Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Wallace
I think the more interesting statistical comparison is population per square mile of land area:
- Michigan 174.8, Minnesota 66.6. (Michigan's population is 86% higher than Minnesota's.)
Minnesota will have a harder time putting districts within easy driving distance of the rural population. |
From what I can tell from the MI FIRST web site, there's one district that covers all of the Upper Peninsula, with district events in Escanaba and Soo St. Marie. And one other district that covers the rest of Northern Michigan, with events in Sterling and Midland...is this true? If so, then I wouldn't think that the driving distance would be all that different for rural MN districts.
Escanaba (pop. 12,562) is also potentially instructive for the question of whether there are cities spread across the state that have enough hotel rooms to support a district event. I counted 19 hotels/motels on their tourism web site...this is probably a higher per capita room count due to it being a vacation destination. But that's not unlike some Minnesota cities in Greater Minnesota. Brainerd, for example, has only 13,500 year-round residents, but more lodging options than you can shake a joy stick at.
Driving to district events on two-lane roads during the winter is indeed something to consider. Then again, there are probably a couple of hundred youth hockey tournaments across Minnesota each year, and plenty of Minnesota parents who have experience driving on snow-packed roads to those rural tournament towns.
