Editing Grand Forks, North Dakota (section)

==Sister cities==
[[File:Grand Forks County Office Building.JPG|thumb|right|Grand Forks County Office Building]]

Grand Forks [[town twinning|sister cities]]:
*[[Dickinson, North Dakota|Dickinson]], [[North Dakota]], US
*[[Sarpsborg]], Norway
*[[Awano, Tochigi|Awano]], [[Tochigi Prefecture|Tochigi]], Japan (defunct)
*[[Ishim, Tyumen Oblast|Ishim]], [[Tyumen Oblast]], Russia (inactive)

Grand Forks has an active [[town twinning|sister city]] program designed to encourage cultural and economic exchanges.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.grandforksgov.com/gfgov/home.nsf/Pages/Sister+Cities |title=Sister Cities |access-date=June 11, 2007 |publisher=City of Grand Forks |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108104108/http://www.grandforksgov.com/gfgov/home.nsf/Pages/Sister+Cities |archive-date=November 8, 2006 }}</ref> Its first sister city was [[Ishim, Tyumen Oblast|Ishim]] in the [[Soviet Union]]. That relationship formally began in 1984 during the [[Cold War]]. Sometime in the late 1990s, political and economic turmoil in Russia ended the relationship.<ref name="sister">{{cite news|last=Lee|first=Yangkyoung|title=$5 million godsend|work=Grand Forks Herald|date=May 2, 2007}}</ref> While the relationship with Ishim faded, Grand Forks found a new sister in [[Awano, Tochigi|Awano]], Japan. An informal relationship began in 1994 when the school districts of both cities began exchanging students. In 1998, the two formally proclaimed themselves sister cities. The best publicly available testament to the relationship between the two is a Japanese rock garden in Grand Forks's Sertoma Park and a sculpture of an [[American bison]] in an Awano park.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bakken|first=Ryan|title=Japanese Residents Will Dedicate New Garden|work=Grand Forks Herald| date=October 21, 2003}}</ref> The annexation of Awano by the larger city of [[Kanuma, Tochigi|Kanuma]] led to the end of the sister city relationship, but Kanuma and Grand Forks continue to partner in a yearly educational exchange of high school students.<ref>{{cite news| title = GF's family gets smaller | work = Grand Forks Herald|date = February 19, 2006 }}</ref> Grand Forks's relationship with [[Dickinson, North Dakota]], began in 2002, when delegations from each city visited the other.<ref>{{cite news|last=Davis|first=Lisa|title=Sister city delegates visit GF|work=Grand Forks Herald|date=October 19, 2003|url=http://www.prairiepublic.org/features/riverwatch/news/herald/10_19_03.html |access-date=June 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222447/http://www.prairiepublic.org/features/riverwatch/news/herald/10_19_03.html|archive-date=September 27, 2007}}</ref> Grand Forks Mayor [[Michael Brown (mayor)|Michael Brown]] said he thought having friends in western North Dakota, which typically has diverging interests from eastern cities, could help at the state legislature.<ref>{{cite news | last = Davis | first = Lisa | title = Sister city delegates visit GF | work = Grand Forks Herald|date = October 19, 2003 | url = http://www.prairiepublic.org/features/riverwatch/news/herald/10_19_03.html | access-date = June 5, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222447/http://www.prairiepublic.org/features/riverwatch/news/herald/10_19_03.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = September 27, 2007}}</ref> [[Sarpsborg]], [[Norway]], became a sister city in 2005 after several exchanges among leaders from both cities. The city became interested in building a relationship with Sarpsborg because many Grand Forks residents have Norwegian heritage.<ref>{{cite news | last = Tran | first = Tu-Uyen | title = Touring Norway: Year of anticipation | work = Grand Forks Herald | date = November 13, 2003 | url = https://secure.forumcomm.com/?publisher_ID=40&article_id=37884 | archive-date = March 15, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130315152848/https://secure.forumcomm.com/?publisher_ID=40&article_id=37884 | url-status = live }}{{Subscription required}}</ref>