New Resident Resources

Mark your calendars for these large-scale annual events in Cottage Grove each year. You won't want to miss them!

Cottage Grove Strawberry Festival

This four-day, family-focused event offers something for everyone. An estimated 25,000 people come to town to enjoy wonderful food, fantastic bands, a carnival and much more! 

Monster Bash Parade

On the Saturday before Halloween, put on your best costume and line up to watch the parade of Halloween themed floats go by.

Halloween Extravaganza

Dodge Nature Center hosts this family friendly event at Shepard Farm. Families can take a hayride, get their face painted, practice axe throwing, slingshot apples, listen to live music and go trick-or-treating through the woods. This event is typically held the same day as the Monster Bash Parade.

The Haunting Experience

Head to Zywiec's Garden Center to be spooked by the scariest monsters in town. Their fun Halloween scares include a haunted hayride (the longest consecutively running hayride in the state) and a haunted house.

Fall Fun Fest

This family-friendly Halloween festival at Zywiec's Garden Center is perfect for the kiddos to enjoy farm animals, hayrides, pumpkin painting, no-scare haunted house tours and more.  

Pumpkin Chuck

Join the Cottage Grove Parks and Rec team just after Halloween with a fun activity to get rid of the rotting pumpkins on your stoop. Toss them, launch them, roll them down a slide or give them to a firefighter to drop from the top of a fire truck bucket.

Hale to the Bird 5K

Held on thanksgiving morning, the Hale to the Bird 5K is a great option for a turkey trot with a community feel.

Hometown Holiday Celebration

This celebration is a hallmark of the city's holiday events. The event is filled with cheer as attendees listen to carolers, play festive games and win prizes, take photos with Santa, enjoy the food trucks and sometimes even spot some live reindeer!

Holiday Train

Each December the decked out holiday train rolls through Cottage Grove to bring live musical performances. Before the train arrives, attendees can take photos with Santa, grab food from the food trucks, and pick out some holiday train gear.

Santa Breakfast

Held the second Sunday in December, enjoy a North Pole breakfast complete with photos with Santa and a ride on his sleigh!

For more information about these events, keep watch of Discover Cottage Grove's website, newsletter and social media. 

The Cottage Grove Area Chamber of Commerce represents businesses in Cottage Grove, Newport and St. Paul Park. The Chamber helps businesses develop and grow and helps create a thriving business community through their wide selection of resources. The Chamber also publishes an annual guide to area businesses. Learn more and get involved on the Chamber's website. 

The City of Cottage Grove began working since 2017 with experts and the Minnesota Department of Health to determine the best solutions to ensure clean water for Cottage Grove. These partnerships leveraged some of the brightest minds in the industry to provide solutions about PFAS (human-made chemicals found in Cottage Grove drinking water) and their treatment. After focused pilot studies, working groups and multitudes of research, the long-term Clean Water for Cottage Grove Plan was finalized in August of 2021.  

The plan includes several significant water treatment projects and ensures that strict standards for PFAS will be maintained in Cottage Grove and other affected communities. Standards will be stricter than the state's current safety guidelines for PFAS. Wells that exceed half the allowable limits will be treated. This ensures safe drinking water for all residents.

Learn more on the Clean Water for Cottage Grove webpage. 

Discover Cottage Grove is the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). The CVB promotes Cottage Grove as a visitors destination by working in partnership with industries, corporate partners, state partners, regional destination marketing organizations and local organizations. Discover Cottage Grove is the go-to place for all things events in the city, rental facilities, lodging, shopping, things to do, and much more.

Discover Cottage Grove has many resources to help new residents get to know the city. Here's just a few:

• Visit their website
• Check out their annual visitors guide
• Subscribe to their monthly newsletter
• Follow them on social media:
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Adopt a Park or Road

Groups or individuals can volunteer to help keep our parks clean for the community. More information can be found on the Adopt-A-Park page. 

Help with Summer Recreation Programs

Summer supervised playground volunteers help supervise and make a safe and memorable experience for participants. More information about Supervised Playgrounds can be found on the parks and recreation webpage. 

Join a Board or Commission

As a member of a City of Cottage Grove board or commission, you will help provide direction and information to the City Council. The city has five boards/commissions:

• Economic Development Authority (EDA)
• Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission
• Public Services Commission
• Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation (ACHP)
• Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB)

 More information can be found on the boards and commissions webpage. 

Join the Police Reserves

As a member of the police reserves, you would assist the police department with patrols, community events, crime scene security, prisoner transport and more. More information can be found on the police reserves webpage. 

Cottage Grove has a robust parks and recreation scene. Our over 1,500 acres of park land, 35 neighborhood parks, miles of trails, 18-hole municipal golf course and expansive ice arena means you've got plenty of places to explore the city. Learn more about all this, program opportunities, rentals and more on the parks and recreation page. Also, stay up to date with what's happening in the parks and recreation department on their Facebook page. 

Cottage Grove has many unique parks amenities including:

• Cottage Grove Bike Park at West Draw Park
• Skate park at Hamlet park
• Woodridge park: one of the largest all-inclusive parks in the state
• Kayak rentals in the backwaters of the Mississippi at Hazen P. Mooers park
• Snowshoe rentals at Oakwood Park
• Disc golf course at Oakwood Park
• Splash pad at Highlands park
• Paddle boat at Highlands park -- free and no registration required
• Bocce ball court at Lamar park
• Snowshoe, cross country ski and kayak rentals at Cottage Grove Ravine Regional Park
• WAG Farms Dog Park
• Shepard Farm: Dodge Nature Center owned property with free, public trails, farm animals, community gardens and beekeeping spaces for rent, and other programming. 

Cottage Grove has many free and paid recreation programs for all ages during all times of the year. 

• Summer softball leagues
• Summer supervised playground
• Tennis, archery, hockey and ice skating lessons or camps
• Pumpkin Chuck
• MEA break programming
• Pop-up splash pads
• Skating Spooktacular
• And so much more!

Learn more and sign up on the recreation programs and events page.  

To guide your explorations of the park system, check out these maps:

• Parks and Open Space
• Bike Trails
• Snowmobile Trails

The Community Development Department handles permitting, inspections, planning and code enforcement. 

Most interior and exterior home improvement projects require a permit. More information on requirements for specific projects can be found on the residential permit handout page. 

CodeRED

CodeRed is a mass notification system that can quickly deliver messages via telephone, text or email. Learn more and sign up for emergency alerts on our CodeRed page. 

Prevent Home Fires

The Cottage Grove Fire Department has a helpful home safety checklist of things you can do to prevent fires. 

Life Saving Training

The Cottage Grove Fire Department has multiple training opportunities available to the public including CPR, AED and first aid training, and senior fall prevention home visits. View each of the flyers below to learn more and sign up. 

• Life Saving Training: includes CPR, first aid, AED and Naloxone training
• Senior Fall Prevention Visits

Automated External Defibrillator (AED)

If you have an AED in your home or business, help Cottage Grove become a heart safe community by registering it with the fire department. 

Open Houses

Each October, both the Police Department and the Fire Department host open houses so the community can come and meet their members, tour their facilities and check out their equipment. 

Social Media

Want to stay up to date about what's going on in the public safety department? Follow the city's public safety social media accounts at the links below. 

• Police Department Facebook
• Fire Department Facebook
• Public Safety Twitter

Golf

River Oaks is an impressive 18-hole public golf course located just off Highway 61 on the southern border of Cottage Grove. From the tee boxes to the greens, this pristine course features a beautiful view of the Mississippi River. River Oaks' driving range utilizes Toptracer technology, the ultimate practice tool that takes the guesswork out of range sessions by offering an engaging, data-driven experience. Guests of all ages and handicaps will enjoy playing iconic courses or taking aim at virtual targets and seeing if they can climb the global leaderboard. The course is also a great place for hosting your own tournament.

Clubhouse

Inside River Oaks' clubhouse is Eagles Bar and Grill, where you can fuel up before or after hitting the links. Connected to the restaurant is the event center, the perfect place to host weddings, birthday parties, sports banquets, bridal showers and much more.

Events

River Oaks offers private golf lessons and group lessons for adults and juniors. They also have mens, womens and juniors golf leagues you can join. Their annual events like the Easter Brunch, Mothers Day Brunch and Breakfast with Santa (where you can even ride on Santa's sleigh) are a hit for the community and fill up fast. You also don't want to miss their Friday night fish frys during Lent or their occasional dueling piano events. 

For more information about River Oaks, visit their website at RiverOaksMuniGolf.com. Stay up to date with River Oaks by following their Facebook page. 

The South Washington County school district includes all or parts of Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park, Woodbury and Afton, Denmark and Grey Cloud Island Townships. More information about SoWashCo Schools can be found on their website.

Find your school on the school district boundary map.

Cottage Grove Connect

If you're interested in getting news from the city straight to your inbox, sign up for our Cottage Grove Connect e-notifications. You can choose to only be notified of certain topics, or you can choose them all to stay extra informed!

Cottage Grove Reports

For the latest on happenings and updates in the city, check out our monthly Cottage Grove Reports newsletter. The Cottage Grove Reports newsletter gets delivered right into the mailboxes of all residents in Cottage Grove each month. 

Social Media

Follow our social media accounts:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• YouTube
• LinkedIn

Composting

Food Scraps

Food scraps can be brought to the compost site behind the Cottage Grove Public Works facility at 8635 West Point Douglas Rd. Free table top composting bins and compostable bags are also available to Cottage Grove residents and can be picked up at the Public Works building or City Hall. More information about this program can be found on our food scraps website. 

Yard Waste

The Cottage Grove yard waste composting site is operated by Rumpca Companies and is located at 95th and Glendenning. More information can be found on Rumpca's website. 

Trash and Recycling

Cottage Grove has three licensed residential trash haulers that are also required to offer recycling pick up. Learn more and find contact info on the Recycling and Solid Waste page. 

Hazardous Waste

Hazardous waste can be disposed of at the Washington County Environmental Center. Visit their website for more information. 

Spring Cleanup

On the first Saturday in May each year, Public Works hosts a spring cleanup event where they accept most household trash for a small fee. Learn more on our spring cleanup page. 

Water, Sewer, Stormwater and Street Lights

Cottage Grove residents are billed monthly for water, sewer, stormwater and street lights on city utility bills. These bills can be paid in person at City Hall or via online portal. Automatic payment plans are also available. More information including rates and move-in requests can be found on the utility payment page. 

Private Utilities

More information, including contact information, can be found on the private utilities page.