Moving to Fargo (West Fargo: apartment complex, to rent, organic)

[Old Surrender]

Hey all,

I just accepted a sweet job in Fargo. I was there a couple days and fell in love with the downtown area and I have a couple places lined up to look at in that vicinity to rent. Anyone have any imput? How does one keep their car from freezing? (I lived in Kansas and Arizona, never was an issue.) How's the bus system? Where's the best natural-foods store at?

Thanks

[DaninEGF]

Fargo is a great city and has grown a lot in the last 15 years. With a metro population (West Fargo, Fargo, Moorhead MN) of around 150,000 it has a large variety of restaurants (local and chain) and a fantastic mall, plus lots of other things to do. Plus it is a short 3 1/2 hour drive down I-94 to Minneapolis. I live and work about 70 miles north of Fargo and have been down frequently for shopping, etc and have been downtown (Broadway) a few times. Downtown keeps changing and the city continues to do things to improve the area even more. I did a search for organic/health stores and the main one is on 2nd Ave N just north of Main (dont think forum rules allow posting of the name but you can do a search on the web)....and there was another listing for a farmers market store in downtown as well. Most supermarkets nowadays have organic sections too.

Not sure about the bus system. As for your car...you should be fine. For the winter time....the number one thing is have a good new or newer battery as re-starting the car in very cold weather puts extra wear and tear on the battery. For this reason, a lot of people have heater plugs installed in the engine for which you can hook up an extension cord and plug into an outlet. This will help keep the car's oil, etc from getting too cold and the oil from getting to thick. Overall it just helps maintain the life of the battery.

Most apartment complex have plug ins available and if you can have a garage more the better. Even if you must park on the street and cannot plug in your car, you still wont that bad off. It has to get down really cold (below -15 or so) to have a huge impact on starting the car. If you have an older car definitely want to have a new battery....but if you car is fairly new you shouldnt have many problems. Now, if your car will sit out in the cold for days without starting, then your chance of having a problem starting it increases ten fold. Be sure to have jumper cables in your trunk just in case you need someone to jump start you.

Fargo is a nice place....yeah cold in the winter...but not some barren arctic land like some may believe. Not all winters are brutally cold either and the extreme cold doesnt last for more than a few weeks.

If there is a wet spring and summer, be pepared for lots of mosquitos. Last summer was the first summer in memory that no spraying was done by the cities in the Red River valley.

Dan

[Old Surrender]

Thanks for clearing that up. Ironically, I had to replace my battery today. The heat here zaps the life out of 'em.

[thomjoe]

I am a Fargo native, but now living in Minneapolis. Fargo is a great place, the people are wonderful and warm, and there is a great revitilization of the downtown. As mentioned previously, your car should be fine for the winter if it is a newer model. The winters have become lame, compared to our standards. There are fewer "snow days" than used to be. It is not uncommon now for us to expect a "brown Christmas'". Sad, but true. However, be prepared for constant wind. It rarely stops. But because of the flatness and open prairie, you will never find a better place to view the Northern Lights, or shooting star episodes. The sunsets are awesome. The beauty is certainly skin deep. Enjoy !

[jwmn]

Originally Posted by Old Surrender

How's the bus system? Where's the best natural-foods store at?

There's a new grocery store and deli downtown on NP Ave called the Green Market. I haven't been there, but you might want to check it out. And there's Tochi's on 2nd Ave. The bus system is okay, depending on where you live and where you're going. The website is matbus.com.