Rediscovering Home: Why the Alexandria Area is the Best of Both Worlds

Alec and Nicole love being back in Alex, raising their kids in a community full of opportunities.

If you’d told teenage Alec and Nicole Swanson they’d end up married with kids and living on a hobby farm in the Alexandria area, they wouldn’t have believed you.

While they didn’t formally know each other, they had opinions. “I was kind of a nerdy, quiet type, and she was more in the ‘in’ crowd,” said Alec. “He just looked like he really had his life together. Not my kind of guy,” said Nicole.

Time to discover life outside of Alex

After graduation, they went off to different colleges to discover life and people outside Alexandria. “When we got out of high school, there were all the same people we grew up with,” said Nicole. “I knew that there was big-city life out there that I’d never experienced.”

After college, “I worked in the inner city in the metro,” she said. “I worked at a domestic violence shelter. Then I came back to Alex to kind of reground myself,” Nicole said. She’s now a deputy in the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

Alec returned to Alex after college and is now a detective with the Alexandria Police Department — where they reconnected. “I learned about this new dispatcher,” said Alec. “I figured I’d swing in and introduce myself. Well, lo and behold, it was Nicole. And the rest is history.”

A community working together — and it shows

The community supports law enforcement, and that makes a big difference. Their work is challenging, but “we don’t have to convince anybody we’re there for a reason,” said Nicole. “Every day, we're reminded why we do this job, and that’s a blessing.”

“When we’re driving in our squads, people are waving at us nonstop,” said Nicole. Alec added, “With all five fingers.”

In June, Alec was one of 13 Alexandria-area cyclists who rode in Tour de Shield616, a five-day 455-mile trek across Minnesota to raise money to buy all-day rifle-rated body armor for local law enforcement agencies.

As they rolled into Alexandria, a crowd was there to greet them. “It was super emotional how many people were out in the rain, flooding the street to cheer us on,” said Alec. Bikers who participated in previous rides were amazed. “They’d never seen a community as welcoming as Alexandria.”

The best of both worlds

“Moving away made me appreciate the city more and what it has to offer,” said Alec. “We have two kids, and raising them in this community is so much fun.”

“There are things for families to do throughout the year,” said Nicole. “We didn’t have that when we grew up here. Now, you can live on a hobby farm, then go into Alexandria for a concert at a brewery. We’re in a sweet spot right now. We have the best of both worlds.”