Beautiful People Show Washington Post Reporter “Ugly Red Lake County”

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A Washington Post journalist is spending the weekend in the county he deemed the ugliest in the nation.

KVRR’s Sarah Brechbill joined him for his first day in Red Lake Falls where he was greeted with all kinds of Minnesota Nice.

Not many people visiting Red Lake County get a greeting like this…

A nice surprise for someone who declared the county to be the ugliest in America.

“I was nervous I didn’t know if there would be a barricade at the county line and they wouldn’t let me in but there was nothing like that so far the welcome has been much more than I could possibly imagine,” says Washington Post Reporter Chris Ingraham.

And it’s the people of Red Lake Falls he can thank for that.

“It’s a small community where everybody knows everybody and if there’s some problems people chip in and do whatever they can do,” says Alan Cassavant.

“I really feel like the people here make it special,” says Sara Kenfield. 

Special people with deep rooted pride for their hometown.

“I write a lot about contentious topics, things like gay marriage and guns and marijuana so things that people often disagree with but I’ve never been disagreed with so much and so politely. Like the feedback has been amazing,” says Ingraham.

“Residents here want to make sure Chris sees everything Red Lake County has to offer including of course a dairy farm.”

For the son of a veterinarian who grew up in upstate New York, Red Lake County is almost like home. A home first deemed the ugliest by the USDA’s climate and scenery data.

“For me as somebody who spends most of my day at my desk doodling around with spread sheets, you know these numbers all correlate to real people,” says Ingraham.

Beautiful people who greeted Chris Ingraham like royalty in a county he once deemed ugly.

Sarah Brechbill, KVRR News.

Ingraham has a full agenda for the weekend…including kayaking and visiting an elementary school.