The members of a family from Florida have turned their backs on hurricanes.

As a welcoming gift, North Dakota gave them a kind, mild first winter as residents.

The Tristani family - Michael and Jeanette and their 8-year-old twins - left Miami and moved to the lively small town of Hazelton, southeast of Bismarck.

Hazelton is doing its best to make the move attractive to people and businesses: Free lots in town. Money to get settled in.

It's called "the new homesteading." Towns up and down the Great Plains, including some in North Dakota, have tried with varying degrees of success to entice people with the offers.

Marquette, Kan., is the bright shining star. By December, 24 homes had been built in the town in central Kansas since the incentives started. According to the Associated Press, Marquette's population has grown from 527 to 650. There are 32 new kids in school - and it's likely now that the school can keep its doors open.

The matter of school population certainly matters to Hazelton, the people having voted in 1997 to build a new school at the cost of $3.2 million.

The list of beneficiaries includes not only the town, the school and the Tristani family. Also gaining are student builders from United Tribes Technical College, who are getting experience in constructing the family's new house.

Admittedly, a population gain of four out-of-staters is not a huge windfall - except perhaps for the morale of Hazelton - in the face of a report issued last week by the North Dakota State Data Center on the state's population.

The good news was that the state had a net gain of 369 people last year. It was the first population gain posted after a four-year decline. But only 11 of the 53 counties counted more people than they had the year before.

Burleigh County had the most growth by percentage of any county in the state, 1.7 percent. Morton County had a more modest gain, 206 folks, or 0.8 percent.

The unavoidable fact of life in the early 21st century is that more than half the state's people live in the five counties that are home to the biggest cities.

Still, there are people who strongly prefer the small town or country life. The Tristanis are glad to leave behind the crime rate of Miami and the south Florida traffic.

Hazelton made a commitment to draw them to North Dakota.

It also takes a commitment on the newcomers' part.

To move to North Dakota from elsewhere, a person has to want to be here.