Part of what makes a healthy community is having access to a variety of recreational and artistic opportunities. These opportunities allow people to express their backgrounds, talents and experiences, according to the Blandin Foundation.

In Albert Lea, recreational opportunities include not only school and league sports, but also opportunities available to younger children to learn skills, the many things available to do in and around our lakes, the city pool, the splash pad, as well as less traditional sports such as horseshoes, pickleball, bocce and even a new fishing club.

Albert Lea does a great job of having these opportunities available to all, whether through scholarships or a few days free of charge each year. The community also has several parks available for residents to utilize throughout the year, along with walking and running paths to stay in shape or simply to enjoy nature.

No matter what season, there’s always some kind of outdoor recreation to take part in.

There are also many artistic opportunities available to residents, which include things like community theater, the Albert Lea Art Center, Freeborn County Arts Initiative,  shows at the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center and concerts at the Freeborn County Fair, to name a few. There are other musical opportunities for people to be a part of, including numerous choirs and the Albert Lea Community Band.

Albert Lea Area Schools and the surrounding school districts offer artistic opportunities for students to get involved from a young age through various school plays and musicals. The elementary schools even give their students the chance to work with professional actors annually through a Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre production.

While Albert Lea has many recreational and artistic opportunities available for residents, the one area we think it could grow overall is the musical opportunities and entertainment for young adults to keep these residents in the community on the weekends instead of traveling out of town for entertainment.