Meet The Locals: Jessica Grimes

Raising a Healthy Family in Lakes Country

They say you can’t have your cake and eat it too. But why not? With intelligence, hard work, and a little luck, a person can often find a way to live their dreams.
Our interview is with Jessica Grimes, who grew up out-of-state and whose family spent summers in Otter Tail County. Those summers bred in her a love for the lakes country and a dream to finally retire here in some distant future. However, an opening for a great job accelerated those plans, and now she and her husband and children are living the best of all possible worlds.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Jessica Grimes. I’m married to Matthew and we have three kids 16, 4 and 1. We also have a dog and a cat. I grew up in Bismarck, North Dakota. My dad had a place on Otter Tail Lake and we spent summers
on the lake over here so I always wanted to be out here in lake country. I thought that I would probably move here when I got older after I retired.

Q: What is your job?
I’m a family physician at the Tri-County Health Care Clinic in Ottertail. I’ve been there for one year. Before that,
I was working in New York Mills.

Q: What do you think of Otter Tail County?
I love it. I like so many things about it. I like the community, we know our neighbors here, and everybody kind of helps out. I like being able to go to town to know people when I see them on the streets. There are also lots of things we can do around here.

Q: How would you describe the culture here?
I would say its very family oriented and fun oriented.
It’s kind of a relaxed place. Everyone likes to hang out and have fun.

Q: What are some of your interests?
I help out with Otter Fest, Music in the Park and Otter Dazzle. There’s lots to do as a family. We do lots of lake activities during the summer. We spend a lot of time swimming, riding on the pontoon, and fishing. During the winter we like to hang out with family and also do some of the Christmas festivals.

Q: What are the typical activities for
your family in the summer?
My dad has a place on Otter Tail Lake and my mom has a place near Detroit Lakes. So if someone is visiting, which is almost every weekend, we will go to one of those places for breakfast or dinner. When we are home we are almost always outside, usually by the water. The kids are jumping on the trampoline or running through the sprinklers, or playing with the neighbor kids.

Q: Do you get out to the parks in the area?
We like to go hiking, which is usually more in the spring and fall for us. We like Maplewood State Park and Glendalough State Park and try to get to Itasca State Park at least once a year and visit the Headwaters of
the Mississippi River.

Q: Your home is on a lake but in the city limits. What does that offer you?
We looked at a lot of lots when we were planning to build a home. We knew we wanted to be on a lake, and we wanted to be close to my parents. When we saw this one, it was perfect because it is in the city of Ottertail so we have city water, natural gas, and they plow our roads; so it’s the best of both worlds. It’s a smaller lake too and I’d rather live on a quieter lake like this one.

Q: Do you feel this is a good place to raise a family? Definitely. I really like our neighbors; the schools are great. We had a choice between four schools when we moved here and all the choices were really good.

Q: What would you say to someone thinking about relocating to Otter Tail County?
I would say that you wouldn’t regret it. It’s a really good place to live. When people are thinking about moving to a small town they wonder about not having enough to do or not being able to get to the stores they want to get to. We don’t really have any trouble with any of that here. We have a small grocery store here in town and if we need anything else it’s maybe a 15-minute drive. There are great restaurants in town so there are options if you want to go out. There’s always something to do, a festival, a concert or something. So that’s not a fear people should have if they’re thinking about moving to a small town around here.