Hello! I've watched for a long time with interest at what others have had to say about ND.
My husband, 3 kids and I, just finished a 3800 mile trek and selling at a week long winter show in Valley City ND and I wanted to send along my own .02 of the people and of North Dakota itself. (If you love Victorian "old town" charm, Valley City and Jamestown has just the thing!)
Spending my whole life in Southern California, I was in for the most pleasant shock in ND! These folks are some of the friendliest, helpful and down to earth people I have met. They welcomed us with open arms, and had such a realistic and simple view of life. Most of them had stories to tell, and the time to tell them. Several customers we saw many times at the show, and they would come up and remember us by name. We even had the mayor and several business people come up and introduce themselves to us.
Our children experienced the petting zoo, rodeo, truck pull, tractor pull, horse pull and everything else that the show had to offer, and watching things like the old tractor pull, you could see it was just plain, old fashion, good clean fun. The participants appeared to have a great time themselves, and even cheered the others on.
Throughout the show, we only heard 3 cuss words muttered in public, no freakish hair colors, wierd clothes, or face/body/tongue piercings that made them talk funny, look odd, or stand out. Most of the people we saw wore western wear and drove pick up trucks, but you could tell that it wasn't for "show" and the clothes were good and used, and so were the trucks.
The sense of loyalty to a product (like Chevy Ford, Case, or John Deere ONLY) or being "American made", or "Patriotic" is something I haven't really seen since the 1980's, but I very much enjoyed/appreciated it. (Even the vendors stood and removed their hat when the National Anthem was played in the nearby arena!)
They had a snow storm that dumped 27" right before we got there, and it was 10 below our first few days, but it hardly phased them. Within a few days, the roads themself were clear and dry.
We visited ND in September and initially liked the towns and the people. Many had lived there all their life and were contented to stay there. I am so glad that we had such a positive experience again. We are in process of moving to a tiny town 1/2 way between Valley City and Jamestown as we speak. (our family will increase the population by 25%!) I am really looking forward to the drastic changes we've seen.
Colleen
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"North Dakota Winter show" and humble opinion of ND
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