Vrå is an old whistle-stop town in northern Jutland. It grew up around the railway which was built in 1871 between Nørresundby and Frederikshavn. Before the railway came, there was no town, just a parish church (Vrå Church, a large village church built in the 1100-1200s), a rectory and three nearby villages: Nørre Vrå, Sønder Vrå and Borup.

The railway cuts the town in two, with the largest part of the town located east of the tracks. West of the railway line are Vrå’s folk high school and the free non-establishment church Vrå Valgmenighedskirke. Vrå is situated in the middle of an agricultural area with good farmland, and to this day the town’s businesses have traditionally relied on farming.

A few major agricultural enterprises still operate in Vrå, but the town is also home to businesses in the skilled trades and the service sector, as well as manufacturing companies. Today, Vrå is very much a service town with specialist shops, supermarkets, a hotel, a sports hall, two nursing homes and a library. Prior to the local government reform in 2007, Vrå was also the centre for the municipal administration in the former Municipality of Løkken-Vrå. The town hall in Vrå now houses the local health authority and services for the elderly and the disabled.

Vrå is known as the cultural centre of Vendsyssel, and Vrå Højskole, a folk high school based on the Danish learning-for-life concept, has definitely played a significant role, not just for the town, but for the entire region. The principals of the folk high school have often been strong personalities who have introduced new initiatives for the benefit of the town and the region. In the past, Vrå Højskole offered short and long courses as well as lectures for the general public. People came from the entire Vendsyssel area to the autumn meetings. The folk high school was founded in Stenum in 1872 and moved to Vrå in 1890.

After World War II, the long summer courses were replaced by short courses. For many years, the author Broby-Johansen taught extremely popular courses in art history at Vrå Højskole each summer. The school still offers courses in art – as well as other subjects. The focus for many years was on long courses in the winter term; however, in recent years the school has suffered financial difficulties, and from January 2007 the school has shifted its focus to shorter, qualifying courses of study, short courses aimed at specific target groups, courses and lectures organised by local associations and conferences.

Cultural life in Vrå has always been strongly influenced by the folk high school. In 1942 the artist Svend Engelund exhibited his paintings for the first time in connection with an autumn meeting at Vrå Højskole. This marked the beginning of the Vrå Exhibition. Since then, more artists have exhibited, and today artists from throughout Denmark exhibit at the prominent Vrå Exhibition. Svend Engelund was born in Vrå in 1908, and in 1992 he opened Kunstbygningen (The Engelund Collection) with a representative selection of his own oil paintings, drawings and sketches. The collection also includes works by many other contributors to the Vrå Exhibition from over the years. The Vrå Concerts also have their roots at Vrå Højskole.

The music society has existed for nearly 25 years, and over the years has organised many classical music and jazz concerts. Recently, there has also been a cinema in the lecture hall at Vrå Højskole.

From the late 1800s, Vrå was home to several different ecclesiastical denominations, and when the first Danish Constitution of 1849 ensured the right to religious freedom, Vendsyssel attracted a number of religious sects and communities.

The Grundtvigian revival developed in protest to the Mormons, and in 1900 the free non-establishment church Vrå Valgmenighedskirke was founded close to the folk high school. This marked the realisation of an old dream of a free Grundtvigian church. Both the evangelical Inner Mission and the Baptists operate in Vrå with educational and missionary activities.

Børnenes Jord in Vrå was established in 1967 as a haven for children – a different kind of playground. It was the first place in Denmark where children became the legal owners of a plot of land. When the playground was established, it attracted a lot of attention in the media because everything was done by volunteers and financed by donations.