Things to Do in Minnesota's Red River Valley

It’s hard to find a hand-dipped Dilly Bar these days. At most Dairy Queens, they’re sold as they arrive: pre-packaged, mass-produced. But at the Moorhead Dairy Queen, the Dilly Bar has been sacred for nearly 75 years. After all, this is where Bob and Phyllis Litherland invented the Dilly Bar in 1955, and its current owners (Troy and Diane DeLeon) built a 12-foot statue to prove it. 

Let us opine for a moment: the hand-dipped Dilly Bar is a thing of beauty. It comes out with a little swirl of butterscotch, cherry, or chocolate, not quite dried when they hand it to you. The coating is thicker than a pre-packaged Dilly Bar and doesn’t have a waxy aftertaste. 

It immediately conjures summertime nostalgia: bubble-screen televisions, un-air-conditioned camp cabins, and the smell of OFF! mosquito repellent. It’s the world’s most perfect treat. It is worth the drive. 

Another reason DQ’s Moorhead location is a revelation: a special contract that makes it far more independent than most franchises. Many items are still made from scratch here, and some even incorporate local ingredients like raspberries from Lake Country farms. Others are exclusives from another era, including Polish sausage, BBQ sandwiches, chocolate-dipped bananas (Monkey Tails), and skewered milkshakes (Mr. Maltie). 

As for its hours, Moorhead’s Dairy Queen is typically open between March and October, even if that means serving soft-serve sundaes when there’s still ice and snow outside, a welcome sign-of-the-ensuing-season every year.

Transformative frozen treats aren’t the only reason to visit Moorhead. This friendly college town is also home to the Hjemkomst Center, which features a full-scale replica of the famous Gokstad ship found in Norway. 

The labor of love was dreamt up by a guidance counselor determined to sail from Duluth to Oslo like his Norwegian ancestors once did. Bob Asp passed away before his fantastic voyage could be completed, but a crew of 12 brave souls (professional sailors, a trucker and several college students) managed to make it happen in 1982. 

Visitors can now toast the Hjemkomst in its permanent resting place, along with an ornate stave church that belongs on the cover of a black-metal album. Clay County’s Historical & Cultural Society curates a wide range of rotating exhibits, too, everything from innovative kitchen items to vintage holiday décor. 

Moorhead’s winter wonderland ways also pop up in the area’s annual Frostival event and Mary’s Tunnel, a long pathway of lights that appears behind the Hjemkomst Center every year. 

Find out more about Nordic culture in Minnesota.

The mayor of Flavortown swung by Moorhead in 2021 to film a couple of segments for his influential Food Network show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." Sol Ave. Kitchen was the first stop, earning quality airtime for its double-fried chicken sandwich complete with kimchi, ssamjang sauce and a lime-kissed aioli and a Korean-inspired rice bowl packed with pickles, mushrooms, radishes, microgreens, seared pork belly and a soy-marinated soft-boiled egg. 

Fieri also toasted Rustica Eatery & Tavern in downtown Moorhead, where the wood-fired pizzas are the star. Try the Potato Head, a salute to the Moorhead Spuds mascot, topped with mashed potatoes, a bechamel sauce, caramelized onions, gruyere, and rosemary. Or give Fieri's camera-ready Fingerling Potato Poutine a go. 

Sol Ave's next-door neighbor happens to be one of Minnesota’s most beloved craft breweries (Junkyard Brewing). Its top-rated taproom specializes in smooth fruited sours, bittersweet hop bombs and all-bets-are-off breakthroughs like an “ambrosia-style wheat ale” (a.k.a. Queens of the Potluck) made with pineapple, blood orange, cherry, toasted coconut and vanilla. All of which pairs oh-so-perfectly with their freshly popped popcorn. 

If craft beer’s not your thing, Harold’s on Main is just a five-minute walk or one-minute drive away. The elevated dive pairs frozen Heggie’s pizzas with bold and balanced cocktails like the Fairway Smash (rye whiskey, rosemary-infused simple syrup, lemon juice and bright notes of pomegranate) and Hips Like Cinderella (pea blossom gin, lemon juice and prosecco). The fun-loving space also hosts live music, never-ending karaoke nights, and vinyl-spinning DJs.

Between its column-lined front porch and grand marble staircase, the historic post office that now houses Moorhead’s leading art museum is worth a look architecturally and culturally. Named after its founding brothers, James and Orland Rourke, it focuses on Upper Midwest artists such as ceramicist Richard Bresnahan, photographer Wayne Gudmundson, and painters Susan Morrissey, Zhimin Guan and Charles Thysell. 

The Rourke also has a refreshing sense of humor, as evidenced by its annual Halloween show Art Ghoullery. Admission is free thanks to members of the RourkeArt4All campaign and the FM Free Arts initiative.

Western Minnesota’s premier outdoor venue sits right on the Red River of the North and has room for 3,000 roaring fans. In the past, it has hosted Willie Nelson, Robert Plant, Lindsey Stirling, The Avett Brothers, and Jason Isbell. 

This year’s acts include Alison Krauss & Union Station, David Lee Roth, NEEDTOBREATHE, and one of the year’s strongest comedy bills, John Mulaney and Mire Birbiglia.

Find more of Minnesota's road trip-worthy outdoor music venues.

Food Network fans will know the name Molly Yeh, the gregarious Juilliard percussionist–turned–food blogger who now hosts the hit Food Network show "Girl Meets Farm." Yeh and her husband, fourth-generation sugar beet farmer Nick Hagen, live in East Grand Forks on the Minnesota–North Dakota border.

In 2022, they opened Bernie’s, an all-day café and bakery named for the couple’s daughter. The restaurant took over the historic building that housed Whitey’s Wonderbar for nearly a century, and Molly and Nick made a point to preserve its vintage character — including the original horseshoe bar and exterior sign lettering.

The menu reflects Molly’s signature maximalist style, with Scandi–church-basement–meets–New York–deli specialties like tahini monster cookies and a toasted turkey sandwich with brie and giardiniera.

Before you go, pick up a pack of challah burger buns and a frozen hotdish to-go.

Read about Molly Yeh’s favorite places to eat, shop, and get outside.

East Grand Forks, Minnesota, and Grand Forks, North Dakota, have made the most of their border-town status by setting aside nearly 2,200 acres of shared outdoor recreation. The Greenway’s vast open spaces include the Red River State Recreation Area and multi-use trails made for nearly every all-weather activity imaginable. We’re talking walking and running, biking and Rollerblading, camping and kayaking and not one but seven golf courses, four of which are devoted to flying discs. 

Look closely, and you’ll notice how the Red River flows north, winding its way towards Manitoba and wrapping things up in Lake Winnipeg. 

If you’re in town with kids in tow, don’t miss the Sherlock Forest Playground. Local elementary schools and a host of volunteers helped design and build the space, which burned down eight years later. The entire community rallied around its reconstruction, making it a point of pride and a surreal escape for children looking to explore a magical castle, from a slayable dragon to a pastel-tinged pirate ship.

River tubing was — depending on who you ask — invented in Thailand or Somerset, Wisconsin, in the mid-20th century. Soon, “floating parties” were a popular way to pass a lazy summer afternoon, and there is perhaps no better place to do it than the Red River Valley. 

Voyageur’s View, located in Red Lake Falls, runs affordable tube rentals and (critically) a daily shuttle to and from a four-mile run that features five sets of gentle rapids. 

Forget Chardonnay and Merlot for a minute. Minnesota’s sub-zero season calls for cold-hardy grapes — names you might not know, like Marquette, La Crescent, Brianna and Frontenac Gris. 

Russ and Gail Halverson, along with their son Matt, have been putting these palate expanders on a pedestal since 2006. Their Grape Mill estate in East Grand Forks now has more than 2,000 vines planted and enough medals to warrant a special trip to their tasting room. 

It’s closed during the winter, but typically opens around Memorial Day, giving locals an excuse to gather around the Red Lake River with glasses in hand and a palpable sense of excitement for the sunny months ahead.

About every fourth person who visits this website does so by Googling “where to see the Northern Lights in Minnesota”. While you can technically see the Northern Lights in many places, it’s a bit like playing the lottery: most spectacular showings are about right-place-right-time. 

There are ways to stack the odds in your favor. One is planning a trip to Hallock (appropriately, its city motto is “things are clearer up here”). Hallock has darker skies than many other urban-adjacent locations in the state, and unlike official “Dark Sky” locations like the Boundary Waters and Voyageurs National Park, going there doesn’t require a permit or a houseboat. 

While you’re there, go fishing in the Red River, which is one of the best places to net a catfish in Minnesota, and check out the state’s tallest observation tower at Lake Bronson State Park. 

Whether you get geo-magnetically lucky or not, plan a visit to Får North Spirits, the northernmost distillery in the contiguous 48, which is located on a fourth-generation farm. Får North serves classic and creative cocktails featuring their craft spirits, including single-varietal straight rye whiskey and an eight-botanical gin.

Stretching 200 miles from Fergus Falls to Manitoba, Canada, the Pine to Prairie International Birding Trail is a must-visit for anyone looking to experience the region’s remarkable diversity of birdlife. More than 275 species can be spotted along the route, including bald eagles, trumpeter swans, loons, and 10 species of owls. But the Red River Valley holds a particularly special stretch of the trail.

In September and October, visitors to Lake Bronson State Park (near Hallock) and the Roseau River can witness sandhill cranes migrating south for the winter. These birds are among the oldest living species on Earth, with fossils dating back more than 2.5 million years. Experiencing their distinctive bugle call en masse is a natural spectacle everyone should experience at least once.

See more about the Pine to Prairie Birding Trail.

Calling all photographers: About a half hour northeast of Thief River Falls, Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge spans 61,500 acres of wetlands, forests, and prairie. Established in 1937, the refuge is home to wolves, moose, waterfowl, and more than 300 species of birds — and it remains free to visit. It’s also one of the best places in Minnesota to spot a moose calf (plan your visit between May 15 and June 15). 

Located about an hour southeast of Thief River Falls — closer to Crookston — the Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge offers an otherworldly contrast. One of the largest prairie restorations in the country, it’s a rugged landscape of rewilded farmland where you might find western prairie fringed orchids, sandhill cranes, sharp-tailed grouse, and white-tailed deer.