Due to the increases in requests for license tab renewals for campers, boats, RVs, trailers and vehicles as we lead up the Minnesota fishing opener Saturday, the Wright County License Bureau is going to try to make that process go a little easier for county residents.

On Friday, May 8, the license bureau is going to try an experimental delivery system of tabs with curbside service at the Wright County Government Center in Buffalo. License Bureau Director Becky Aanerud said the plan will be to have personnel outside the Government Center between 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. to deliver tabs to people that have submitted the paperwork and payment for pickup.

“We’re going empty all the drop boxes at noon Friday,” Aanerud said. “We will process them and, starting at 2 p.m., we will have someone outside. We’re going to put them in alphabetical order, you drive up and show some form of ID and we’ll hand you your tabs. We need to have the payment up front, of course, so they will need to use one of the drop boxes. We will be out there until 3:30 p.m. If someone doesn’t come to pick them up by that time, we will put them in the mail.”

The motivation for this experiment is the fishing opener. With different rules in different counties for renewal tags on boats and trailers, her office has been receiving more requests for them and we’ve reached the point where mailing them out and hoping to get them back by Friday isn’t always possible.

“If we mail them out, from the time someone sends something to us, it can take four or five days to get them back,” Aanerud said. “That wouldn’t be in time for the fishing opener on Saturday. So, if they’re going to mail them in or drop them off, all we ask is that they make a notation that they will be picking them up on Friday between 2 and 3:30 and we will hold on to them so they can drive up and get them.”

No exact location has been determined – whether in the front parking lot of the Government Center or off to the side – but there will be signage in place directing vehicles where to go.

At a time when changes have been forced on all of us by the COVID-19 pandemic, Aanerud said the curbside pickup idea is a way to see if something like this can become a weekly practice. She said she won’t be sure until they give it a trial run Friday, but, for people who will be heading out for the annual fishing opener, it’s worth giving it a shot and see what the response is.

“We’re just trying it out to see if it will work,” Aanerud said. “If this works well, we might do it every Friday. I don’t know. I want to try it and see what kind of response we get.”