Brrr, Minnesota! Is it really as cold as people say? Redfin real estate agents suggest yes. But the Twin Cities are far from a barren hinterland. There’s plenty to do if you’re winter-hardy. We chatted with three area agents — Dyan Jensen, Chris Prescott and James Garry — to get the true lowdown. Here are 23 signs you live in the Twin Cities or need to move there.
1. You Don’t Mess Around With Your Shopping
“The Mall of America is the biggest and best in the country. There are over 500 stores and about 11,000 year-round employees,” Prescott says. “It’s a world in itself: It has its own theme park, Nickelodeon Universe®, and SEA LIFE™ Minnesota, a museum-quality aquarium with sharks, sea turtles, jellyfish – everything. Right now, they’re adding an attached hotel, office center and even more retail space.”
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2. You Like One Twin Over the Other
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“Each city has a unique identity,” Prescott says.”There’s a friendly, almost sibling-like rivalry between the two. For example, Minneapolis recently built the trendy North Loop neighborhood around the new baseball stadium for the Twins. So, St. Paul countered with a new stadium for the minor league Saints baseball team to make things happen in Lower Town. There’s no real grudge, but most people generally identify with one twin or the other.”
3. You View Winter as an Opportunity … to Go Outdoors
“We don’t let winter get in the way,” Prescott explains. “The cities clear snow off the lakes and create ice rinks for skating and hockey. The suburban bike trails are converted to snowmobile paths and, in the cities, the paths are cleared and people continue to bike. Many people also enjoy sledding, cross country skiing and, of course, ice fishing. There’s also St. Paul’s Winter Carnival – which will be in its 129th year this coming January. Cold doesn’t keep us down.”
4. You’ve Got the Hots for Juicy Lucy
“The ‘Juicy Lucy’, or ‘Jucy Lucy’, is a hamburger filled with cheese and cooked until the center is molten,” Garry says. “Don’t eat it when it’s served or you’ll hurt yourself. Two restaurants, the 5-8 Club and Matt’s Bar, both in south Minneapolis, claim to have invented it. Matt’s spells the name without the ‘i’, while the 5-8 Club claims Matt’s is doing everything wrong, but insiders know that probably the best place to get the dish is at The Nook in Saint Paul.”
5. You Know Your Way Around a Picasso … and an Oldenburg
“The nationally renowned Walker Art Center houses some of the best in contemporary art,” Garry said. “Their iconic sculpture garden includes the Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg, an internationally renowned artist known for making colorful outdoor sculptures of everyday objects. My favorite event at the Walker is the annual screening of the British Arrow Awards (best in funny advertising), but they also started a Cat Video Festival that was wildly popular (and launched a national tour). If that’s not enough, we have the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, the Weisman and a number of smaller galleries.”
6. You Have Snow Removal Down to a Science
“True to our reputation, we have a snowy winter,” Garry says. “But we handle it well. You read about places like Atlanta shutting down because of a few inches, or people in Chicago who have to dig their cars out of city snowplow piles, and you have to laugh. We have a system where everything is cleared off in about two days … and the main roads are always cleared the morning after a major storm.”
7. You’re a Literary Nerd
“F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in Saint Paul and we haven’t really looked back,” Garry says. “We’re home to Coffee House Press, Graywolf Press and Milkweed Editions. We have a literary center called The Loft that develops writers and helps maintain the literary scene. There are also several fantastic independent bookstores, including Magers & Quinn, Micawber’s and Once Upon a Crime.”
8. You Hold the Summertime Dear
“You only really have summer in the second half of June and then July and August,” Jensen says. “But for many, it’s pure bliss. Minneapolis has the Aquatennial, an eight-day celebration of summer and the lakes. My favorite is the milk carton boat race, which is pretty much self-explanatory. Part of the fun is seeing if the boats will make it to the end of the race before falling apart.”
9. You Don’t Mind Constant (Sports) Frustration
“We now have teams in all the major sports, but historically we’ve had trouble holding onto them,” Prescott says. “The North Stars – that’s hockey – left for Dallas in the 1990s, and the Los Angeles Lakers were originally ours. There’s always flux. In the early 2000s, Major League Baseball was threatening to get rid of the Twins. And then in 2010, the roof of the Metrodome collapsed and the Vikings had to play a home game in Detroit. And we haven’t won a championship since 1991, when the Twins won the World Series. We’re big fans of our teams, but we don’t get much back.”
10. You Have a Blaze Orange Outfit in Your Closet
“In Minnesota, people love their hunting,” Prescott says. “The opening of deer season is always a big deal. People really look forward to it and always plan around it. It’s a great way to get outdoors and enjoy nature – and to get some meat for your freezer.”
11. You Know Where to Find a Painted Lady
“Homebuyers, particularly younger ones, often want to live in Minneapolis proper even as their family expands,” Garry says. “You can still get gorgeous single-family Victorian homes for an affordable price, within easy commuting distance of downtown. They have a character and quality that you can’t always find in construction from other eras. The architecture of homes in both cities is spectacular – in St. Paul, visit Summit Avenue.”
12. Ice Fishing Isn’t a Punchline … It’s What You Do
“If you choose to drive your car out on one of our many frozen lakes in the winter, you’ll typically see hundreds of fish houses,” Prescott says. “It’s a social thing – to hang out in the fish house, have a few beers and fish. Getting the right spot for your permanent fish house can be competitive, though – especially when the fish are biting. Most of us have seen the movie ‘Grumpy Old Men’ more than once.”
13. You Just Might Spend More Time on Your Bike Than in Your Car
“We have the best set of bike trails in the country,” Garry says. “We have scenic trails that wind around our lakes and along the Mississippi, we have commuter trails and we have a combination of the two. There are literally hundreds of miles of trails that extend far into the suburbs in every direction. Many people here commute by bike – and they can use a dedicated trail for most of their trip. Not many metros can say that.”
14. You Know It’s Actually The Land of 11,842 Lakes, and You Have a Favorite!
“A few people drive over to Wisconsin to visit a cabin,” Garry says. “But many more head north. People often stock up in Brainerd before their cabin stay. It sits in the middle of several popular chains of lakes and is only three hours north of the Twin Cities. Other people enjoy the Detroit Lakes area, which hosts a large country music festival each year. And if you really want to rough it, you go up near Ely, in Superior National Forest – the preserve borders both Canada and Lake Superior, and it’s nature at its finest.”
15. You Play Poker On Your Snowmobile
“In the far-out suburbs, snowmobile trails are a whole new road system in the winter,” Jensen says. “They go through public and private property and have their own mini traffic signs. People love a snowmobile poker run. It’ll be sponsored by bars or diners. You get on your snowmobile and there are five stops. At each of the stops, you get a card. Then, at the final one, everyone meets up and whoever has the best hand wins.”
16. You Know the Cold Ain’t No Joke
“In the winter, it’s not uncommon for several weeks to pass without the thermometer rising above 10 degrees Fahrenheit,” Jensen says. “And while we occasionally have school closings, sometimes kids are expected to get to school when there’s a negative-20-degree wind chill.”
17. You Can Drink the Tap Water and Breathe the Air
“The rap duo Atmosphere, who are fellow Minneapolitans, have a secret that I’ve found to be true,” Garry says. “The quality of life here can’t be beat. You have creativity and culture, but you also have quality (yet affordable) housing stock, easy commutes and plenty of access to nature. The employment rate is great. People here are relaxed and happy. How could you not be, when we have an annual ArtCar Parade?”
18. Your Comfort Food is a Tater Tot Hot Dish
“Personally, I don’t make Tater Tot Hot Dish, but of course I’ve had it,” Jensen says. “And it’s good, if not healthy. For the uninitiated, the dish is a creamy casserole of ground beef, some vegetables like onions and peppers, and then topped with tater tots and cheese. There are many variations, but that’s the basic idea.”
19. You Think for Yourself When it Comes to Politics
“Historically, Minnesota has been known as a liberal, progressive state, in the mold of Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale,” Garry says. “And we certainly have an independent streak. Reform Party candidate Jesse Ventura, a former professional wrestler, was governor from 1999 to 2003. These days, Minnesota can go either way. While the Twin Cities skew Democratic, you’ll find a diversity of political opinion that you don’t always get in solid blue or red states.”
20. Your Gym is Your Local Lake
“Minneapolis is dotted with lakes,” Garry says. “They’re beautiful and they all have bike and jogging trails around them. You might think the lakes are just a place to go for vacation, but they’re also local, right there in front of you. They’re part of the fabric of the city and people use them – whether for canoeing or swimming, or just to jog around. Rollerblading was invented in the Twin Cities, as a way for people to practice their ice skating in the summer – and the lakeside trails make it very enjoyable. It’s always an active, vibrant scene.”
21. You’re ‘Minnesota Nice’
“Whenever someone visits from the coasts, they comment on how nice we are here,” Jensen says. “People will say hello and greet you on the street, even if they don’t know you. I guess they don’t do that in New York. It just gives you a warm feeling to be kind – it’s how people are here.”
22. You Know What’s Pretty
“As a destination for natural beauty, Minnesota is underrated,” Jensen says. “South of the Twin Cities, you have open farmland, but north, you get into woodsy country. For a scenic adventure, Highway 61 from Duluth to Canada follows Lake Superior and is known as one of the prettiest drives in the country. And the Iron Range up there is nothing but picturesque lakes dropped among pine forests.”
23. You Know Minneapolis was Built on Flour
“Pillsbury and General Mills both started here – and still have their headquarters in the area,” Prescott says. “Many out-of-towners forget that the Mississippi River runs through Minneapolis. In the late 1800s, grain was brought from the Dakotas by rail. We were known as ‘Mill City’ and had the largest flour mill in the world. We shipped the finished product down the Mississippi. The Mill City Museum is housed in the old mill, for those interested in the history – or you can simply enjoy the river along the Stone Arch Bridge.”
Do you live in the Twin Cities? Which “signs” did you like the best, and what did we miss? Tell us on Facebook, Twitter, G+ or in the comments below. And if you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in Minneapolis, St. Paul or the surrounding area, be sure to get in touch with our local Redfin real estate agents, or check out what’s on the market on Redfin.com.
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