Deb Weigel is 71 years old, and she said lately, she’s been feeling like a young newlywed again.
But not in a good way.
“We’re back to trying to make ends meet, like we’re just starting out right now,” she said.
She’s the manager of Corner Parcel in Pembina, a town of 500 in the northeast corner of North Dakota, right on the border with Minnesota and Canada.
The shop caters exclusively to Canadians, helping them avoid international shipping costs by acting as their U.S. address. It’s one of many in Pembina.
The business model depends on Canadians crossing the border, but fewer of them are. Many say they’re feeling cold about America because of President Trump’s tariffs and rhetoric about annexing Canada.
The number of passengers crossing the Pembina border was down by nearly 35 percent in 2025 compared to 2024, according to data from the Bureau of Transportation.
Weigel’s shop has been hit hard. She said they’re getting less than half of the packages they used to and have cut their staff significantly, down from at least six workers a shift to just one.
For Weigel, the drop in business means no bonuses or raises, which is particularly tough because her husband’s income also relies on Canadian traffic — or rather, as a Canadian truck driver, he’s part of it.
“He [works] as much as he can, but there’s a lot of … sit and wait, because there’s no loads,” she said. “It’s hard. We’re having a very hard time making ends meet, and I’m too old for that.”
She’s unable to retire, she said. It would be too much of a strain on her husband.
“It makes me glad that my kids are all grown and gone in that aspect, because I don’t know how these young parents can raise children anymore,” she said. “We don’t go anywhere, and we don’t do anything, we just do what we have to, day to day, so I don’t know how people are surviving.”
Border business blues
The parcel business has been particularly affected, but other border town businesses said they’re feeling it too.. Pembina’s grocery store, D & K Grocery, has been owned by Deanna Hager and her husband for more than 20 years.
Canadians would frequently cross the border to buy food that’s expensive or hard to get back home. But now, business is down by 15 percent because of a decline in Canadian customers, she said.
“We used to have our regulars that would come two, three times a week from Canada, and now they don’t,” she said.
Like Weigel, Hager said the downturn has started to have an impact on her finances.
“There’s things we don’t do that we used to do, you know,” she said. “Just travel here or there, you just got to mind your Ps and Qs till things start picking up again.”
The story is similar in Lancaster, Minn., a small town just 25 miles east of Pembina. The border crossing there gets much less traffic, but still, local businesses said they’re feeling the cold shoulder from their northern neighbors.
“A lot of people are not coming down anymore,” said Shannon Langerud, who has owned the town’s grocery store, J & S Foods, with her husband since 2019.
The decline in Lancaster seems to be multi-faceted. Lake Bronson is nearby and is usually a tourist attraction for Canadians, but it’s been closed since 2024 as the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources replaces its dam.
Some Canadians also said the weakening of the Canadian dollar makes it too expensive to travel.
“I just wish that we would get it just figured out (and) go back to the way it used to be,” Langerud said. “Our small town communities are hurting a lot right now with everything that’s going on in the world.”
In every county with a rural point of entry, jobs in the retail sector and the leisure and hospitality sector were down last year, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
It’s impossible to determine how much of the decline in tourism-dependent jobs is tied to fewer international travelers, said Anthony Schaffhauser, the department’s regional analyst for northwest Minnesota. But, he added, “I think it’s fair to say that it didn’t help.”
It could also be due to factors that make people spend less generally, including high inflation.
“People drop off their spending if they’re strapped for cash,” he said. “We don’t have any way to separate out just how much of that would be from U.S. consumers cutting back, and how much of that is from fewer international travelers,” he said.
Downstream damage
While some Canadians may stop in border towns for snacks or a parcel, many keep driving south to spend time and money in other parts of the region, and those areas may be getting caught in the crossfire too.
“There’s a lot of Canadian visitors that come to shop in the US,” Schaffhauser said. “Some of the more urban areas and centers — that would affect the retail trade in those areas”
For example, many Canadians travel to shop in the Grand Forks metro area. It’s about 80 miles south of the border.
Pat Boppre owns the Blue Moose Cafe in East Grand Forks, Minn. He said the restaurant used to attract about 400 Canadians every weekend.
“The last two years are probably down about six to 10 percent of traffic, just from Canadian traffic,” he said.
He said it’s a relatively small portion of the business, but still, the decline means they’ve had to cut hours.
“With the downturn in business, obviously, the money isn’t coming in, so you do have to cut some certain things,” he said.
But the data is a bit brighter heading into summer, which is typically when border crossings peak. The number of personal vehicle passengers driving into Minnesota from Canada in March, April and May was higher than last year, but still below what they were in 2024. Boppre said he’s feeling it.
“It’s kind of starting to turn around at this point,” he added. “We’re starting to see this summer, we’ve probably seen the most Canadians that we’ve seen in the last two.”
In Pembina, things are slowly turning around too. Border crossings in April and May were higher in 2026 than 2025.
Deb Weigel, the manager of Corner Parcel, is more at the mercy of the border than many. She said she’s encouraged by the uptick in crossings and customers.
“I’m a very firm believer [that] neither country can survive without the other one,” she said.
On this day in music, July 20, 2017, rock fans around the globe were shocked to learn of the death of Linkin Park’s charismatic frontman, Chester Bennington, who took his own life at 41. The double Grammy-winning, California-based rock band formed in 1996, releasing their best-selling debut, Hybrid Theory, four years later. The band would soar to international fame, thanks to hits like “In the End,” “Numb,” and “What I’ve Done.” Bennington’s death came two months after the release of Linkin Park’s seventh studio album, One More Light.
In 1991, British alt-rockers EMF reached the summit of the US singles chart with their debut single, “Unbelievable,” taken from their first album, Schubert Dip. The Gloucester-based group scored one further US hit, “Lies,” which dented the Top 20 later that same year.
In 1996, Gary Barlow became the first member of Take That to clinch a No.1 solo hit when he topped the UK chart with “Forever Love,” taken from his debut album, Open Road. The track also appeared on the soundtrack to the film The Leading Man, starring Jon Bon Jovi and Thandie Newton.
In 1986, the movie Sid And Nancy premiered at the Limelight Club in London. Focusing on the doomed relationship between Sex Pistol Sid Vicious and his American girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, the Alex Cox-directed picture starred Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb in the titular roles.
In 1976, Buzzcocks took to the stage for the first time, playing support to headliners The Sex Pistols and Slaughter & The Dogs at Manchester’s The Lesser Free Trade Hall. Among those who paid £1 to watch from the audience were Morrissey, future Joy Division members Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook, soon-to-be Fall founder Mark E. Smith, and eventual Simply Red main man, Mick Hucknall.
In 1963, Jan and Dean’s “Surf City” began a two-week run at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Co-written by Brian Wilson and featuring the Beach Boys on backing vocals, the track was the California twosome’s only US No.1.
In 1940, Billboard magazine published its first chart of best-selling records compiled from sales figures contributed by all the major record labels. Topping the chart was “I’ll Never Smile Again” by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, featuring a 25-year-old Frank Sinatra and harmony group, The Pied Pipers.
In 1975, guitarist Steve Van Zandt performed his first show as a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band at Providence, RI’s Palace Theatre. It was the opening night of The Boss’ Born To Run tour.
BORN ON JULY 20
1933: Buddy Knox
1945: Kim Carnes
1945: John Lodge (The Moody Blues)
1947: Carlos Santana
1956: Paul Cook (Sex Pistols)
1958: Michael McNeil (Simple Minds)
1964: Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)
1966: Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam)
1966: Andrew Levy (The Brand New Heavies)
1999: Pop Smoke
The Meeker County Fair is only ten days away from its opening day. The fair in Litchfield will be open July 30th and 31st and August 1st and 2nd, and entry day is July 29th.
Fair board secretary Jill Traut says grandstand attractions this year include a tractor pull Thursday evening, July 30th, at 7 p.m.; country music star Terri Clark Friday night, July 31st; a demolition derby at 5:30 on August 1st; and a truck pull on August 2nd at noon. She says the Terri Clark tickets must be purchased in advance and there are still VIP and general admission tickets available.
Traut says fair goers can expect the usual exhibits, foods, free entertainment in the bandstand and many other fun activities, and there are some new things this year such as a ninja warrior course, a trout fishing pond, rooster crowing contest and a donut eating contest. She says one of the more obvious things people will notice is the resurfacing of the streets.
Traut says if you wear your company apparel or show a business card on July 30th and 31st from 11-to-1, you will be admitted to the fair free of charge. She says admission is $8, but it’s free for children 4 and under and for seniors 70 and older, and you can purchase a season pass for $25.
Traut says there is a special theme each day with July 30th being Veterans Day so active duty and veterans will be admitted free by showing their military ID; July 31st is Senior Citizen Day; August 1st is Kid’s Day; and August 2nd is Sparkle Day so royalty will be admitted free of charge. She says you can find more information at meekerfair.com or on the Meeker County Fair Facebook page.
On Saturday afternoon at 3:14, the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a motorcycle crash with injuries in the 16000 block of County Road 9 NE in New London Township. Deputies determined that a 2021 Suzuki motorcycle, driven by 75-year-old Michael McLaughlin of Benson, was traveling southbound on County Road 9 NE and was following a 2008 Hyundai SUV, driven by 65-year-old Jeffrey Wersal of New London.
The Hyundai slowed to turn into a driveway and the motorcycle rear-ended it. McLaughlin was treated at the scene, then airlifted to the St. Cloud Hospital by Life Link III with life-threatening injuries. Wersal was not injured. Assisting the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office with the crash were New London Ambulance, CentraCare Ambulance, New London Fire Dept., Kandiyohi County Rescue Squad, Lakes Area Rural Responders, Life Link III, MN DNR and the MN State Patrol. The crash remains under investigation.
On Saturday morning at 2:12, a Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s deputy observed two sport motorcycles leaving Spicer at an extremely high rate of speed. The deputy activated emergency lights and siren in an attempt to stop the motorcycles. The motorcycles were traveling in excess of 107 mph, then passed a passenger vehicle and reached speeds in excess of 134 mph.
Due to the high speeds and increased risk associated with the pursuit, the deputy terminated the pursuit. A short time later, deputies located two sport motorcycles, matching the description of those involved in the pursuit, inside a garage in Kandiyohi. The suspects were identified as two men from Willmar – a 31-year-old and a 27-year-old. They refused to answer the door, so a search warrant was obtained and the two men were taken into custody and booked into the Kandiyohi County Jail on felony charges of fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle, and other charges. Willmar Police assisted and the case remains under investigation.
On a typical Sunday morning in Grand Marais, the line for World’s Best Donuts is out the door and around the corner.
But over the weekend, that line all but disappeared. Kristin Christenson and her family sailed in and out the door.
“We just got here yesterday and we couldn’t believe how not busy it was,” said Christenson, who travels here every year from Fergus Falls. “I don’t think we’ve ever come to World’s Best Donuts and not had a line.”
Grand Marais is situated on the shores of Lake Superior and at the gateway to the Gunflint Trail. Every summer, tourists like Christenson flock to the area to canoe and hike, and their spending fuels this community of 1,300.
But a week ago, tourists stopped coming when the U.S. Forest Service closed the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Smoke from fire burning far west of the town has created hazardous air conditions.
The closure comes at the peak summer season for World’s Best Donuts and many other businesses nearby.
“We’re open from May to October, so this is like prime time,” said Malorie Brazell, who owns the shop.
Brazell said she’s sent staff home early the last few days.
“Just this weekend, we made a little bit of staff changes. Normally, we have three people helping customers, and we really can get by with one,” she said.
Another closure, another financial hit
Brazell is among small business owners here who are wondering how long the smoke and Boundary Waters closures, which have been extended through at least the end of the week, will linger. Every day they do, business takes another hit.
Angry Trout owner Jessy Goble says this time of year, every seat on her patio would normally be full, the kitchen working to serve seafood to 400 to 500 people a day.
But smoke and poor air quality prompted her to close the restaurant for a few days.
“We opened yesterday for the first time since the big plume of smoke came down the trail. We’ll open it up for inside seating only to help keep our staff feeling comfortable and safe,” she said. “It’s kind of depressing to come down here and see nobody sitting on the deck, when it’s this time of the year where it’s just such a coveted place to eat.”
Indoor businesses are getting hit hard, too, said Abby Tofte. She owns The Big Lake, a gift store in downtown Grand Marais. Foot traffic is way down compared to just a week ago, she said.
“The summer is where we make all of the money, and September. So July through September, that’s when you make the hay. That’s why this is pretty scary,” said Tofte.
Tofte said she’s getting calls from vacationers who planned to travel there, asking if the area is safe.
“A lot of people just don’t have the information to know where the fires are, and you just kind of clump all of Cook County together, and really, we’re very far away from where the actual fire is happening,” she said.
Tourist Kristin Christenson said her family didn’t consider cancelling their trip.
“We want this town to survive. We love it so much. We want to keep coming back. And in order to survive, they need to be full the third week in July,” she said.
So this year, Christenson said that instead of lots of long hikes in the wilderness, she and her family will stick closer to town so they can support the local businesses they’ve grown to love so much.