GRAND RAPIDS — Documenting the beauty and businesses of small-town Minnesota on social media started as a passion project for Lizanne Lately, but now it’s a profession.
Lizanne Dooner, a content creator/blogger based in the Twin Cities, writes about her experiences traveling to small communities. Better known as Lately, she recently toured Grand Rapids as part of a collaboration with tourism marketing organization Visit Grand Rapids.
“I cover the Midwest, and my bread and butter is going to small towns and just showing off the beauty … and supporting local businesses,” Lately said during an interview on the KAXE Morning Show Wednesday, June 7.
Lately began documenting road trips around the region on Instagram three to four years ago, she said, and before long, it morphed into a bigger project, including a website lizannelately.com.
“It’s just blossomed into this amazing, epic journey that I take with my boyfriend Eric,” she said. “We’re based in Minneapolis, but we just hop in the car any chance we get to explore new places. … It’s always on my list to find the cool small towns that people need to know about, and I think would love to visit as well.”
"It’s always on my list to find the cool small towns that people need to know about, and I think would love to visit as well.”Lizanne Lately
While Lately might live in Minneapolis now, she hails from a small town herself — Bird Island, Minnesota, located near Olivia in the south-central area of the state.
“I love going home and I love the small-town feel, and I think that’s just what fuels my passion to keep going and keep doing this,” she said.
Some of those in the world of online influencers might not be representing things as they truly are, but Lately said that isn’t her style. She ties in her personal journey and preferences, she said.
“We love going to local breweries. … A lot of people love to hike. I’m not a huge hiker. I love you know, the 1-mile loop, but I'm sorry, you'll never catch me on a 7-mile hike,” Lately said. “ ... I just try to be authentic as possible in sharing my content."
While in Grand Rapids, Lately attended Festival Rialto at Grand Rapids Brewing Co., did some shopping in downtown, visited the Judy Garland Museum, took a pontoon ride on Pokegama Lake and stopped for a bite at Pickled Loon Saloon and had coffee from Brewed Awakenings. This was the second time she’d been to the city, she said, after a quick stop on the way home from Canada.
“I was pleasantly surprised with just kind of how like modern and, if you will, hip … Grand Rapids is becoming. It's just great to see,” Lately said. “And you can tell the community loves it and wants to put their time and energy into making it better for the next generation.”
Lately has visited other communities in the area as part of her travels, including the Cuyuna and Brainerd lakes areas.
