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Old 08-18-2008, 10:29 PM
 
Location: Duluth, Minnesota, USA
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What do you think are Minnesota's best downtown districts, for cities of all sizes, in terms of vibrancy, architecture, and utility (usefulness)?

I haven't been to THAT many Minnesota cities (and especially not downtowns), but I would say that Minneapolis has an active downtown area, Duluth's has great architecture, and Grand Marais, Virginia, and Moose Lake have nice small-town downtowns.
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Old 08-19-2008, 01:03 AM
 
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Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Duluth, Winona, Saint Cloud and Excelsior are some of my favorites.
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Old 08-19-2008, 05:31 AM
 
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Stillwater is probably one of the busiest downtowns relative to size. Hastings has a lovely downtown area too, as does Northfield. They are more touristy downtowns though.

Most of the towns in western/southern MN have active/useful downtown areas--Willmar, Marshall, Redwood Falls, Gaylord, and many other towns around there.

New Ulm and St. Peter are other towns I can think of off hand as well.
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Old 08-19-2008, 07:03 AM
 
Location: Honolulu, HI
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Red Wing has a lot of historic value and nice shops and cafes. I grew up there so pm me if you had and specific questions on where to go.
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Old 08-19-2008, 09:16 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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What about downtown Anoka? Seriously though, Minneapolis and St. Paul are the only downtowns worth noting.
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Old 08-19-2008, 09:31 AM
 
Location: Duluth
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Slig View Post
What about downtown Anoka? Seriously though, Minneapolis and St. Paul are the only downtowns worth noting.
Why do you say that? High-rise buildings and pure size are the only things that count towards a nice downtown. There are plenty of downtowns with a lot of character throughout Minnesota.
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Old 08-19-2008, 10:23 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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Originally Posted by aluminumpork View Post
Why do you say that? High-rise buildings and pure size are the only things that count towards a nice downtown. There are plenty of downtowns with a lot of character throughout Minnesota.
That's your opinion. I haven't been impressed with the downtown of any small towns in Minnesota. The ones that could meet the said criteria are in towns that are dying off and slowly losing businesses and amenities due to the dwindling and aging populations. I can't say much about a downtown being vibrant and having interesting architecture when your choices for eating are Dairy Queen, McDonalds and Dennys and the 3 bars in town are struggling to maintain "dive" status.
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Old 08-19-2008, 11:16 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Slig View Post
That's your opinion. I haven't been impressed with the downtown of any small towns in Minnesota. The ones that could meet the said criteria are in towns that are dying off and slowly losing businesses and amenities due to the dwindling and aging populations. I can't say much about a downtown being vibrant and having interesting architecture when your choices for eating are Dairy Queen, McDonalds and Dennys and the 3 bars in town are struggling to maintain "dive" status.
Then you need to get out more because there are plenty of downtowns around the state that have much more to offer then a couple bars and a DQ.
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Old 08-19-2008, 11:16 AM
 
Location: Minnesota
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None. Nothing unique without being expensive.
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Old 08-19-2008, 11:19 AM
 
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Henderson has a cute downtown area too. They have some fun shops there as well.
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