being Minnesotan in the Sioux Falls metro area

In our local newspaper (The Star Herald) last week, a columnist for The Star Tribune (for the uninitiated, that is the newspaper out of Minneapolis/St. Paul) who covers "greater Minnesota" (aka, anywhere that's not the Twin Cities metro) wrote an article about whether or not Rock County - where I live - feels Minnesotan. We are so close to the South Dakota state border, and we are now officially considered part of the Sioux Falls, SD metro area. 

I wrote a letter to the editor about my feelings on the matter, and it was indeed published in the July 31 edition of the paper! Here is the extended and less-newspaper-friendly version. 

First, I invite you to read the original article by Karen Tolkkinen. I'll put her text in a nice teal color so as not to be confused with mine.

You can't blame South Dakota for wanting a little bit of Minnesota.

I mean, who wouldn't?

We've got the Minnesota Twins, way more lakes, the biggest ball of twine – and a governor who doesn't brag about killing the family dog.

So our neighbor to the west has reached over, real slow and careful like, and slung its arm around Rock County. Our Rock County, the southwest corner of our state, home of Blue Mounds State Park and Luverne.

As reported by Sioux Falls Business, Rock County is now considered part of the Sioux Falls, S.D. Metropolitan Statistical Area.

What it means is the U.S. Office of Management and Budget has determined that based on 2020 census data, Sioux Falls, population 202,000, and Rock County, population 10,000 (or just about), are married.

Well, the government doesn't actually say "married." The US Census Bureau says the two have a "high degree of economic and social integration." At the minimum, that sounds like a serious relationship.
 
Feeling somewhat attached to all parts of our state, including those in the furthest corners, I felt I had to reach out to Luverne Mayor Pat Baustian. Was Rock County's relationship with South Dakota stronger than its connection to Minnesota? Does Rock County feel Minnesotan? I felt way more anxious about this than I should have.

It was a reassuring conversation.

"My cable TV channel was selected for the sole reason that I get WCCO news," he said. "As the mayor of Luverne, you have to be connected to your state. That holds true with a lot of residents. They want to hear the Twin Cities metro. They have family up there, kids up there. I don't subscribe to the Argus Leader. I subscribe to the Star Tribune. We are a WCCO, Twins, Vikings, Wild family."

True, I-90 connects Rock County to Sioux Falls, and true, people from Luverne work there and shop there and yes, well, their cell phones might have a 605 area code if they bought them in Sioux Falls, and sure, it's possible that some Minnesota kids attend school in South Dakota if such a school is closer.

Also true that some he knows from Rock County have moved to South Dakota because they prefer the politics and the lack of an income tax.

But the reverse of at least some of those things is also true. Baustian knows people who have moved to Minnesota from South Dakota because they found lower property taxes or they like the politics better in Minnesota. South Dakotans also work in Rock County. And he sees lots of South Dakota license plates near the new seven-mile bike trail around Luverne that connects to the State Park.

I-90, he said, is truly a two-way street. And that street can work to Rock County's advantage, as Minnesota doesn't charge sales tax on groceries, unlike South Dakota.

Baustian is a convincing salesman for Luverne. He says he persuaded an acquaintance to move there after selling his house in Sioux Falls by encouraging him to come and look around, and by talking up the way the community passes multi-million dollar bond referendums with 65-70% support to build new schools and a performing art center.

"That's because the grandparents of kids that go to that school live in Luverne — they want good things for their grandkids," he said. "We have a strong belief in a strong education system. So we have a lot of families that come here for that."

By the time he was done talking, I was shaking my head over why anybody in their right mind would rather live in Sioux Falls than Luverne. Who knows? Give it a decade. Maybe Sioux Falls will fall within the Luverne Metropolitan Statistical Area.

And here is what I have to say:

I will say without hesitation that Rock County feels absolutely Minnesotan. 

Tolkkinen spoke with mayor Pat Baustian, who mentioned people who have moved from Minnesota from South Dakota for a number of reasons. I am one of those people. I grew up in South Dakota,  less than an hour from the Minnesota state border. However, my family almost never went to Minnesota. In my mind, it remained a mystical land of lakes and Prince.

I went to college at the University of Minnesota, Morris. I moved to Minneapolis about six months after graduation and stayed there for a year and a half. That was the first part of my Minnesota life, and let me tell you, I was pretty sad to leave it behind when I moved to Sioux Falls to be closer to James.

Fast forward two years. James and I were living in Sioux Falls and about to get married. I worked at the library in Sioux Falls; he worked at the school in Ellsworth, Minnesota. Where could we live that was about halfway in between? Luverne, of course!

Our first house. I had to dig WAY back into
the depths of Facebook for this.

Check that caption - I was thrilled to be able
to call myself a Minnesotan after a too-long absence.

(It should be noted James brought up a few options within the South Dakota borders, like Brandon, but I firmly shut him down. If we’re leaving the “city,” I will not accept anything less than for my status as a Minnesotan to be reinstated.)

Eleven years later, we are still in Luverne and have never looked back. We have careers here that we love, wonderful friends, the home of our dreams, and the strongest sense of community we could have imagined.

On top of that, Luverne is always improving. Every time you turn around, something new is in the works. I can’t begin to count everything that has happened since James and I first moved here. Luverne was already a great place to live back then; now it’s even better. And can you really beat living in a place with a state park in your backyard?

My South Dakota friends had two camps when I told them I was moving to Minnesota. Camp 1: “Think of the income tax.” I have no complaints about paying taxes, especially when I see all the incredible things my taxes are doing. Camp 2: “TAKE ME WITH YOU.” A great subsection of Camp 2 also said, “Sioux Falls/Brookings is basically Minnesota anyway – why can’t we just move the border over a little bit?”

So really, I think South Dakota has Minnesota envy. I know I did. One of the first things I had Minnesota envy over was the loon license plates. You know - the critical habitat ones. The second I moved to Minnesota, I got those plates for my car. It still gives me an extra jolt of happiness to see them.

Mayor Pat talked about South Dakotans moving to Minnesota for closer alignment with the state politics. That's absolutely true for me. It's a great feeling to be proud of the work your senators are doing. And your governor. And your lieutenant governor. And (most of) your representatives. 

We are all familiar with South Dakota's governor (see above: killing the family dog). I knew who one of the senators was, but couldn't remember if the second senator was the representative or if the representative was the second senator. I had no idea who the lieutenant governor was. I also have no idea what's going on in Pierre. Like Mayor Pat said, that's not what matters to us - it's what's going on in the St. Paul that means something.

Continuing down the politics rabbit hole (now I'm riled), take a look at this map from CNN (current as of July 29, 2024) that shows the status of abortion legality:

Here's another map from from the Center for Reproductive Rights (updated in real time, screenshot taken yesterday, July 30 2024) showing where abortion access is in danger:

Who's hanging strong in there?

Minnesota.

(And Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, Ohio, I see you. Team Midwest.)

But Iowa's coloration in the top chart is a little misleading - Iowa bans abortion after six weeks. At six weeks, one often doesn't know they are pregnant. So while the map says it's legal, it's barely legal and severely restricted.

South Dakota has a total ban with no exception for rape or incest.

Minnesota is coded as having "expanded access" in the second map. That means Minnesota has codified state-level reproductive rights and protected abortion providers and access to clinics. Minnesota is a place to receive care not just for Minnesotans, but from people from the surrounding states who can't access that same care at home. Our lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan a few days ago, "If you're afraid, come to Minnesota. We've got you."

Clearly, this is an important issue for me, but I think we can move on now to something that is also close to my heart.

Libraries!

Minnesota libraries are phenomenal. Every library in the state (who chooses to - there are a few who opt out, but they are lame and are doing themselves a disservice) is a part of one of twelve regional systems. The Rock County Community Library is part of the Plum Creek system, as are 25 other libraries in the southwest part of the state. We can request books from all of these libraries, and these libraries can request books from us. Not only that - we can request books from any library in the state. I love to tell people about that when I’m giving tours of the library: what you see on the shelves is a tiny portion of what you can access. It’s so great.

I’m not well-versed in the operations of libraries in other states, but I do know about South Dakota, as my first library job was there. South Dakota has some great libraries, but no regional systems like their neighbor to the east. 

And lest we forget:

None of this is to say South Dakota is a bad place - it isn't. My favorite place on earth is in South Dakota: Lake Poinsett, the place with my happiest memories. James and I got married in Brookings, home to my favorite restaurant of all time: Nick's Hamburgers. South Dakota has the Badlands and the Black Hills. Tons of my family and friends live in South Dakota. My parents and grandparents and a few of my great grandparents are from South Dakota. I will always be from South Dakota, but now I'm kind of from Minnesota as well. 

The one thing I can't get on board with Minnesota on is duck duck gray duck. It's duck duck goose, you guys. Honestly.

Signed – a former South Dakotan who is proud to be a Minnesotan

PS – I will admit I do have a 605 area code – but that’s just because I got it when I was 18 and I’m too attached to get a new number.