Zipper merge vs. northern lights: Your top questions of 2019 answered

Minnesotans, it turns out, are quite a curious crowd. You guys have a lot of questions about one another — particularly about why everyone seems to hate Edina and zipper merging.

When we launched Curious Minnesota, our community-driven reporting project fueled by questions from readers, we didn't know what to expect. Less than 12 months later, we can declare the series a resounding success.

Since the effort launched, more than 775 questions have been submitted and more than 15,000 votes have been cast to help pick questions. And the average Curious Minnesota story has racked up about 10 times the readership of our average staff-written story online.

But the success of the series goes beyond the numbers. The variety and depth of questions asked have helped the Star Tribune newsroom listen to readers to report stories that matter to them, many of which wouldn't fit into our traditional beat coverage.

We answered the most popular question — What is Minnesota Nice? from Sara Skinner — variations of which have been asked more than 30 times. (To be clear, some of the question-askers wanted us to explore whether Minnesota Nice is even nice at all. The short answer: It's complicated.)

We've tackled pocketbook issues like this one from Carl Ojala: Why does Minnesota tax Social Security benefits? And cultural questions like this from Randy Fordice: Why won't anyone in Minnesota take the last piece of food?

And some of our stories definitely touched a nerve, eliciting hundreds of comments and more than 100,000 page views per story. As we look back on Curious Minnesota and look forward to another year of questions from our readers, here are the most popular Curious Minnesota stories for the year.

1. Why can't Minnesotans zipper merge?

2. Why does everyone love to hate Edina?

3. How did the Twin Cities become a hub for Somali immigration?

4. What is the best place and time to see the northern lights in Minnesota?

5. Why does the Stone Arch Bridge cross the Mississippi River at such an odd angle?

6. How did Minnesota become one of the most racially inequitable states?

7. Why is Uptown south of downtown Minneapolis?

8. Is Minnesota's tiny Lake Itasca the true source of the Mississippi River?

9. How did these 11 Minnesota towns get their unusual names?

10. Were Minneapolis' skyways created to combat the cold or for some other reason?

In addition to the top-read stories listed above, we've held events, including Curious Minnesota Day at the Minnesota State Fair with trivia games and prizes. And we're in the middle of launching a podcast series, too, with two episodes streaming now and others in the works.

Have a curious question about Minnesota culture? We're all ears.

You can find the complete answers to all of these questions and submit your own Curious Minnesota question at startribune.com/ curious.