INTERNATIONAL FALLS, MN (February 11, 2007) – Although this community was officially named the \u201cIcebox of the Nation\u201d last week and temperatures fell to a record 40 degrees below zero this morning, the youth pastor of the Evangelical Covenant Church says, \u201cIt\u2019s a great place to live.\u201d
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\nAttendance dropped little from the roughly 250 who attend on Sundays, despite temperatures that reached 30 below, says Kyle Gunderson. \u201cWe\u2019re a hearty people,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
Some might have another description for Gunderson and several other men in the church who went snowmobiling on Saturday. \u201cWe always pick the worst days of the year although we don\u2019t mean to,\u201d he says. \u201cWe make plans two weeks out and it\u2019s too late to change them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having \u201cabsolutely no skin exposed\u201d is the key to snowmobiling at 70 miles per hour when the air is 30 degrees below zero, he says. \u201cThe gear keeps you warm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sent the city attorney a certificate declaring International Falls the \u201cIcebox of the Nation.\u201d Located on the Canadian border, the town had been battling with Fraser, Colorado, for the designation.<\/p>\n
Gunderson knows that temperatures further north in Canada drop even further. Last year, the church van refused to start during a youth trip when temperatures were more than 50 below.<\/p>\n
Temperatures in International Falls were expected to soar into the negative teens today. Below-zero temperatures are common for this time of year and discourage hardly any activity, Gunderson says. \u201cThat\u2019s what we pride ourselves on.\u201d<\/p>\n