Closer to 12,000 than 10,000 and with near 45,000 miles of lake shoreline, Minnesota is the land of water. Those born and raised in the land of 10,000 know the lake itself is a beacon to us. Spirits pulled to the easy conduit of shallow waves against sandy shores, community pooling around reed-lined inlets and bubbling to the surface in the lowland depths of sandbars (some sandier than others).

Lake Daze encapsulates the life on and around the waters in Minnesota—the pilgrimages by car, by four-wheeler, by canoe, by pontoon. Community here is never blood. Inlets and terrain may separate it, but hellos and plates of food are exchanged along shared beaches instead of shared streets. Here, you do not enter a home. You are pulled, yanked into communities with roots spanning generations without a second thought about whether you belong. The tight-knit family blanket spread across the water growing one more stitch with every photo and every story you enter.

A lake is a dazzling display of the Midwest community.