Victoria MN Newspaper

Chris said the city is also talking about downtown infrastructure improvements, especially on Main Street. He said a 14,000 square foot retail center will be constructed next to the new Coborn’s grocery store, and that there is a proposal to remodel the city-owned downtown gym into a new City Hall and City Offices -- which is what happened in Victoria some years ago.

“A lot of buildings in downtown Tioga are getting remodeled, renovated, spiffed up,” said Chris. “It started with the bank."

***

The Oil Patch is growing above ground as well as below ground. Jenny is pleased with the new businesses that have sprouted along Highway 40, that north-west corridor through Tioga, as well as along State Highway 2, the east-west four-laner which happens to traverse the entire northern part of the USA, from Washington State to Maine.

The Norgaards live about a mile from each of the two intersecting highways. They think they’re in the center of the universe, and in many ways they are.

“I love Alco! I love Cenex! I love the Kum and Go!” Jenny exclaimed. “I love having all of these places to go.” One should note that only a few years ago, Jenny and her mother spent much time together at Eden Prairie Center and the Mall of America. We love “having places to go.”

The huge new Cenex Station along Highway 40 is like a Walmart. Along with gas and groceries, it also sells clothing, especially clothes for workers in the Oil Patch, gifts, toys, hardware, liquor, and much more.

There is also a wide-variety deli in that Cenex Station and a conference room for meetings and community use. As a matter of fact, Chris made reservations for us when we arrived on Valentine’s Day and treated us to a Steak and Lobster Dinner being served in that conference room. It was fine dining with china, linen, and bouquets of long stemmed red roses.

Alco is like a Target. The Kum and Go, a gas station and convenience store, has more than doubled in size since the Norgaards moved to Tioga. The grocery store has changed hands but remains well stocked with good meat and produce, and the Schwan’s man found Jenny again out in the countryside.

***

Newspapers in the Oil Patch cover topics similar to newspapers here in Carver County. They report on building projects, city council meetings, student honor rolls, with sports news and photos of kids and their activities. As would be expected, they also include obituaries and interesting commentaries and features on life in particular and in general.

But, unlike in Carver County, the Oil Patch papers also report on oil taxes, oil rig counts, oil explosions, propane shortage, and coyote problems. Also unlike in Carver County, there are several columns of Help Wanted ads in the Tioga Tribune.

Propane shortage? Said Christopher, “There was a wet corn crop and it took big gobs of propane to dry the corn.”

Coyote problems? Coyotes have become too comfortable around people, and cows don’t like coyotes, especially when they’re calving. Coyotes have become an “extra predator” to wildlife and family dogs in the Oil Patch.

Help wanted? They need bartenders, full time cooks, school bus drivers, police officers, truck drivers, dishwashers, cash register clerks, seamstresses, attendants at the laundry, club house managers at the golf course, managers at the farmer’s elevator, nurses of all kinds from RN’s to LPN’s and medical aides, building contractors, diesel pickup owner operators, heavy equipment operators.

Click here to continue The Oil Patch.