Fergus Falls Forum

Residents in Otter Tail County, on average, spend $867 per month on shopping, $436 on house and home, $559 on health and family, $430 on transportation, $350 food and drink, and $164 on travel and leisure. While at first it may seem as if Otter Tail County residents are spending a lot, the area matches up closely with Fargo and Minneapolis with their spending. SHOPPING With shopping being the largest category we spend our money on (beating house and home by almost double!), we thought we should... Read More →

The giant otter statue that resides in Grotto Park, on the east side of Fergus Falls, will be featured in an upcoming South by South West (SXSW) film called “World’s Largest”. The documentary features small towns across the United States who claim the “world’s largest” something. “Our intention in making World’s Largest was to create a portrait of a changing place and time – small-town America at this moment”, says filmmaker Amy C. Elliott.... Read More →

The Fergus Falls Super Walmart expansion will be completed by August, according to store manager, Tim Bosworth. While heavy rain in October caused a delay with finishing the front parking lot, construction crews are working at top-speed to complete the facility on time. “We are currently on track to have our general merchandise departments completed by late June, and expect to have the grocery store set and open in August”, said Bosworth. Next week, there are plans to set 13 new checkouts... Read More →

People who own property on Minnesota’s more than 10,000 lakes are facing higher fees to take out permits to control aquatic plants along their shorelines. Three public hearings on proposed changes are set for later this month: Feb. 23 in Fergus Falls, Feb. 24 in Little Falls and Feb. 25 in Plymouth. The Legislature directed the Department of Natural Resources to recover the costs of its aquatic plant management permit program through fees. The DNR proposes to increase permit fees for aquatic... Read More →

A group 25 schools in southwestern Minnesota are lobbying for the state to lift a law that prevents the academic school year before Labor Day. With Labor Day falling on September 6th this year, and the 7th last year, southwestern Minnesota schools feel their students are missing out on valuable education days. For the 2009-2010 school year, Fergus Falls schools started before Labor Day, but that was due to a major construction project. However, Fergus Falls is dismissing their students for summer... Read More →

Forget 30 day return policies, a local Fergus Falls Goodyear dealer is saying. Starting Monday, February 1st, if you’ve experienced less-than-perfect service at Fergus Tire, located in downtown Fergus Falls, within the past 30 years, they’re willing to give you a gift certificate worth up to $100 good for your next visit. Kevin Langbehn, owner of Fergus Tire, says its a small price for them to pay. With customers having more and more choices these days, the dealership is more-than-happy... Read More →

Early Wednesday morning many cars were moved off of the main lot at Quality Toyota after Toyota issued a recall of 8 different models of vehicles. After a problem, which effects 1 in 100,000 vehicles, was discovered, Toyota took proactive action and ordered all dealerships to cease sale of certain vehicles. Over time, gas pedals in some of the recalled cars become sticky. At first, they just become a little harder to push down and, when you lift your foot off the gas, slower to come back up. In the... Read More →

With Netflix and Redbox becoming popular, and cost effective alternative, its no wonder why brick-and-mortar movie rental stores are becoming a thing of the past. Just under two years ago, Premiere Video announced it would be closing its Fergus Falls location. With that announcement, rumors started to circulate that SunMart would be closing its video rental store. However, Brian Numainville, an executive at Nash Finch, which is Sunmart’s parent company, was quick to respond saying they were... Read More →

When the National Weather Service issued a Blizzard Warning for the Fergus Falls area, conditions weren’t looking favorable. Just a week ago, the Fergus Falls area was enjoying temperatures in the low-to-mid thirties. That changed over night. This storm not only canceled schools, but businesses were forced to close as well. For instance, the Fergus Falls Medical Group closed at noon, and the West Ridge Mall closed at 5:00PM. Conditions only worsened when the day continued. Eventually, the Otter... Read More →

Forget the economic downturn. Perham, a short drive north-east of Fergus Falls, is currently reviewing a 5-year-plan, which includes a dozen capital improvement projects, that totals $13.7 million. The capital improvement plan was reviewed by the Perham City Council on January 11th, along with one of the city engineers, Jade Berube. The largest project on the list is a two-phase expansion of the City’s waste-water treatment facility, which will cost roughly $5.6 million. The first phase of... Read More →