 Grand Forks has an active sister city program designed to encourage cultural and economic exchanges . Grand Forks ' first sister city was <unk> in the Soviet Union . The relationship with the Siberian city formally began in 1984 during the Cold War . Sometime in the late 1990s , however , political and economic turmoil in Russia ended the relationship . While the relationship with <unk> faded , Grand Forks found a new sister in Awano , Japan . An informal relationship began in 1994 when the school districts of both cities began exchanging students . In 1998 , the two formally proclaimed themselves sister cities . The most concrete evidence of the relationship between the two is a Japanese rock garden in Grand Forks ' <unk> Park and a sculpture of an American bison in an Awano park . However , the annexation of Awano by the larger city of Kanuma has led to the end of the sister city relationship . Grand Forks ' relationship with Dickinson , North Dakota , began in 2002 , when delegations from each city visited the other . Grand Forks Mayor Michael Brown has said he thinks having friends in western North Dakota , which typically has diverging interests from eastern cities , could help at the state legislature . Sarpsborg , Norway , became a sister city in 2005 following several exchanges among leaders from both cities . The city became interested in building a relationship with Sarpsborg because many Grand Forks residents have Norwegian heritage . 
