Best Activities to Do in Fargo

Plains Art Museum: The Anchor of Downtown Fargo

The Plains Art Museum occupies a 110,000-square-foot former warehouse in the heart of downtown Fargo and holds accreditation from the AAM, a distinction that only about 1,000 institutions across the country carry. It is the largest accredited art museum in the region and the most visited cultural institution in Fargo, drawing families, students, and serious art audiences to a program that mixes permanent collection highlights with ambitious temporary exhibitions.

The permanent collection emphasizes work by Indigenous artists of the Northern Plains, a focus that reflects both the geography of the institution and a deliberate acquisition strategy that has been in place for more than two decades. The Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity, housed within the museum, runs ongoing studio education programming for all ages. Admission to the museum is $10 for adults and $7 for children, with free family days offered periodically through the year. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, with extended hours on certain event nights.

The Plains Art Museum has become one of the genuine surprises of American regional art museums. Its commitment to Indigenous Plains art, combined with a facility that would hold its own in any major city, makes it a destination worth building an itinerary around, not just checking off a list.

Sarah Larimer, arts journalist and regional culture writer

The museum's spring gala and annual fundraising events consistently draw regional attendance, and its Indigenous Art Fair, held annually, brings artists and community members from across the Northern Plains to exhibit and sell directly. For visitors traveling in May or early June 2026, checking the museum's event calendar before booking is worth the effort.

The Red River and Its Corridors

The Red River of the North forms the border between North Dakota and Minnesota, running north through Fargo and Moorhead before continuing to the Canadian border. The river has a complicated relationship with the cities it passes through: it floods regularly and substantially, and the memory of major flood events in 1997 and 2009 shaped significant infrastructure decisions, including the ongoing construction of a diversion project that has been one of the largest flood control engineering undertakings in U.S. history.

That history aside, the river corridor through Fargo-Moorhead offers genuine outdoor recreation. The Red River State Recreation Area on the Minnesota side maintains nearly 80 campsites, a canoe and kayak launch, and fishing access that draws anglers after walleye, northern pike, and channel catfish. The Fargo Park District operates a trail system along the western bank that connects neighborhoods to downtown and can be accessed year-round: in summer on foot or bicycle, in winter on skis or snowshoes when conditions allow. For visitors who want a longer outing, the Sheyenne River Valley, about 60 miles to the southwest, offers a state scenic byway with exceptional autumn color and several small towns worth exploring.

Downtown Fargo: Blocks Worth Walking

Downtown Fargo has transformed since the early 2000s, when the area around Broadway counted more vacant storefronts than operating businesses. The current streetscape is a mix of independent restaurants, coffee shops, bars, boutique retail, and a concentration of mural work that started as a civic beautification project and has become a genuine art attraction. The Fargo Walk of Fame, featuring bronze plaques recognizing notable North Dakotans on the Broadway sidewalk, is a small curiosity worth a few minutes of anyone's time.

The Fargo Theatre, a 1926 movie palace that still operates as both a film venue and event space, anchors the downtown arts scene. Its marquee is a Fargo landmark, and the theater programs a mix of independent and classic film screenings alongside live events. The Broadway Square, a year-round outdoor event space one block off the main corridor, hosts farmers markets, concerts, and seasonal programming that changes with the calendar. In summer 2026, the weekly farmers market runs Thursday evenings through August.

Craft Breweries and the Fargo Food Scene

Fargo has developed a craft brewery concentration that tracks closely with mid-sized Midwest cities that have invested in downtown revival over the past decade. Drekker Brewing Company, operating out of a former warehouse in the downtown core, has become the region's most recognized craft label, distributing across the Dakotas and Minnesota and maintaining a taproom that functions as a social hub through every season. Junkyard Brewing in nearby Moorhead rounds out a scene that also includes Fargo Brewing Company, one of the state's oldest craft producers, and several newer taprooms that have opened since 2022.

The food scene beyond the taprooms has grown in range and quality. HoDo Restaurant and Lounge in the Hotel Donaldson, which occupies a renovated historic building on Broadway, runs a menu anchored in regional ingredients. Spicy Pie has become a Fargo institution with a following that extends well beyond the city. For visitors arriving in September, the Fargo Food Film Festival is a multi-day event that pairs documentary screenings with chef collaborations and market access, drawing food-focused travelers from across the Upper Midwest.

Fargo's food and brewery scene has matured to the point where it can support a visit motivated specifically by eating and drinking. That was not true ten years ago, and it says something real about how the city has changed.

Clay Jenkinson, North Dakota humanities scholar and cultural commentator

Seasonal Activities: Winter and Summer Fargo

Fargo sits in one of the most extreme continental climates in the lower 48 states. January temperatures regularly fall below minus 20 Fahrenheit with wind chill, and summer can push into the 90s with high humidity. That range has pushed the city to build a four-season event and activity calendar rather than concentrating everything in summer, which is a practical and visitor-friendly outcome of necessity.

Winter in Fargo draws the most loyalty from locals and the most curiosity from outsiders. The Fargo-Moorhead area maintains a robust cross-country ski trail network at Elmwood Park and Island Park, with conditions typically reliable from late December through mid-February. Ice fishing on nearby lakes, including Maple River Reservoir and the lakes of the Sheyenne River Valley, draws dedicated practitioners who describe the activity in terms that have nothing to do with temperature. The city hosts a series of winter festivals, including Holiday Lights at Island Park, which runs through most of December and transforms the park with a walk-through light installation that draws families from across the region.

Summer offers the Red River Valley Fair, one of the largest regional fairs in the upper Midwest, held in late July in West Fargo. Baseball at Newman Outdoor Field, home of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks of the AAPB, runs through summer and offers affordable family entertainment in a well-maintained minor league environment. The Folkways Music and Art Festival, held in downtown Fargo in August, typically programs three days of outdoor stages with artists ranging from regional folk acts to nationally recognized names.

Fargo-Moorhead Activities Comparison

Getting to Fargo and Getting Around

Hector International Airport serves Fargo with direct flights from major regional hubs including Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Chicago. Delta, United, and American all operate regular service, with Minneapolis functioning as the primary connecting hub for longer-haul travelers. Driving from Minneapolis takes approximately 3.5 hours on Interstate 94, a route that passes through rolling farmland that has its own austere appeal in winter and spring.

Within Fargo, a car is helpful for reaching the outer neighborhoods and nearby recreation areas, but downtown is walkable and bikeable in a way that many visitors do not expect from a city of its size. The Fargo Park District maintains a bike share program during warmer months, and the downtown grid is compact enough that most of the key attractions are within 10 to 15 minutes on foot of each other. Hotel options in downtown Fargo range from independent boutique properties like the Hotel Donaldson to national chain options from $100 to $200 per night, with rates typically lower than comparable mid-sized cities in neighboring states.