Listen: Return to Atwater
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Ten years after many predicted their demise, small towns are surviving, even thriving. A strong economy is helping. The ripple effect of the farm crisis, many thought, would hasten their end. What happened? And what are small towns like these days? We went back to Atwater to find out. Atwater, population 1000, is the little town near Willmar in west central Minnesota we visited a decade ago. Here's our follow-up report, Return to Atwater, from Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson.

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