Eerie Photos of a Shut Down and Empty Downtown St. Cloud

The "pause" that Minnesota is taking to reduce the spread of COVID-19 started Friday, November 20th at 11:59 PM.

Friday night I went out in Downtown St. Cloud with a couple of friends to grab dinner and catch up over drinks while we still could. We ate at 7 West and all of Downtown was a buzz. People were masked up and keeping their space, but they were all there to grab some food and drinks and support their favorite establishments in person while they could.

I had to be at the Pioneer Place Saturday night to host a charity concert live stream for Toys for Tots. I got to the venue around 6:15 PM and thought it was so weird that there were no cars anywhere downtown. The parking ramp was next to empty, and all the street parking was available.

There was no buzz, no neon lights turned on. It was just eerily quiet.

Make sure you support local restaurants and bars during these next four weeks if you can. It is going to be super hard on these businesses, and the only way they will make it through is with our diligent support. #StCloudStrong