has anyone ever spent significant time in a small town (i.e Croswell,
Springport, etc) tell us what your experiences. 

10 responses total.

Well, I was born in a small towne:  Bangor, New York.  (Actually, I was *born*
in the slightly bidgger towne next door, but I went to Bangor a few days later)
I don't remember alot because we left when I was 7 or 8--but I do remember
things like losing my mittens and having the "olde lady" from down the block
drop by two days later on her way to the store with my original pair and
a brand new hand-knit pair.  Or phone calls to my mom from across town
if I crossed the street without supervision.  People I didn't even know
seemed all wrapped up in what my family was doing.  Of course, we were the
outsiders.  My parent moved there as newlyweds.  Maybe we were as close as
it got to exotic.

I've done my best to avoid townes with fewer than 100,000 citizens since then.

The bigger towne next door (Malone) had broken the 7.000 barrier by 1988.

Next month I'll be moving to a small town--though it won't be far away from
some of the larger cities in the area [unlike Croswell and such Jim was 
referring to in the original item].  Still, I'm looking forward to the move/
change as my new location will be in much more rural setting... Besides looking
forward to having a nice apartment complex to live in, I'll have miles and
miles of rural roads to walk/ride my bike.  And, as I expect, it will be much
more peaceful and relaxing.  One thing different [besides lack of noise and
congestion] is that I won't be able to walk to the grocery store--will have to
plan ahead more!  Overall, am looking forwrd to the change!! 

O.K. its been almost 3 years. How about an update.

I grew up in two small towns.  My earliest memories were of Marley, Illinois;
I stopped by to view it recently and it is 100% disappeared.  Whatta shock.
My next small town was Humbird, Wisconsin where my dad had a cheese factory.
I stopped by there a few years back and it is a biker & trailer town.  
I wish I had not visited either place - the memories were great.

Define small town.  (population?)

Marley was 80 people, if you counted the people who came to church on

Sunday, from the surrounding countryside.  

Humbird, on the other hand was about 200, I would guess (Probably 6 streets,
whereas humbird had 2).  From Humbird, I moved to a truly big town, Dundee,
Mich, about 2000, then on to Dexter, about 2500 (?).  

I lived in a small town in Spain once.  Everyone knew everyone else's
business.  No matter where I went or what I said, before I got home, 
it was reported.  Plus the commentary on my American style of dress.
I was in an area that was about 20-30 years behind the times, from 
my perspective (and I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong).  I could
walk into any small store or cafe anywhere in the town and the 
propieter and employees not only knew me, the first American they had
ever seen (our reputation preceded me!), but also all the details
about the family I was living with, everything  about their kids and home, etc.
I was shocked and pleased by the level of care and concern, having 
grown up til then in a NY suburb not known for being too 
personal or intimate.  I felt totally safe anywhere anytime, as
if I had all these strangers as my guardian angels.  

Population:  100,000 I found out later.  I had been convinced
it was a tiny village!

   I spent my first 7-8 years in a small town called new hampton Iowa
maybe a city by some definitions. It had like 2-3 thousand I think.
I remember loosing my first tooth there as a young un when me and the 
town sheriffs kid were trying to beat each others brains out. :)
Town politics were funny, social politics I suppose. Seemed part of
the town was of polish or norwegian ancestry. Not all of em pure
bred(when in Iowa and find a good woman you don't ask about ancestry
since the next good one may be a long time or a long drive away)
<grin>. But anywayz, when the norwegians were the more prominent 
faction of the polulation the town feel was different. When later
the polish people were more prominent the town was sort of the same
but had a totally different feel. Things just did not run the same.
I will not elaborate since I am ancestrally biased. :)
  It was a nice place. The town cops tended not to bother people unless
they were doing something real stupid, annoying, or blantly and excessively
illegal. I heard in most small towns the cops constantly meddle. Well
these did too, they wouldn't really do anything, except for putting 
the word in someone elses ear as to what they saw you doing.
    I suppose the air about the town was the people liked privacy and nosey
people tended to get popped in the nose. Except old ladies who people 
figured were beyond help. And if they did not gossip or nose around
would probably do some horrible thing to a relative like knit them
a lace tablecloth big enough to cover a football field or send every
relative they had 3 home made fruitcakes. These plains grannies were
just too damn energetic I guess. Must be all those rhubarb pie and cakes.
(to michiganders who do not know the effects of long term effects of
this plant, big hint, you don't wanna find out.  People should age 
normally and not be climbing trees when 85 years old.)
    Like 20+ years later the town found out their sheriff with a wife 
and a kid maybe kids (?) led a double life and was also a homosexual.
I foget if he killed himself, died naturally, or still lives. The town
was such that it wasn't something horrible about him being that way,
but more like a funny quirk of a guy they thought they knew.
    It was a fun first few years there.  Did all sorts of child fr
things. Never got caught but for one thing. Some crazy old man got tired
of me stealing his apples, caught me, and sent me home with two sacks
full of ripe ones that fell to the ground. Could just be because his dog
started barking every time I snuck into the trees. Probably drove him
nuts. :)
  Not your typical small town, but not too bad of a place. Even if the
demented polish people are in the slight majority today. <evil grin>

Did most of the town come out to make a Living Flag, on the 4th of July?

  A living flag ?  Nope, can't say as it did. Didn't seems like the 
kind of people who would either.

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