Life in Valley City (Fargo, Minot: fit in, low crime, house)

[jbdykstra]

I currently live in New Mexico with my wife who was born in Latin America and my 3 kids. We are considering a move to a safer place. We lived in Orange City Iowa for two years and we liked the safe and clean atmosphere there, but we were not used to having to drive to the next town to go to Walmart, or an hour to go to larger stores. We also felt that there was some resistence to Latin Americans there. Can anyone on here tell me what Valley City is like? Would hispanics fit in? Can you get what you need in town? Are the schools good?

[DaninEGF]

Originally Posted by jbdykstra

I currently live in New Mexico with my wife who was born in Latin America and my 3 kids. We are considering a move to a safer place. We lived in Orange City Iowa for two years and we liked the safe and clean atmosphere there, but we were not used to having to drive to the next town to go to Walmart, or an hour to go to larger stores. We also felt that there was some resistence to Latin Americans there. Can anyone on here tell me what Valley City is like? Would hispanics fit in? Can you get what you need in town? Are the schools good?

I have been through and visited Valley City a few times. Valley city is along the Sheyenne River and with bluffs/hills on either side of the river...the area is very scenic and not at all flat like the farmland around it. That said....I personally think Valley City would not be too different than Orange City Iowa (looking at demographics and pop of OC on the web and comparing it to VC). VC has a pop of around 6500 and there is a 4 yr state university there (Valley City State) but in terms of shopping not much. The nearest Walmart and other shopping other than local stores is about 40 miles west in Jamestown. Also VC does not have a significant hispanic population....but whether you would get or feel resistence like in your town now I cant answer that. If you want the area I would personally look either west toward Jamestown or east to the Fargo metro area. Fargo area is clean and safe as well just as Valley City, but with a much larger selection of stores and things to do. It all depends on jobs....I wouldnt move to VC without any job....nor anywhere for that matter. But VC is a nice small and scenic town....but might be a big too closed in for your taste considering your not from the upper Midwest.

Those are my 2 cents... As always visit first before you decide to move.

Dan

[jbdykstra]

Thanks for the input. The reason I'm asking about Valley City is that I'm thinking about applying for a position at the college there. I wouldn't consider moving as far away as North Dakota without a job in hand. One of the teachers I work with now is actually from that areas and graduated from Jamestown College, but that was 40 years ago.

[Corbay]

JB,
I live in Jamestown (30 miles West). First off race is a difficult thing to discuss easily. I would say you would have very little problem with the race thing, yes maybe at first you may get a second look because so few people in the area are not white. But don't take that as racism. I would say if your children dress "to fit in" they wouldn't really have a problem. If they had the "big city look" they may have a little more difficult time fitting in. The same goes with behavior, if they are well behaved they should have little problem.

There has been some some influx of immigrants into North Dakota in the last 10 years. In fact most of North Dakota's population growth over the last few years has been from immigration.

Valley City is a very nice cozy town with some nice scenery. I love going down South of V.C. to the Fort Randsom area. Great drive that feels like you are in Vermont. The biggest problem you would probably encounter in V.C. is the lack of shopping choices. Even Jamestown has similar problems. We do have a new Wally World Super Center going up right now, and V. C. has Pamida. There are no building supply stores of any major size in either city.

I guess my feeling is if you can afford to take a weekend and come on up it would be worth the trip to get a feeling for things. Make sure to stop in and have some of the best pizza made in the world at Pizza Corner.

As far as schools go, North Dakota has some of the best public schools in the nation.

[jbdykstra]

Thanks again for the info. Even though my kids are technically half Guatemalan, they are pretty much Americanized the whole way. They don't even speak Spanish. When we lived in Orange City, my wife found some instances of low-level distrust or things that made her feel uncomfortable, even though in general the people were very nice. It probably wouldn't be a huge problem. Right now we are trying to weigh the benefits of a safe, clean and inexpensive place against the disadvantages of being somewhat isolated and living in a climate and landscape quite different from New Mexico.

[DaninEGF]

I would add...like Corbay...did that I do not think race is an issue in itself. Like anywhere where someone may not look or fit in to the average norm you might get a few looks, etc....but I do know my next door neighbors are from Central and South America (she is from El Salvador and he is from Columbia). Both have been in the area for a while and are great people and work/teach at the the local tech college. Everyone on our block treats them like any other....no more or no less. That is what I would expect up here as well...as I have always found the people of the area to be respective of others. But has you pointed out the big thing would be the shopping, etc. There is enough to get by...but you will find yourself taking day trips to Fargo for big time shopping and west to Jamestown too. If you have time to decide take a quick trip up to see....You can fly into BIS or FAR and then drive there. ND is really a whole lot better than some people think.

Good luck

[kwill]

I'm chiming in on this thread because my family has lived near Valley City for the past 100 years and my father and brother and sister-in-law all graduated from VC State. I've moved, but return frequently to visit. Here's my take:

First, long-time North Dakotans tend to be great people and terrific neighbors, whites and Sioux, included. The isolating distances of the plains tends to bring people together, and crime in ND is almost unheard of compared to many, many other places. Dakotans are also generally open to outsiders because the state's lost so much population with the past 50 years change of farming. Most are delighted with "diversity," (if you're from out of state, you qualify as "diversity,") and the majority will try to be as polite and as welcoming as they can.

That said, I will follow by saying Dakotans have had race issues for the past 100 years: friction between native americans and the immigrant northern europeans. My father (white) worked for 25 years teaching at Indian schools on North Dakota reservations, and my family is very aware that there are two realities to Dakota. For the most part, the two groups get along, but you would be blind to say there was no racisim from either side. The thing is, times ARE changing, and we've been raising an entirely different generation of children. So while you may find clumsy racial comments from older generations (and those basically out of ignorance,) the younger generations are way less likely to display racist attitudes.

I have one cousin (white) and his wife who adopted and raised two native american kids who are in their thirties now. They worked at supporting the kids in both cultures, and the family is definitely a success.

I also have a cousin who's an adopted Korean American from North Dakota and he served his career in the Marines all over the US and Germany, and as soon as he got out, he came back to ND because he was so sick of the racisim he'd had to deal with everywhere else.

I have another cousin who adopted two Native American/black kids, and they loved Jamestown (where they grew up) and even though both work management jobs in Chicago, they come back frequently.

So, basically what I'm saying is that while you may encounter racial attitudes in ND, I believe the prevalence of racisim is much lower and far more benign than most other parts of the US, and I certainly wouldn't let it stand in my way of moving to Valley City.

kwill

Oh yeah, one more thing...

Iowa is Midwest. Somewhere between Fargo and Jamestown, you've entered THE WEST. There's an entirely different frame of mind. I would have no desire to live in Iowa, but I'd live anywhere from Fargo to Montana/Wyoming in a heart-beat (if there were only jobs...)

And Iowa has MUCH worse weather than Valley City -- if you doubt me, just compare this winter and fall. The storms (ice, snow and tornados) always plow through southern Minnesota and Iowa, nearly all avoiding ND and central MN.

As for shopping, all my VC relatives shop in Fargo and think nothing of it. Fargo's less than an hour away, and they'll even go there for a movie and dinner. No big deal.

Finally, I've never lived in New Mexico, but have traveled through and have been repulsed at how "garbagey" it looks. Apart from that, the state is a little like ND in the openness and range-feeling. New Mexico has a western state of mind, too.

Hope this helps.

Kwill

[magiccity]

Hi there,
Have you considered Minot? I helped a Hispanic family move into Minot this last October. In a couple of weeks they are planning on opening a Mexican food restaurant which we need badly. I invited him to one of my meetings and he was welcomed with open arms. I think that you'll find that you'll be accepted into any part of ND. The only thing that would separate you would be your attitude. If you think everyone will hate you, then they will. If you think that everyone will like you, then they will. After living in ND for 18 years, I found that North Dakotans are a very friendly, loving, accepting people. Sometimes you have to make the first move, and if you do, you won't regret it.

[jbdykstra]

Well thanks. The reason I asked about Valley City in the first place is that I'm thinking about applying for a specific job at the college there. I would probably not make a big move to a place like ND without a job in hand. VCSU seems like a pretty nice little school from what I could tell from their webpage, but I'm not sure if we would be up to such a big move to a small town. We're looking for the nice aspects of small town life such as low crime, honest people, and a good environment for the kids. We just aren't sure we are ready to move back to the type of place where you have drive a half hour to get to the nearest stores.

[bj60]

Originally Posted by kwill

I'm chiming in on this thread because my family has lived near Valley City for the past 100 years and my father and brother and sister-in-law all graduated from VC State. I've moved, but return frequently to visit. Here's my take:

First, long-time North Dakotans tend to be great people and terrific neighbors, whites and Sioux, included. The isolating distances of the plains tends to bring people together, and crime in ND is almost unheard of compared to many, many other places. Dakotans are also generally open to outsiders because the state's lost so much population with the past 50 years change of farming. Most are delighted with "diversity," (if you're from out of state, you qualify as "diversity,") and the majority will try to be as polite and as welcoming as they can.

That said, I will follow by saying Dakotans have had race issues for the past 100 years: friction between native americans and the immigrant northern europeans. My father (white) worked for 25 years teaching at Indian schools on North Dakota reservations, and my family is very aware that there are two realities to Dakota. For the most part, the two groups get along, but you would be blind to say there was no racisim from either side. The thing is, times ARE changing, and we've been raising an entirely different generation of children. So while you may find clumsy racial comments from older generations (and those basically out of ignorance,) the younger generations are way less likely to display racist attitudes.

I have one cousin (white) and his wife who adopted and raised two native american kids who are in their thirties now. They worked at supporting the kids in both cultures, and the family is definitely a success.

I also have a cousin who's an adopted Korean American from North Dakota and he served his career in the Marines all over the US and Germany, and as soon as he got out, he came back to ND because he was so sick of the racisim he'd had to deal with everywhere else.

I have another cousin who adopted two Native American/black kids, and they loved Jamestown (where they grew up) and even though both work management jobs in Chicago, they come back frequently.

So, basically what I'm saying is that while you may encounter racial attitudes in ND, I believe the prevalence of racisim is much lower and far more benign than most other parts of the US, and I certainly wouldn't let it stand in my way of moving to Valley City.

kwill

Oh yeah, one more thing...

Iowa is Midwest. Somewhere between Fargo and Jamestown, you've entered THE WEST. There's an entirely different frame of mind. I would have no desire to live in Iowa, but I'd live anywhere from Fargo to Montana/Wyoming in a heart-beat (if there were only jobs...)

And Iowa has MUCH worse weather than Valley City -- if you doubt me, just compare this winter and fall. The storms (ice, snow and tornados) always plow through southern Minnesota and Iowa, nearly all avoiding ND and central MN.

As for shopping, all my VC relatives shop in Fargo and think nothing of it. Fargo's less than an hour away, and they'll even go there for a movie and dinner. No big deal.

Finally, I've never lived in New Mexico, but have traveled through and have been repulsed at how "garbagey" it looks. Apart from that, the state is a little like ND in the openness and range-feeling. New Mexico has a western state of mind, too.

Hope this helps.

Kwill

Hello, hope you don't mind me asking you about Valley City too? I am moving there soon on a job and want to find a house and acreage that I can bring my horse too. Can you tell me who I need to talk to find a house in the country? I would like a 3 bedroom at least if possible. We also have an RV if we can't find a house right away.Do you know where we can hook one up near Valley City?I appreciate the help!