Fargo, North Dakota became more well known after the Coen Brothers made their famous Academy Awarding winning movie of the same name in 1996. A lot of the frosty weather you see in that movie depicts the truth. The city is known for its long cold fall, winter and spring. The summers are warm with many thunderstorms. If you move to Fargo you are going to be talking about the weather a lot. Until quite recently it was mostly an agricultural community because of the soil of the Red River Valley is very fertile but in the past few decades it has also become a center for food processing, technology, health care and retail trade.
It is the largest city in the state of North Dakota with a population of 105,549 and is situated in the floodplain of the Red River. It is named after the Wells Fargo Express Company founder William Fargo and it used to be a stopping point for steamboats on the Red River during the 1870s and 1880s. Much of the city’s older architecture was destroyed in a big tornado in 1957 so there are large areas, particularly in the north end of town that consists of housing styles from the mid-century onwards.
There are many neighborhood parks in Fargo but the really popular pastime for the residents in the summer is golfing. Fargo has many golf courses including the Osgood Golf Course, Prairiewood Golf Course and Rose Creek Golf Course. There is also the Fargo Outdoor Skate Park and live racing and betting at the North Dakota Horse Park. The city also has some odd attractions including the Hjemkmost replica Viking ship at the Hjemkmost Center.
Even though the LGBT community is not that visible, the city has been known as being a center of activism. In the 1970s it became the home of the Ten Percent Society, (named after the Kinsey sexuality study that proclaims that ten percent of the population is gay.) Today most of the gay action is in West Fargo and home to bars such as The Dungeon of Seduction, The Workbench, The Valley, Dunkels and I-Beam. It is best to consult with a Fargo gay realtor to help you find the best situation for you.
Fargo is also not far away from Minneapolis, which was ranked by The Advocate as the gayest city in America. Many of the LGBT residents in the Fargo and nearby Moorhead area go to Minneapolis to celebrate gay pride and other rainbow related events. There is also a community organization called Fargo-Moorhead Pride that alternates holding a smaller gay pride day in either Fargo or Moorhead as well as other fun events such as LGBT bowling, karaoke, trivia contests, block parties and drag queen contests. The first legal gay wedding was recently celebrated in the state July 31, 2013.
The average listing price for a home here is $224,957 for the week ending October 9, 2013. There are not many short sales in this popular city full of family neighborhoods. There were only 15 homes in a stage of the foreclosure process as of October 9, 2013 as well.
For more information about Fargo’s many features and attractions visit www.cityoffargo.com.
