Fergus Falls (Minneapolis, Edina, Alexandria: relocating, houses, schools)

[robjill2]

We are thinking of relocating to Fergus Falls in the next few months, and would like some honest opinions of the town/region. We have two elementary aged children.

thanks!

[judogl44]

There are some posts about Fergus on pg 2 of the forum. It's a nice community, lots of older homes on tree lined streets. Quaint and nice downtown and there's a Home Depot, Applebees and others. Great bakery called The Falls-they have fantastic Italian bread, scones-we drive 37 miles from Alexandria to stock up. Good luck and I think you'll like Fergus.

[Edina911]

Me and my family almost moved there.
We heard horrible things about the school.
Crime may be an issue.

The homes are older and the town, seems like a slum overall.


If your willing to commute, Alexandria, is a great optition.

[DaninEGF]

Originally Posted by Edina911

Me and my family almost moved there.
We heard horrible things about the school.
Crime may be an issue.

The homes are older and the town, seems like a slum overall.


If your willing to commute, Alexandria, is a great optition.

I must disagree strongly with the above. I have been through Fergus Falls numerous times, for weather talks at the Fire Dept and at Lakes Region Radio on the edge of town and I found Fergus to have a very nice downtown and great people. Nice area as you are very close to Lakes country with fishing and boating in the summer and snowmobiling, etc in the winter. While I dont know specifically about the schools there, I have heard absolutely nothing bad about them watching the local news for over 9 years. Fergus is not a slum and crime there is certainly not any more of an issue than anywhere else. Low by big city standards.

Dan

[TravisW]

I've never heard anything about FF having a crime problem. I've always thought it was a nice, pretty, middle-class residential town.

[Moria Shannon]

I am a realtor here in Fergus Falls, and although we do have some run down houses (as all towns do), we are far from a slum. Fergus has several new houses as well as several old, beautiful buildings with tons of character. We also have Hillcrest Academy which is a private Lutheran school for children in the 7th-12th grades if you do not like to have your children in public school. Crime is not really that prevailant-and would be less so if the teenagers had SOMETHING to do in town besides hanging out at our dying mall, a small movie theatre, bowling, or hanging out at the lakes. Bored teenagers are bound to get into trouble. The reasons why I moved to Fergus are that I use to live in Fargo, but I was up here almost every weekend fishing and camping with my family, so it saved gas money to just live here, it is in between both Fargo and Minneapolis-so if you are missing big city life, it is only 1-3 hours away on the freeway, it has beautiful wooded rolling hills and so many lakes that you would never be able to find them all, the people are "Minnesota nice"-if a man sees a woman closer than halfway across a parking lot, he will stand in every sort of weather to hold a door open for her-everyone smiles at one another and talk as they stand in lines at checkout counters, and best of all in my opinion, Fergus has a bread factory in the center of town, so the whole town usually smells like a homey loaf of fresh baked bread! We have many festivals, fairs, circuses, races, rodeo, compititions, parades...Everyone that I know who has come to Fergus for the first time has remarked that this town is beautiful, charming, and quaint. Certainly much more than you can expect in the flatlands all around us. If you decide to move here, welcome, you will be sure to make close friends very quickly if you are open to it.

[Moria Shannon]

I forgot to mention, if your kids will be entering the 5th grade, our public school system has a program where for half of the school day, they get to go to the Prairie Wetlands on the outskirts of town to study several subjects of the required curriculum-like science, where they integrate nature into the class, making it real and hands-on. They spend most of the time there outdoors, learning to appreciate and to be knowledgable about nature and the environment. If you would like them to be enrolled in these classes, hurry, they fill up fast and have a waiting list for those who don't sign up in time. The classes are free and the students receive full credit for attending. How many schools offer that? Also, if you were to have a bad experience with the schools here in Fergus Falls, you can enroll your children at Underwood school, which is always pumping money into the school for a better learning experience, and is a wonderful school in my opinion. My son attended Underwood school for one year before starting school in the public school system in Fergus Falls. Underwood is about 10 miles from Fergus Falls.

[Isaysos]

I wouldnt call Fergus Falls a slum. You have to look at where the poster that called it a slum was from (Edina). A lot of people from the suburban neighborhoods think that if there is one house thats not a brick Mc Mansion less than 50 years old and not everything is perfect like it is in their ritzy suburb that they call a communtity (but wouldnt be there if it wasn't for Minneapolis so Edina is not a community, but a neighborhood of Minneapolis with its own government), the place is a slum.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by TravisW

I've never heard anything about FF having a crime problem. I've always thought it was a nice, pretty, middle-class residential town.

Well, I guess to some meth dealing, meth consuming and meth making are not crimes. Fregus Falls is full of all three. If you haven't noticed you either 1) turn a blind eye, 2) are in denial or 3) are a user.

[TravisW]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

Well, I guess to some meth dealing, meth consuming and meth making are not crimes. Fregus Falls is full of all three. If you haven't noticed you either 1) turn a blind eye, 2) are in denial or 3) are a user.

If all you see is meth production and usage, you either; 1) keep the company of users, 2) are presently a user, or 3) are a former user.

See how easy it is to jump to illogical conclusions?