Fertile, MN

Fertile is a Polk County city of 804 residents in the 2020 census, part of the Grand Forks North Dakota-Minnesota metropolitan area. Its most distinctive landscape is the Fertile Sand Hills, dunes left by ancient Lake Agassiz that support rare plants and insects. The city's post office has operated since 1881, and the name came from Fertile, Iowa, the former home of some of the first settlers. Sandy ground surrounds town, while richer fields east and west support corn, soybeans, wheat, sunflowers, sugar beets, berries, and vegetables.

Fertile-Beltrami Public School occupies the corner of Mill Street and Jefferson Avenue and serves students from kindergarten through grade 12. The Fertile Public Library is nearby on South Mill Street, keeping another daily institution within the village center. Each summer, the Polk County Fair brings rides, exhibits, livestock, and long-running local tradition to town; the fair has been entertaining the area for more than 115 years. Fertile's identity rests on that mix of unusual sand country, working farmland, school, library, and fairgrounds.