It began when the Hazelton Development Corp., formed by a determined group of citizens, began running ads in 2005 offering families up to two free lots and up to $20,000 toward home purchases. Businesses were offered free lots and up to $50,000 for setting up a business in the town.
Michael and Jeanette Tristani of Miami, Florida took the bait.
Tired of crime, traffic, hurricanes and the high cost of living in Florida, the Tristanis moved four years ago to Hazelton, a dwindling town of about 240 that has attempted to attract young families to stay on the map.
The Tristani’s are shown above in front of their house in Hazelton, North Dakota.
"We don't have to look over our shoulder to see who's going to rob us, or jump out of the bushes to attack us," Tristani said. "Taxes are low, the cost of living is low and the kids enjoy school."
Rural communities across the Great Plains, fighting a decades-long population decline, are trying a variety of ways to attract outsiders. But the Tristanis show how the efforts can fail even at a time when many people are desperate.
Michael and Jeanette Tristani have their house up for sale. When it sells they, along with their 12-year-old twins, plan to move back to Florida after four years in Hazelton, a town a population of about 240 located a few miles southeast of Bismarck.
Two comments to this AP News story from local readers of the Bismarck Tribune:
1. It is very cliquey in North Dakota. North Dakotans as a whole aren't all that accepting of difference.
The main reason for that is that most of the people who live here were raised here, with the same mindset for generation after generation, so if someone else comes along that has a different perspective on things, they aren't going to fit in all too easily with us stubborn North Dakotans.
2. This family should've known better and done a little more research before uprooting their family.
North Dakota isn't exactly next door to Florida, and is considerably different in nearly every way. We have a different culture, different weather, and a different economy.
Didn't the fact that the city was giving out such a lucrative incentive to move there clue them in?
One wonders of the Tristani family really made a concerted effort to fit into small-town life in Hazelton, North Dakota?
Free land and cash to an “outsider” family would quite naturally make their Hazelton neighbors jealous.
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A picture of my cave
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