East Grand Forks State Recreational Park
Grand Fork, Minnesota - Sunday, July 7, 2013
by:Timothy W. Shire
Images by: Judy Shire
Grand Forks straddles the border between North Dakota and Minnesota with the Red River being the boundary between the two cities. Most people identify Grand Forks as the Winnipeg shopping suburb with Manitoba shoppers heading south of the border for a large amount of their shopping, finding better prices and relief from the 13% tax on everything in Manitoba.
But, we discovered that Grand Forks is a whole lot more than just a cross border shopping centre. The North Dakota portion of the community has a population of about 54,000 while the Minnesota part has about 8,400 people. As a whole, the place is very much an “on-the-go” place, with massive retail shopping centres and what appears to be a very healthy industrial and productive climate.
The residential areas of the city are extremely civilise and look a lot like the area of Winnipeg’s south side, but with much better streets.
Actually, it is astonishing to experience roads and streets in both North Dakota and Minnesota, because unlike Manitoba, where they seem to cherish primitive roadways and Saskatchewan where all streets and roads are considered “temporary,” in these two states, they take the issue seriously and things are built to last and are really well maintained. It is really doubtful if Manitoba even has a Department of Highways.
Living on flat land, with a river running through your community that floods almost every year, has its challenges and the evidence is in the pictures on this page. Huge berms run along the banks of the river on both sides and in the downtown area, there are massive permanent flood walls and special gates to be installed during flood periods. While we were in the place, there had been some heavy showers and the Red River was above its banks.
Minnesota takes a lot of pride in its dedication to recreation and creating access to the State’s abundant natural beauty. We discovered last summer the outstanding campgrounds in almost every small town and this year we had a chance to see a few of the state parks. The one shown in the pictures on this page is right in the midst of the city. It is one of the best RV campgrounds we have stayed in and besides being spacious and loaded with features, which included working WIFI, the friendly staff made this one of those places visitors like us will want to come back to.
There is an important point to be made here and that is, that most cities do not have campgrounds right within their city. There are a few, but they are exceptions. Saskatoon and Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan have RV campgrounds, but Regina, Swift Current, Winnipeg, Minot and most other places you will be camping miles from the city and its attractions. But, Grand Forks has this super park right at its very centre.
