Fargo, N.D., doesn’t have an excellent fame, which is strictly why my 13-year-old and I made a decision to go to.
Perhaps best known for “Fargo,” the Oscar-winning 1996 film noir by the Coen brothers a few kidnapping gone fallacious — the movie ends with a body in a wood chipper — the town has been struggling to recuperate its fame ever since. The TV series inspired by the film, recently renewed for a fifth season, didn’t help.
My older daughter, Anya, and I spend our free time watching true-crime documentaries and listening to the local police scanner (we’re crime fanatics through and thru), and I believed Fargo could be the right place for us to bond over gruesome wood chippers, potential body snatching and all of the gore that went into our favourite film.
We had loads of expectations: It could be a really sleepy community that claims “geez” in every sentence, has a lot of diners and a lot of farmers. And while the police scanner in Fargo will not be very lively, it could have some interesting stories (fingers crossed, we said).
We were fallacious about all the pieces.
The draw for a lot of tourists is the hockey and wrestling tournaments (the USA Wrestling Junior and 16U National Championships wrapped up here this summer), in keeping with the Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau. Other visitors stop by so that they can check the town off their bucket list to travel to all 50 states. After which there are those — like us, and about 20 percent of other dark tourists — who find themselves in Fargo because they’re interested in the film or TV series, in keeping with the visitors bureau.
But anyone who frolicked in Fargo over the past few years would notice that it’s a far cry from the isolated farming community that produces canola oil and snows a ton, and should or may not shove people into wood chippers.
It’s because of the efforts of Fargo officials and residents, who were fed up with the way in which outsiders viewed their city. In order that they made a concerted effort to vary its fame.
In 2001, North Dakota State University took over a vacated farm implement warehouse and dealership in the middle of downtown and turned it into the university’s architecture and visual arts departments, and the Tri-College university office. This move alone brought hundreds more students (and funding) into the world, said Mike Allmendinger, the president of Kilbourne Group, a redevelopment group based in Fargo.
In 2002, the town launched a master redevelopment plan with projects spanning 15 years, including massive tax incentives to reinvest in downtown Fargo and totally restore Broadway (the foremost downtown street). A 2017 plan outlined strategies to bring additional housing and businesses, and to show some streets into pedestrian walkways.
The whole downtown — about 100 blocks — has been transformed from plot after plot of surface parking lots and vacant buildings to an area sporting boutique stores, James Beard-award-winning restaurants, a preferred university and a community plaza.
Within the last 4 years, greater than $300 million in private and non-private investments have reshaped Fargo. Fargo now looks like a mini-mix between Toronto and Madison, Wis. It’s full of coffee shops, one-of-a-kind stores, local food and bizarre attractions — perfect for a weekend visit.
And my 13-year-old’s verdict: It wasn’t in any respect crime-laden, sadly. But she was so focused on shopping, that she nearly forgot to hearken to the scanner.
Shopping
Anya has shopped in Paris, London and Recent York. And here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: She now prefers the stores in Fargo to those anywhere else on this planet. They’re relatively inexpensive, they’re quirky, and also you won’t find duplicates anywhere else.
Those on the lookout for shopping could spend all day on Broadway. Downtown Fargo doesn’t have chain stores, so Broadway is riddled with small boutiques selling all the pieces from kitschy souvenirs to high-end clothing.
Unglued Market, on Broadway, seems like Fargo’s own Etsy. It carries jewelry, cards, stickers, candy and candles, and a small choice of sweatshirts and baby clothing, and the bulk are made by hand by local artisans. We picked up some locally made hot chocolate mix, stickers for my daughter’s phone and a postcard that reads “Chipper greetings from Fargo.”
Stop a number of doors down at Kindred People, owned by a mother and daughter. The shop sells the most lovable clothing starting from T-shirts with silly sayings — “You betcha” — to high-end ripped jeans and accessories. Its sale section is incredible, with many items marked all the way down to $5. I got a T-shirt that claims, “Mama needs coffee,” which was approved by Anya, a rare thing indeed. She got a crop top that doubles as a doll T-shirt.
Whenever you’re done with Broadway, head to Principal Street (a three-minute drive), where you’ll find Mint + Basil, a teen/young adult dream. Anya said it was her favorite store within the universe (well, apart from Lululemon, obviously). From trendy ribbed tanks to home décor items to desk accessories, that is the sort of store you go to when you would like to treat yourself without spending a fortune: It seems like a really trendy stylist put together this shop, and it’s a definite dopamine boost.
Restaurants
We got here to Fargo expecting fried food, diners and a lot of meat. The chefs here had other things in mind. We were so misplaced, in actual fact, that Anya needed to return to Kindred People to buy a latest outfit so she’d be fancy enough for our dinners.
Probably the greatest Fargo restaurants is in a strip mall on the side of a quiet street, but that is just one other surprise Fargo has in store. Luna Fargo, on University Drive South, was originally a coffee shop; it still looks like one, albeit one full of the aroma of steak, polenta and garlic. In 2015, the chef Ryan Nitschke and his business partner, Nikki Berglund — who also own and operate Nova Eatery (a food truck-style restaurant that opened in late September) and Sol Ave Kitchen (in Moorhead, a sister city to Fargo, and connected to Junkyard Brewing Company, which serves street food) — turned the coffee shop right into a full-service restaurant.
Mr. Nitschke, a Fargo native, received a James Beard best chef within the Midwest nomination and two AAA 4 Diamond awards. The highlight of the menu is the cheese plate, which is large enough for 2; it’s stinky, varied, and comes with domestic and imported selections. The dinner menu rotates often, but all the pieces is caught, killed and milked locally, if possible.
Get out of the strip mall and onto a rooftop in downtown Fargo. Fargo has a slew of latest rooftop eateries, but 701 Eateries, on University Drive North, which opened last 12 months, stands out because its rooftop, called Camp Lone Tree, has a fire, curling, beanbag games and truly excellent food. After grabbing some drinks and appetizers, head downstairs to 701 Eateries’ Prairie Kitchen, originally an old dairy, for Nordic cuisine and the most effective date night spot in Fargo. Anya and I spied tons of couples on first, third and anniversary dates, together with groups of individuals celebrating work dinners and bachelorette parties. It was a scene. The fried brussel sprouts are the most effective dishes you’ll ever eat; and everybody must try the Rommegrot for dessert, whether you may have a hankering for a Scandinavian pudding otherwise you’ve never heard of the dish.
Or perhaps you’re craving a bagel with house-cured gravlax, lox, pickled fennel and microgreens, with a side of latke. You might assume this wouldn’t be possible in Fargo, where the Jewish population is fewer than 1,000, and more likely closer to 400. (The entire population for Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo is 250,000; in 2019 there have been 200,000 visitors.)
But as a Jewish Recent Yorker currently living in Chicago, I can now say that the most effective Jewish deli I’ve ever visited was BernBaum’s, on Broadway, a five-year-old Jewish-Scandinavian deli in downtown Fargo. Anya couldn’t recover from the flowery yet understated coffee and the bagels with rare varieties of fish piled high.
One in all Fargo’s newest hot spots is Rosewild, and it resides throughout the uber-trendy latest Jasper Hotel, on Broadway. That is the place to see and be seen, but it surely’s also the place to dine on the chef Jordan Hayes’s creations. Mr. Hayes focuses on fermenting, smoking, curing and pickling, and this comes across in nearly every dish.
Anya and I obviously didn’t spend much time visiting all of Fargo’s breweries, but it surely was unimaginable to miss them as we strolled through downtown. Fargo Brewing Company on University Drive North is a favourite here even for pups (they host many dog-friendly events), and their beer is distributed throughout the state and in other parts of the Midwest. Stop by their tasting room to try their staples, limited releases and experiments.
Adventure
A complete museum concerning the buffalo? You betcha. Probably the greatest things to do here (technically a few half-hour outside Fargo, in Jamestown) is to go to the one and only National Buffalo Museum, where you’ll learn all the pieces you never realized you desired to learn concerning the American bison. There’s also a 60-ton bison made out of cement, which is an almost mandatory photo op, since you’ll most definitely never see this again.
North Dakota can be the second highest producer of sunflowers (South Dakota is first), and peak sunflower season is August, though you may still find tons of sunflower fields in September. For those who drive in any direction for about 15 to twenty minutes, you’ll make sure to hit a sunflower field once they’re in season. For a more structured sunflower hunt, try the North Dakota Tourism Bureau’s map. This was a complete hit for my daughter, who took enough selfies to fill her Instagram and Snapchat stories for weeks. Luckily, we found a field where we were completely alone, so this wasn’t too mortifying for me.
And because you’re in Fargo, you would possibly as well pose next to the unique wood chipper prop. It’s on the Fargo-Moorhead Visitors Center, positioned inside a grain elevator. You could possibly even pretend to push the faux leg into the chipper. There’s also a signed original script.
On the Plains Art Museum, in a comparatively small repurposed International Harvester warehouse, you’ll find a mixture of local, national and international artists, with a deal with contemporary Native American artwork. The museum offers tons of drop-in classes, from pottery to printing, which is very enticing for youths who don’t are likely to enjoy simply observing the art on the partitions (not mentioning any names).
Fargo’s cultural scene doesn’t end with the art museum, nevertheless. Stuffed with surprises, Fargo is the smallest city in America with an expert opera company, Fargo Moorhead Opera. We visited within the off-season so we couldn’t attend, but this 12 months’s productions include “The Marriage of Figaro” and “La Bohème,” together with a one-act comedic opera called “Bon Appetit!,” based on Julia Child’s TV show.
Oh, and should you got here here expecting to wander through all of Fargo’s legendary filming locations, you’re out of luck. Nearly all of Fargo was filmed in Minneapolis. Oh, geez.
Places to Stay
A latest, shiny spot to remain in downtown Fargo opened in 2021, which is the talk of the town. The Jasper Hotel is a mirrored image of all the pieces the brand new Fargo goals to be: Positioned on Broadway in the course of downtown, it seems like the final word boutique hotel. The pet-friendly hotel reflects a Scandinavian aesthetic and has floor-to-ceiling views of the town, serves free Stumbeano’s coffee each day, and guests can wander downstairs to eat on the hotel’s restaurant, Rosewild. Art work by local artists adorn the partitions, and Peloton bikes fill the fitness room. The hotel overlooks Broadway, where Pride flags were displayed every few feet.
