And I ask them where they come from. Many of them say they come from the Fargo area. Some also are coming from California and Texas. If the census numbers don't tell the tale of the Asian population boom, take a look at the area's ethnic food offerings. In 1990, five restaurants served primarily Asian cuisine in the five-city St. Cloud area.
Today there are more than a dozen such eateries and double the number of Asian markets.
People come here because they have a good choice of schools and for the jobs. St. Cloud State University, in a 1998 estimate, had as many as 250 students from Asian countries such as Japan, Malaysia, China and Indonesia. Vietnamese refugees, released from communist work camps, also have relocated to the St. Cloud area. St. Cloud's Asian growth has outpaced statewide growth. Minnesota saw its Vietnamese population double in the last 10 years, while St. Cloud's population grew 234 percent.