, longform, and plenty more. It's a nice sample platter of what we think makes this website special. (Keep in mind: We've published 888 total posts so far in '24.) We're grateful for the reader support that made these articles possible, and excited to grow and expand our coverage in 2025.
20. 10 Ambitious Ideas That Might Actually Save Downtown Minneapolis
Feb. 8 | 10,032 views | click here to read
Remember the Golden Age of Blogging, back in the '00s and '10s, when takes would fly, the internet didn't feel like an incel circus, and the coinciding Golden Age of TV went heavily recapped? The product of two hours of power-blogging, this post I authored smacks of that era, at least to me. Interestingly, the biz-boosting Downtown Council echoed most of my suggestions plus some of the ones offered by our 50+ commenters in its 131-page 2035 Plan for downtown Minneapolis.
19. Democrats Ran Away From Walz’s Vision and Accomplishments. It Cost Them.
Nov. 15 | 10,339 views | click here to read
Freelancer Anders J. Lee heaped praise upon Gov. Tim Walz's unapologetic brand of left-wing economic populism, a key missing ingredient in the losing messaging Democrats deployed this past presidential election... despite having Walz on the ticket. Concludes Lee:
Think of what we could have had with a campaign that actually met the moment. Instead of yet another platitudinal town hall where Liz Cheney recounts January 6, imagine if Harris sat down with working class people to talk about what their lives would be like with paid leave, a living wage, or a union. Better yet, imagine if she had a governor at her side from a state that had enacted things like that and more. A running mate who could lay out why immigration is not a threat, how fighting climate change can provide more economic security, or how the “weird” cultural hangups of Republicans are meant to distract people from achievable progressive policies that will make the world a better place.
18. ‘I Don’t Get Off On It’: Meet Will Stancil, the MN Man Caught In a Perpetual Twitter Fight
Feb. 2 | 10,447 views | click here to read
It took a little cajoling, but I managed to land an interview with one of the loudest, most opinionated, and certainly most ceaseless Twitter pundits alive—Minnesota's very own Will Stancil. Throughout our 1.5-hour conversation, the U of M researcher kept my probing about his project's psychological impact at bay while outlining his beliefs about social media, economics, and politics. Shortly thereafter, New York Magazine would ask its national audience: "Who Is Will Stancil? And Why Is He In Your Feed?" And, shortly after that, Stancil would launch his ill-fated campaign for a Minnesota House seat, despite telling this interviewer "I would not be a reliable messenger" for political office.
17. Wanna Buy This Gorgeous, 122-Year-Old Lakeside Duluth Cottage? Too Bad!
Jan. 16 | 10,952 views | click here to read
The saga of billionaire heiress Kathy Cargill's home-buying spree in Duluth captured the imaginations of readers this year, as evidenced later on this list. Cargill purchased and demolished house after house along the historic Park Point neighborhood, never fully revealing her plans. “The homes that we bought were pieces of crap,” the billionaire told Duluth News Tribune reporter Jimmy Lovrien, adding that she may sue the hometown newspaper for asking too many questions. “I couldn’t imagine living in any of them.”
That got us thinking: How crappy were these homes? That's in the eye of the shelter-seeker, of course, but you'd be hard pressed to shit talk 2931 Lake Ave. S., a stunning 2,114-square-foot lakeside cottage from 1902 that Cargill smashed to bits. "With an estimated market value of $575,000 (Cargill paid $600K), the lovely ex-house is an imperfect metaphor for class politics," I reasoned. "But its demise in service of one elite family's extracurricular whims? That's worth remembering, and worth talking about."
16. One of the First Movies Released in 2024 Is Set in Minnesota
Jan. 16 | 11,231 views | click here to read
File this one under: huh! Each week our Keith Harris, a buff when it comes to films if there ever was one, dutifully catalogs every Twin Cities movie screening he can spy. The posts are rarely heavy hitters, traffic-wise, but they provide an excellent resource for filmgoing readers and offer a pithy platform for Keith's S-tier blurbing abilities. Google's unknowable SEO feelers must've plucked this installment from obscurity. If you're interested in revisiting that week in local film offerings... have at it? (P.S. The locally angled headline teaser refers to Night Swim.)
15. How a Minneapolis Barbecue Joint Became a House Music Hub
June 7 | 11,213 views | click here to read
Our ever-guiding north star for what makes a "Racket story"? One that otherwise wouldn't exist in the Twin Cities media ecosystem. Freelancer Michaelangelo Matos tapped into that by simply writing about the booming local dance scene, which often goes ignored by mainstream press. And he found a killer angle to intrigue even DJ agnostics—the fact a neighborhood BBQ joint doubles as a popular basement nightclub. (Cue the Stefon memes!) “I crank it down to 60 degrees before dance parties, because it gets up to 80 by the end,” says John McKinney, Beast’s co-owner-operator and a noted ’90s raver. “Even in the winter, I’m turning on the air conditioner.”
14. How Fair State Brewing Hit Bankruptcy, and How It Plans to Fight Through It
Feb. 14 | 12,111 views | click here to read
We're big fans of Fair State Brewing Cooperative, the northeast Minneapolis brewery that emerged in 2014 with a cooperative ownership model and, in 2020, became the nation's first unionized microbrewery; beyond the feel-good biz practices, the place happens to make killer beer and THC drinks. So Fair State filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this past spring was unwelcome news, and co-founder/CEO Evan Sallee hopped on the phone with me that week to discuss his (ultimately successful) plan to plow ahead. "We've got a ton of talented brewers making better beer than we've ever seen in this state," he said at the time. "But we're facing a lot of economic pressures, so it can be really hard to run a brewery... I think what we're doing is important, and I want to continue to do it for a long time."
13. First Ave’s New Trump-Loving GM Is Already Out of the Picture
May 10 | 12,203 views | click here to read
For those who are unfamiliar, The Flyover is our daily news roundup post, where we turn the day’s headlines into quippy lil blurbs for your easy consumption. It’s a fun way to showcase what our tiny newsroom can’t cover with proper full-length articles, highlight the great work of other journalists, and flex our elite headline-writing muscles. For some reason, Google plucked this edition about First Avenue's quickly nixed new GM from obscurity, sending thousands of readers our way. Feel free to revisit that not-so-fateful May news day if you've got nothing else to do—Steven Sawyer ain't the boss of First Ave, and we ain't the boss of you!
12. Can the Dying Malls of the Twin Cities be Resurrected?
Feb. 7 | 12,395 | click here to read
Racket's first-ever intern, Makenzi Johnson, wrote long on how Twin Cities investors are scrambling to retrofit, repurpose, and reimagine these struggling relics of American retail and culture amid the ongoing mallpocalypse.
11. RIP Phil Lesh: Enjoy 30 Crowd Shots From Outside of the Grateful Dead’s 1988 Show at Met Center
Oct. 30 | 13,921 | click here to read
We don't run many photo slideshows 'round these parts, but we couldn't turn down James Orndorf's pitch of time-capsule pics from when the Grateful Dead played Bloomington's Met Center in '88. Even if you're not a fan of the Dead, you can appreciate the outfits and vibes that graced that sprawling suburban parking lot. "Good to bring a little joy to people during this shit week," Orndorf told us, referencing the death of bassist Phil Lesh. We couldn't agree more, and we're guessing the slideshow's numbers got boosted by thousands of likeminded Deadheads across the internet.
10. Liz Collin’s High School Classmate Reviews Her Stupid New Book
Nov. 1, 2022 | 14,270 | click here to read
A Racket classic from 2022! The internet never gives up its dead. It's never a bad day to revisit this brutally entertaining review of They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and the Death of George Floyd, courtesy of regular Racket contributor Deborah Copperud, which zoomed to the top of our charts again this year after the release of her "documentary" The Fall of Minneapolis and the online discussion that followed.
9. Angie Craig Just Now Learning Trump’s Not on the Level
Nov. 20 | 15,428 views | click here to read
Always a centrist, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig pivoted further right during her most recent Second District election victory, this one against Joe Teirab. “At times I watched her ads and asked, ‘Wait a minute, is she a MAGA candidate?’” Steven Schier, professor emeritus of poli-sci at Carleton College, told MinnPost. Great Q, professor! We asked Craig's team if the Minnesota congresswoman would like to defend her vote in favor of H.R. 9495, a bill that critics say would allow President-elect Donald Trump to destroy nonprofits he doesn't like, but we never heard back. A week later, Craig changed her vote, having apparently learned more about what this Trump fella is all about. "I've become increasingly concerned that H.R. 9495 would be used inappropriately by the incoming Administration," said Craig, one of only 52 House Dems who initially voted for the measure that's now headed to the Senate.
8. The Best, Worst, and Most Middling New Foods of the 2024 Minnesota State Fair
Aug. 23 | 16,101 views | click here to read
Folks, at the risk of sounding immodest, we've got the best State Fair food review crew in town, and it's not even fucking close. Our peerless, pitiless Scarf!, Shrug, Skip system can't be beat. (Accept no substitutes.)
7. We Tried MN’s Zorbaz, Alleged Top 15 Worldwide Pizza Destination
July 16 | 17,582 views | click here to read
I was attending to business in Two Harbors when the New York Times published a puzzling food take: Apparently the peanut butter pepperoni pie at Zorbaz is among the country's best pizza, according to a reader-sourced NYT story. Now, I'm a lifelong Minnesotan who'll also certainly die here, yet I had never heard of Zorbaz, an apparent cabin-country institution. So I asked my colleague Em, Racket's food honcho, whether it was worth a detour to the nearest Zorbaz, the one in McGregor, as I returned home from the North Shore. I not only issued a review of the 'za, but also enlisted a statewide network of Zorbaz correspondents to explain what, exactly, this chain of northern Minnesota party bars represents culturally. According to at least on local Redditor, I didn't flunk Em's driving-intensive assignment.
They nailed this. A snobby "it's not good, acktually" would have missed the point, and the Racket being a bit hipster and contrary I would have expected that. But they managed to deliver the contrary to contrary take: a love letter to Lake Country's embodiment of the long tradition of mixing up Italians and Mexicans.
6. Two Dudes Casually Offered $20 Naz Reid Tattoos. Hundreds Have Claimed the Deal.
May 9 | 18,200 views | click here to read
Before you read this feel-good Timberwolves playoff story in ESPN and the Star Tribune, you could've read my version right here in Racket.
5. The Temporary Demise of Uptown
Sept. 16 | 20,730 views | click here to read
Mike Norton, beloved online lightning rod, reported the hell outta this deep-dive into Uptown, Minneapolis's most-discussed neighborhood. “Uptown always means more in terms of what it was than what it is or what it could be,” says radio DJ Jason DeRusha, a vocal fan of the egg and cheese croissant sandwich from Black Walnut Bakery. “We’re nostalgic. We remember Figlio and Chino and when it wasn’t corporate. But it’s always been in flux.” DeRusha is just one of the many personalities who riffed on the future of Uptown with Norton, and you better believe our own Em Cassel was among 'em—enjoy the photo of her giddily observing heavy construction machinery.
4. Another Long List of Awful Allegations Against Pete Hegseth
Nov. 18 | 22,203 views | click here to read
Important update: The scandal-ridden pride of Forest Lake pledges to stop drinking... provided he's appointed to Trump's cabinet as head of the Pentagon. What a guy, what a country!
3. I Rode Amtrak’s New Borealis Line to Chicago So You Don’t Have to (But You Still Should)
May 30 | 23,901 views | click here to read
My colleague Keith Harris, always a clever lil devil, snuffed out any tired notions of the Great American Thinky Travelogue as he... embarked on his mission to compile a travelogue, one bursting with great thoughts, right here in these United States. "I could only guess what the next five days would have in store for me," Harris wondered as the brand-new Borealis Amtrak line started chugging from St. Paul to Chicago. "The strangers I would meet! The sights I might see! And the thoughts to be thunk! Would I have travel-spawned epiphanies about my life or (gasp!) 21st century America? I certainly hoped not, but once you leave your home for long enough you can never quite rule anything out." Readers—perhaps you yourself!—gravitated in droves to the wonderful train-powered essay that followed.
2. UHC Employees Happy to Speak Ill of the Dead
Dec. 5 | 42,567 views | click here to read
The story around the shocking Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson—the Twin Citian CEO of Minnetonka-based insurance giant UnitedHealthcare—is moving so fast we won't waste your time with what was recapped in last week's Flyover. The suspected shooter, Luigi Mangione, is in custody; his brief manifesto has been published; and the disastrous state of U.S. health care is receiving long overdue scrutiny. We will, however, leave you with what Keith wrote at the end of that FO blurb: "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is just the U.S. health insurance industry doing its job."
1. With Duluth’s Park Point, Kathy Cargill Crossed the Billionaire PR Precipice
March 25 | 94,960 views | click here to read
Remember when I said earlier that one of the houses Cargill demolished was an imperfect metaphor for class politics? Well, turns out Cargill herself is the perfect metaphor. Be sure to hear a dramatic reading of my essay from Scotty Gunderson, which begins around the 37-minute mark of this RacketCast episode.
