Crow Wing County is a county in the East Central part of the state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 66,123. Its county seat is Brainerd. The county was formed in 1857 and was organized in 1870. The main river is the Mississippi River, and it has about 417 recognized lakes.

For more than 100 years, the tourism economy in Crow Wing County has been evolving. It started with small resorts hidden away in the forest, who collaborated on promotion and advertising, to build the brand known as Paul Bunyan’s Vacationland. Since that time, the area conventionally known as the Brainerd Lakes Area includes a variety of large and small resorts, local and national chain hotels, vacation rentals, and campgrounds with accompanying amenities like world-class golf courses, fishing, biking, hunting, dining, shopping, spas and entertainment. For many visitors, the Brainerd Lakes Area is about 30-miles around the City of Brainerd.