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Thursday, Apr. 23, 2026

Does Minnesota have any ‘dry’ communities that prohibit alcohol sales?

Brian Arola, MinnPost
yes

Red Lake Nation prohibits alcohol sales on its Northern Minnesota reservation.

So although Minnesota has no countywide alcohol bans, parts of counties are “dry,” including sections of Beltrami and Clearwater counties that overlap with the home of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians.

The U.S. imposed alcohol bans for Native Americans until 1953, two decades after the end of Prohibition. Tribal nations then enacted their own policies on alcohol sales.

Some tribes, also including the Oglala Sioux in South Dakota, maintained alcohol bans for “public health and safety reasons,” according to the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association. Red Lake has continued this policy on reservation land, while voting to allow sales in at least one tribal-owned casino elsewhere.

Dry counties are more common in other states. Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas have them, while many other states have cities or other jurisdictions with alcohol prohibitions.  

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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