Tell me about Faribault, MN! (Minneapolis, Rochester: co-op, movie theater, schools)

[KS701]

Hello,

My wife and I are considering moving to Faribault within the next year or so. I have read mixed reviews, so I thought I would start a new thread.

Is Faribault a safe community?

Is it a good place to start and raise a family?

What are the schools like?

Is the community growing?

What do you love about it?

What do you hate about it?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[golfgal]

It's an ok place, nothing great, nothing really bad. If you are working in Faribault, good place to live, if you are going to commute from there elsewhere, I'd pick somewhere else to live.

[WendyRLee]

I am in the proccess of moving there myself. I have found housing prices and property taxes to be lower than in the cities and it is a straight shot up 35 to the twin cities. There is some shopping, mainly Wal-mart, Ace hardware, 4 grocery stores including Wal-mart and Aldi, the downtown has quite a few vacant storefronts, hopefully they will be redeveloped soon. The mall is pretty dead, mainly a JC Penney, Maurices, a dollar stor eand a Salvation Army store, Laundry, Chinese Buffet and a few other small shops. Wal-mart, and McDonalds are open 24 hours. Dominos until 3 am. There is a bike trail that goes through town and a few parks. I like that is just as far to Rochester as Minneapolis. Burnsville is only 30 minutes away. Not a lot to do for entertainment, there is a movie theater and an arts center downtown. There is one library, a community rec center, ice area, and an outdoor water park. You can check out the local paper for some info you can find it by just adding a .com to the city name. There is a small farmer's market in the summer, but there is a larger one in Northfield and a food co-op there as well. What other types of things are you interested in knowing about?

[ocsid]

I have family there. I wouldn't recommend it.

Unless you have a job there, there are better mid-size cities in southern Minnesota. I'd far rather live in Owatonna or Mankato or New Ulm.

Faribault is oddly provincial. Unlike the attitude of Northfield, where there's a fairly snotty vibe with the influence of the two expensive private colleges, Faribault feels like a closed society where if you aren't white trash born and bred in Faribault, you'll be shunned. It's really weird.