St. Cloud, MN

"A greater place to live, work, and engage"

Nominated by Tammy Campion

A patient at CentraCare Health gets a special visitor. (Credit: Tammy Campion)

St. Cloud is the eighth-largest city in Minnesota, making us just the right size — large enough to provide the best in big-city business, entertainment, and health care, with small-town comfort, community and a college-town setting. St. Cloud offers festivals for all seasons, and in recent years, has been invited to host several high-profile statewide events. Hockey enthusiasts were excited St. Cloud hosted Minnesota Hockey Day in January 2018 at Lake George. Given St. Cloud’s love of everything hockey, we were named one of “America’s Best Hockey Towns.”

St. Cloud hockey fans gather around the ice. (Credit: Tammy Campion)

St. Cloud’s newest annual December festival is the Weihnachtsmarkt, which is a German-themed Christmas market that celebrates the city’s German heritage. For the past five years, festival enjoy Gluhwein (a warm spiced wine), Lebkuchen (a gingerbread-like cookie), and of course, plenty of brats and sauerkraut.

Cross country skiers set off for a long race in snowy St. Cloud. (Credit: Tammy Campion)

Stories About St. Cloud

In 2016, St. Cloud created the Neighbor of the Month program to recognize people doing good deeds and inspiring others to be good neighbors, going above and beyond. Nominees can be an individual, a homeowner or renter, a family, a business, or an organization that is recognized by their peers as being a great neighbor and community builder. Awards are presented at televised City Council meetings and shared through all City social media platforms.

Kindness blossoms in St. Cloud. (Credit: Tammy Campion)

St. Cloud has become more diverse with newly arrived immigrant families moving into our community. In 2015, Mayor Dave Kleis created Dinner with the Mayor to create a safer, more engaged community, by inviting unknown residents to his house each month for a home-cooked meal. Many of these individuals now serve on the City’s boards and commissions, employment opportunities have been created, and relationships have been established that transcend race and class. People enjoy a simple meal, share their personal stories, hear other people’s stories, and discuss issues of interest. To date, over 120 people have shared a meal with the mayor.

Sophina, St. Cloud’s “Cookie Girl,” is an amazing eight-year-old with Down’s syndrome. For years, she has been friends with area police officers and firefighters, delivering homemade chocolate chip cookies. She has become so loved by police officers that they pooled their money to buy a little electric squad car for her. Sophina’s love affair with the people who keep us safe everyday continues to grow so she delivers more and more cookies.

Sophina ready to head out on patrol. (Credit: Tammy Campion)