ROCHESTER — Although
the idea of centering a Driftless national park in Minnesota has been set aside,
it has sparked conversation about the future of the area and its identity.
Minnesota’s top tourism official said the recent talk and controversy about the region might spark more awareness and tourism in the Driftless area.
Although Southeast Minnesota has several popular tourism destinations, the region itself isn’t being marketed under a brand as the Driftless area.
“It does feel a little hidden, it’s not the North shore, it doesn’t have the branding,” said Lauren Bennett McGinty, executive director of Explore Minnesota. “With all of these conversations, it has sparked some ideas.”
The Driftless is an approximately 24,000-square-mile region of Southeast Minnesota, Southwest Wisconsin, Northeast Iowa and a portion of Northwest Illinois.
The name comes from the geological distinction that glacial drift — debris, dirt and silt in the ice — never filled the valleys, steep hills and ridges in the area. Thousands of years of erosion has since carved steep bluffs in the limestone in the region.
Explore Minnesota partners with other states and Canada to promote travel areas around the state, Bennett McGinty said.
Marketing the Driftless would be on brand for Minnesota, which emphasizes unique outdoor opportunities for visitors. Destinations within the Driftless are already popular locations and key partners with Explore Minnesota, she added. State parks with bluffs and coldstream rivers, Mississippi River destinations, including the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota all appeal to visitors to the state, she said.
Use of the term for the multi-state region has become more widespread in the last decade.
Andrew Link / Post Bulletin
However, there isn’t yet a multi-state push to create a regional brand like the north shore or other tourist destinations.
“You would have to have a little more of that energy and some buy from the states in creating a brand,” Bennett McGinty said.
In 2023, Iowa’s tourism office began promoting the Northeast Region of the state as the “Driftless Area.”
The area promoted doesn’t include Driftless destinations in neighboring states and also includes areas a bit outside Iowa’s portion of the bluffland.
That doesn’t mean tourism officials there are against working with states to promote the area, said Jessica O’Riley, spokeswoman for Travel Iowa. The change is a move to better brand regions of the state, she said. Promoting the Driftless is also a chance to show people that not all of Iowa is flat.
“We love surprising people,” O’Riley said. “They feel like they’ve uncovered this amazing hidden gem.”
That’s the sense Aryn Nichols enjoys sharing in her multi-state publication Inspire(d) Magazine based in Decorah, Iowa.
The brand idea of the Driftless has become more prominent in that area of Iowa in the last 10 years, Nichols said. In some cases, maybe too much, she said.
“When I hear about someone starting a new business, I’m thinking, ‘please don’t be Driftless whatever,’” she said.
In an area of Iowa that’s closer to St. Paul than its own capital of Des Moines, the region serves as a new identifier.
“It makes us feel connected and less isolated out here in the bluffs,” she said.
People in the area tend to connect more with Fountain, Minnesota and Driftless spots in Wisconsin, she said.
On the state level, there’s not yet a push to promote the multi-state region. However, O’Riley said the idea has some appeal.
“It would be an interesting thought experiment,” she said. “What would that look like and how could it work for us and the other states?”
Wisconsin contains the most square miles of the Driftless area. Anne Sayers, cabinet secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, said it is also a key area they promote to visitors.
“The Driftless is just a stunning part of our state,” Sayers said.
The area has outdoor recreation including hiking, kayaking and camping away from city lights. It also has a strong culinary tradition with dairy farms, organic food producers, orchards, wineries and breweries.
“It’s a defining feature in promoting our state,” Sayers said, adding the region has its own culture and vibe.
What Wisconsin promotes in its section of the Driftless is true for the other three states, she added.
Long before Driftless became a brand and widely known term for the region, Sayers learned about the area studying geology at the University of Wisconsin Madison while earning a geography degree there.
“I have known about (the Driftless) for more than 30 years,” she said.
Like Minnesota, Wisconsin already partners with other states for Great Lakes and Mississippi River tourists and Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts, Sayers said.
Travelers to the region don’t care whether they cross a state line to get a destination, she added. That all four states are referring to the region as the Driftless might be a first step toward a broader branding and collaboration to promote the area.
“It’s a perfect destination for travelers making memories,” she said.
Credit: Source link