What Fargo-Moorhead Still Needs, part 2

Editorial | November 27th, 2013

Thank you, readers, for your excellent feedback on our “What Fargo-Moorhead Needs” list from a few weeks ago. This is absolutely worth following up on.

Your response to a list about brunch, music, dancing, gayness and recycling really shows you care about the community’s growth. It shows we have faith that Fargo actually can grow into a place that’s much more cultured, hip, fashionable, diverse and groovy.

Let’s start by saying Fargo-Moorhead is getting there. We’ve got some incredible art museums, music venues, fine dining restaurants, rock bands, athletic teams, themed events and parties, clubs and activist groups that continually spin our wheels.

All we are asking is that we don’t settle or step backward. God forbid, FM settles for becoming square and dumpy. Boohoo to that.

We read your comments. Here’s our feedback.

More than anything, it seems people are jazzed (or should we say anxious) about getting a downtown grocery story. Fargo City Commission has already implemented a plan to rejuvenate downtown with improved and more beautified corridors. Why not add even a small grocery store somewhere along Broadway, similar to one you’d find in a city?

My goodness, all we need is a space about double the size of the Pita Pit (RIP). It could carry all the essentials so we wouldn’t need to drive 10 minutes out of downtown to just to buy carrots or baking soda.

Perhaps this grocery store could be an organic co-op per request of many health and economically conscious locals. Downtown is the perfect place for it. Somewhere on Broadway or NP could work. Or how about where that abandoned Taco Bell is on 10th Street?

An arcade seems to be desired by a lot of folks as well. But let’s be real, retro pinball, old school Pac-Man or any kind of game found at Space Aliens wouldn’t cut it. We’d need an arcade that has some real thrills. We need games with PlayStation 4-quality graphics, Call of Duty-type action and Rock Band-type teamwork. We want to forget about our troubles and lose our minds in the action of a competition. And we want our friends by our sides.

Word has spread that The Beefsteak has great brunch. The Radisson and Granite City do as well. Though we still say we need a place specifically dedicated to brunch everyday – weekends especially. The buckwheat blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup are calling. The mimosas and Bloody Marys are, too.

I’d also like to acknowledge Andrew Hardy’s Facebook comment that mentioned the Sidestreet also features a lot of original local music. On weekends, patrons may hear anything from bluegrass, reggae, blues or acoustic singer/songwriters. Not to mention, the bar’s selection of tap beers is quite superior to nearly every other bar downtown.

Speaking of original music, much support remains for a Fargo Music Festival. How about we block all of downtown off, similar to how we will be doing so for this year’s Fargo Marathon. We could get bands that are just big enough so that we could set up a stage in the middle of Broadway. How about POS, Animal Collective, Wild Flag, The Chalice or Bon Iver? Further up the road we could have smaller stages for more up and coming bands. We could have loads of food and music vendors in the Gate City Bank parking lot.

What else are we asking for? An H&M, Trader Joes, a poetry slam, a soul food restaurant, a “legitimate hipster bar,” “METAL FEST,” etc., etc., etc.

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