How immigration changed the face of a Minnesota farm town

WORTHINGTON, Minnesota – Immigration from all over the world has converted Worthingtoncreating new businesses to empty downtown storefronts and new places of worship and recreation in this southwestern Minnesota city of 14,000.

On the same downtown block where kids once admired Coast King bicycles while their parents shopped for DIY furniture and tools, Asian and Latin American markets now bustle with shoppers lugging 50-pound bags of jasmine rice from Thailand or fresh m yasa seasoned with “al pastor”. .” Figures of Buddha and Jesus are for sale, which stand on the shelves behind the cashiers.

Former maternity and children’s clothing store – immigration law office. The building that housed the local newspaper, The Globe, is now the Tevahedo Ethiopian Orthodox Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

And at the end of Main Street, the baseball fields were recently converted from indoor golf course turf to soccer fields. On weekends, food trucks line the parking lot, and two dozen teams in adult leagues play for hours on end in front of crowds of fans.

The American Legion, which used to stand near the corn silos at the entrance to the city, has become a Mexican market and restaurant. So does the Thompson Hotel, built in the 1910s, whose historic tile floors now see a steady stream of customers craving burritos and molcajete stopas filled with fiery seafood and charcuterie.

Roberto Ayala came from El Salvador more than 10 years ago. He runs The Thompson Mexican Grill, a job he says he got because he made a serious effort to learn English before the city changed.

“When I arrived, there were no signs in Spanish like in the hospital, or road signs, tourist information,” Ayala said in Spanish before the lunch rush. “Minnesota is way up north, but now the city is half Hispanic, half American, and a lot has changed.”

Still, Ayala instills the need to learn English to her children, as well as to all newcomers who knock on the restaurant’s door looking for work.

“Some people don’t because they only come to this country for a short time, supposedly, but I’ve seen a lot of people who spend many years and fall in love with this country, fall in love with this city,” he said.

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