There’s GREATER Shopping in Downtown St. Cloud

St. Cloud is a GREAT place to call home. Not only are there ample work opportunities and an affordable cost of living, but when it comes to play, there are hundreds of options right outside your door.

GREATER Shopping

Downtown St. Cloud features more than 60 retail shops – many of which are locally owned businesses. Whether you’re looking for a trendy local shop to browse unique children’s wear, a trusted place to find outdoor sports equipment, a relaxing atmosphere to unwind and get a GREAT new do, or even a generations-old local business that can help you build or remodel your home, you can find all this and more in Downtown St. Cloud. And did we mention the antique stores, game shops, and art galleries? There are tons of options! For a complete list, click here.

GREATER Eats and Treats

Not only does Downtown St. Cloud offer a wide array of shops, but it also boasts a huge variety of eating establishments – more than 55, just to give you an idea. Whether you’re in the mood for some Irish fare, something sweet, classic pizza, delicious Indian food, or simply burgers and beers,  you’ll find it all Downtown. For a full list of Downtown dining options, click here.


Beyond food and shopping, Downtown St. Cloud offers even more. Over 500 businesses and more than 70 historic buildings call Downtown St. Cloud home and they’re all within walking distance. Thanks to these wonderful businesses and many more, St. Cloud enjoys a healthy economy.

No matter what your interests, you’ll find something to love about St. Cloud, which is just one of many reasons that we think it’s a GREATER place to live!

"Summertime by George" Is Back!

It's the Wednesday night phenomenon that’s brought thousands of Central Minnesotans together every week...and it’s back!

Since its inception in 2011, Summertime by George (SBG) has continued to pull thousands of people into Downtown St. Cloud on Wednesday evenings for music, food, art and more.

Now, while the idea for the free community event seems foolproof in hindsight, the fact is, no one really expected SBG to become as popular as it has. Let’s back up a little and review how all this even came to be…

The groundwork for SBG was laid in 2007. At that time, the St. Cloud Rotary Club, in tandem with the City of St. Cloud, started kicking around the idea of gathering the funds to fix up one of St. Cloud’s most central and historic parks.

Over the years, Eastman Park / Lake George, while ideal for all types of things, had developed a reputation for being underutilized and conditions began deteriorating.

This inspired the Rotary Club of St. Cloud to take action.

Four years and $7 million in restorations later, the park was ready for a celebration. The park was transformed with granite water fountain, fishing piers, restored walking and bike paths winding around the lake, a splash pad and, most recently, a permanent performance stage, completed earlier this year.

The question was - exactly what kind of celebration would suit this new community gathering place? After much discussion and whittling away at the list of options, Rotary members expressed overwhelming support for the creation of a weekly outdoor festival, complete with live music, food vendors, artisan retailers, a beer garden, activities for children and families...and more.

That plan was ideal. Last year’s final festival shattered records, drawing in an estimate 13,000 attendees. That brought total SBG 2013 attendance to over 86,000 people.

So, if you haven’t yet been bitten by the Summertime by George bug, you can on June 11! We hope to see you there.