Surrounded by the farmlands of northwestern Minnesota, Crookston is a small and secluded city positioned about 25 miles east of Grand Forks. Home to around 7,000 people, the community exudes a timeless sense of small-town Midwestern character -- in spite of the name, Crookston actually boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the state. One of the city’s most distinctive assets is the University of Minnesota Crookston, serving around 1,800 students and employing hundreds of locals as faculty and staff members.

The city holds a unique place in movie history, as the home of the oldest continuously-operating movie theater in the United States: The magnificent Grand Theater serves as a beautifully preserved movie palace in the classical tradition, and has been screening first-run pictures since 1910.