Dear Minot:
If events from recent weeks have shown us anything, it’s that things are changing for the better in our community. That’s clearly evident in the opening of three new facilities: City Hall, Magic City Discovery Center, and Trinity Health’s new medical campus.
Relocating City Hall to downtown Minot has been a project in the works for years, essentially since the 2011 flood. Housing Central Dispatch in a facility safely out of the flood zone was the impetus for this project, but it also brings other improvements to our municipal government.
The new City Hall helps make our organization operate more efficiently than before, with more City departments and services now located under the same roof. Its central location also makes it easily accessible when City Council and other public meetings are held. As I said at the dedication on May 11, City Hall has always been the people’s house, and the new facility demonstrates that the spirit of cooperation and dedication is alive and well in our community.
After years of fundraising, design work, construction, and final preparation, the magnificent Magic City Discovery Center proudly stands out on the north hill landscape. The museum offers a little bit of everything for the youth in our area and beyond, with 12 galleries featuring more than 150 interactive exhibits focusing on science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.
The facility’s mission is clear: To engage children and families in the magic of lifelong learning through discovery, creativity, and play.
Those efforts began in 2014, when the museum was housed on a temporary basis at the Dakota Territory Air Museum. In 2017, the City of Minot awarded the museum project $1 million from its Community Facilities Fund, and in 2018, the museum entered into a partnership with the Minot Park District. More funding was obtained through the next few years, and construction officially began in 2021.
Which leads us to 2023, and the museum’s recent grand opening. The people behind the museum refused to take no for an answer, and worked creatively and collaboratively to continue to push the project to completion.
Likewise, Trinity Health’s new campus in southwest Minot has been years in the making, culminating in the facility’s recent grand opening and becoming operational for patients. The new facility expands health care offerings in Minot and the surrounding area, and serves as a vivid reminder that Trinity Health is a vital component of our region’s health care system.
It’s a monumental investment in our community, and in north central North Dakota. It’s a sign that health care in our region is in good hands, and that the future is bright for those seeking quality health care options and for those who work in the health care industry.
These are just three examples of the amazing large-scale things that are happening in our community. There are smaller, yet equally important, events happening this week, as well.
In the next couple of weeks, area high schools, large and small, will hold graduation ceremonies for the class of 2023. It’s always fitting that these graduations are held in the spring, as every year it provides us with new hopes and dreams to fill our world.
Some of the graduates of today will become our newest college students, while others will fill immediate needs in our business community as new employees. All of them, though, represent the future of our communities, whether they make their home in Minot or elsewhere. We trust that all of our area graduates will contribute to the betterment of our communities as we continue to move forward.
Who knows, maybe some of them will be instrumental in making the next big thing a reality in Minot.
You can find more about what’s happening at the City of Minot at minotnd.org, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. We’d also encourage you to sign up for our monthly electronic newsletter on our website.