How Construction on Highway 371 is Affecting Hackensack Businesses

Hackensack, Minnesota is home to many things. A sign sits in the middle of downtown proclaiming it as home of the original chainsaw carving event, and the city’s nickname is “The Home of Paul Bunyan’s Sweetheart Lucette.” The town even has a 17-foot-tall sculpture of her along Birch Lake to prove it.

But currently, this quiet town of just 294 people might get a bit noisy, as multiple construction projects are happening throughout the town, most notably work on Highway 371 that began on May 5th. Construction isn’t expected to be completed until later in October.

“This year in Hackensack, it’s the summer of construction, if you will,” said Mayor Bill Kennedy.

With Highway 371 serving as the main route in the community, reconstruction has been a minor inconvenience for those from the Northland traveling to the Twin Cities, or vice versa. But for residents and business owners in the Hackensack area, they may feel a bit differently.

“There’s excitement, but there’s also a bit of nervousness involved in that,” said Larry Bryngelson, CEO of Hackensack Hardware & Lumber.

For Hackensack Hardware & Lumber, one of the biggest revenue generators for the city that sits right along Highway 371, there was a big concern over how they would receive their deliveries.

“The way the curb and gutter and sidewalks are going to work, we were going to lose the point for all of our delivery trucks, so we had to find a way to move that to move that, to allow the trucks to load and unload, which we were able to come to a great workaround with the state,” Bryngelson explained. “So we now have our block yard, we call it, in back. It has eight inches of concrete and will be perfect for loading and unloading.”

For the business owners of the downtown area, even though detours take travelers through downtown, they are worried drivers will just see the detour and avoid the town entirely.

“So we’ve done a lot of campaigning to just promote the businesses, promote the town, and make sure that people know that business is open in Hackensack,” Kennedy said. “I’m wearing a button right here. So this button costs $5, but then you can scan the QR code and see what the weekly deals are.”

It seems the town’s strategy is working so far.

“We saw a little impact on traffic, I think people didn’t realize you could actually drive through town, so they were taking the detour,” Bryngelson mentioned. “Now, things have settled down a little bit. People have realized that they can still come through town.”

Downtown business owners are even saying that they are seeing more foot traffic with new and returning customers.

“Since we’ve opened this season, we’ve noticed that things are mostly the same, and in some cases, because of the detour, we’re actually seeing a little bit of an increase in traffic,” said Brian Hinchley, co-owner of Sun and Fun Ice Cream.

“It almost seems like it’s a positive thing for us, because a lot of people are coming in and saying, ‘Wow, we really like being rerouted by your businesses, we didn’t know these businesses were here before,'” said Sue Toth, owner of Rendezvous Brewing.

City officials and business owners all seem to believe the construction is ultimately a good thing for the town that will help drive more tourists and revenue to the city. But those same people are also saying it will be detrimental if drivers stop going through Hackensack due to the construction.

“They want, they need your patronage in this town,” Kennedy emphasized. “We’re getting it all done this year. So everybody, the fatigue will be all over. And next summer, we won’t have anything to deal with.”

“We are open, we’re all open,” said Bryngelson. “Yes, it might be a little tough to get to at times, but it’ll be well worth it. Because if you want all the local businesses here next summer and beyond, supporting us this summer is super important.”

Kennedy believes that none of the construction should get in the way of any events that the town may hold in the future, including Sweetheart Days, the Chainsaw Event, and the weekly Take a Kid Fishing event starting Tuesday, June 10th. He also told Lakeland News that the only event to be cancelled so far is the weekly flea market hosted by Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

To make up for that, though, some businesses in town will have Crazy Days every second Wednesday, where business will have special deals throughout their store to hopefully keep customers coming to Hackensack.

Correction 6/2/25: It was originally stated that Crazy Tuesdays is happening to make up for any cancelled events in Hackensack due to construction. Instead, Crazy Days is happening every second Wednesday.