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Ely's Latest April Fool's Prank: Social Media Ban

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The small northern Minnesota town of Ely has had a lot of fun with April Fool's Day pranks, and it appears this year is no different.

Starting Monday, the city of Ely is banning social media. They have this new campaign that emphasizes, "only the birds tweet."

The northern Minnesota city wants visitors to look up at the trees, water and nature, and not down their phones and laptops. Unnamed city officials are hinting that all electronic devices may be banned at the Boundary Waters, because they say, there is plenty of non-electronic fun to partake in their town summer.

Of course, Monday is April 1 so consider the timing of this announcement. Ely's April Fool's Day antics are pretty good. In the past they've said Dairy Queen was going sponsor the Boundary Waters, so it would be known as the I-D-Q-B-W-C-A-W.

And in 2009, they announced their bid to host the 20-16 Olympics.. and said they'd pay for it through meat raffles.

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