Moving to Alexandria MN

[NoSno]

Escaping from St Louis and moving back to God's Country, Alexandria to be precise. I will have to change my moniker as NoSno will no longer be applicable. It's been 20+ years since I've been around and done anything in that area. I have 3 elementary aged kids, any recommendations for entertainment for the kids and of course, myself? I plan on getting back into snowmobiling, both with newer machines and vintage.

[Vintagesleds.com]

[AWDimprezal]

Wave as you drive by monticello!

[Docjim]

Alexandria is a great place to raise kids.   Lived there from 1970 to the mid eighties.    Lots of wind so there is snow drifts that are hard.  Make sure you have  a good suspension       It is getting metro as the years go by.  More and more cities people moving in and it has changed to a metro attitude.

[76z]

Welcome to Alexandria. We have some of the best schools around as most are new or less than 20 years old. Our hospitals and clinics and doctors are top notch.There are many good activities for the children and youth in anything they may want to do. Like our saying says its easy to get to Alexandria but very hard to leave.

[BOSSKAT]

My son lived in Alex for 2 years 2012/13   went to the Tech College. He loved living there. Lots lakes and good fishing. A few fun bars.

[Boy Wonder]

We know a great real estate agent there, as well as where the trails are... and don't forget Sport Salvage, which is one of the best repair and performance shops anywhere for your sled(s).

[80txlmod]

my brother in law was from Alexandria, he's a dipsh*t maybe it's the water? or just being from Minnesota? JK... but not about my the dipsh*t thing lol
come check out the winter spectacular races at the end of January

[ddub]

Lots of wind so there is snow drifts that are hard.  Make sure you have  a good suspension     

Doc,
Alex only sees an occassional breeze.  Try living in ND

I loved Alexandria when I grew up there.  Wished our family had never moved away from there.

[racinfarmer]

Their sheriff's posse is exceptional personable and the band festival is their time to shine.  Very welcoming bunch.

(Note the sarcasm)

[Boy Wonder]

Negatives to alexandria:

1. I've long heard a rumor that the owners of the larger businesses there get together and make sure wages stay low.
2. There is a very strong, christian fundamentalist segment of the population there. You can decide if that is good or bad.
3. Bigger lakes can be overcrowded in summer
4. Tourists from the Twin Cities during the summer can be as obnoxious as all heck.
5. Town/county politics are as messed up as anywhere.
6. All kinds of horror stories about the sherriff's department there.

But that doesn't sound different from a lot of places does it? 

[EricR]

Grew up 40 miles from there, north of Sauk Center. But I could count the number of times I was in Alex on one hand! Dad had no business there and we had no family there so the only visits were to the Runestone museum.

  As a teenager, it was rumored amongst my fellow acne complected pals that the Alexandria girls would "go further", but then again any girl not from a town bigger than the one you were from was rumored that way...   I never, as a teen had a car reliable enough to travel so far as Alex so I never got to test that assumption about the girls.

Alex tech was a popular destination after high school for many, those that didn't go there went to "Da cities", another evil place where farm kids never returned from..
 
I bet the Alex grocery stores will have a lot more things like smoked whitefish and pickled herring. I am sure the "Mussurrah" groceries had a lot of fatback, pigs feet and BBQ stuff!

Oh yeah, there's a big statue of

[Mister twister]

Bring your sleds and your fishin' gear. About all you will need there.

[racinfarmer]

Negatives to alexandria:

1. I've long heard a rumor that the owners of the larger businesses there get together and make sure wages stay low.
2. There is a very strong, christian fundamentalist segment of the population there. You can decide if that is good or bad.
3. Bigger lakes can be overcrowded in summer
4. Tourists from the Twin Cities during the summer can be as obnoxious as all heck.
5. Town/county politics are as messed up as anywhere.
6. All kinds of horror stories about the sherriff's department there.

But that doesn't sound different from a lot of places does it? 

Alex would be a nice place to live if it wasn't for the taxes, vacationers, and the police force.

Oh, and there is no good way to get from the north to the south side of the town on snowmobile, IMO.

[76z]

There are many good things about living in Alexandria. We have a large core of MFg companies, which the largest may be between 3M and Douglas Machine and many others. Also I dont know anything about a large Christian Fundelmentalist group and I have lived here 43 years. We do have a lot of large store such as Fleet Farm Menards,Target,Kmart,Walmart.Many good eating places and bars. Large Tech College which does make the traffic heavy at times.We have many different Churchs for which one should fit you. I can't say anything negative about our Police or Sheriffs dpts as I know quite a few and I find these departments to be well staffed and very professional. We also have a large ice arena with two enclosed skating rinks which is in the fairgrounds area which is next to the Viking speedway which host dirt track racing all summer and which will be host to the Winter Spectacular.The only negative I can say is it does get quite busy in the summertime with all the influx of vacation people but these people bring a lot of money into the community which is a blessing.

[cyberlynx]

dont forget the go kart racing track! ive never heard any bad things about the cops