Betsy's House *
Mankato
Mankato, Minnesota. Coming into town the first time on Third Ave., I didn't see Mankato's best side and came away with a rather poor first impression.
Well, that changed for the better quickly. I had the great pleasure of interviewing dozens of Mankatoans at a B&N job fair at the Holiday Inn, and I met many fine people for the first time. Choosing that first staff was difficult because there were so many excellent candidates, and the problem persisted throughout my tenure as Manager: We always had more good people who wanted to work with us than we had positions for.
The best things about this area are the people who live here, no doubt. If you already live here, you know that. If you're just coming to town, you'll find it out soon.
Not to downplay the public school system, or the colleges and MSU Mankato, or the library, or the mall, or Pagliai's Pizza for that matter, since they all are excellent.
There are intangibles, too: unlike the Twin Cities, here you don't have to deal with traffic and you can see the stars at night. Very nice.
So if you're looking for a place to put down roots, you could do a lot worse than Mankato.
(Oh, and please don't fall for the claims of natural wonders and sandy beaches made at a bogus website claiming to be the official Mankato site. As much as we'd like to have hot, sandy oceanfront beaches, we don't, I'm afraid. And the Presidents Bush don't generally spend much time here either. The correct site is here: http://www.ci.mankato.mn.us/ )
*Betsy from the Betsy Tacy books by Mankato native Maud Hart Lovelace. Mankato is called Deep Valley in these books. Harper Collins still has them in print. Go to www.bn.com to get yours.
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