TOP 10 THINGS THAT SCREAMS YOU LIVE IN A SMALL TOWN
TOP 10 THINGS THAT SCREAMS YOU LIVE IN A SMALL TOWN
Yeah. We know we live in a small town. And for the most part, we love it. Sure we don't have a few things that we would love to see come to Wenatchee. But there are a few other signs. And we like to make fun of ourselves for it.
1) When the only people on the dating apps are your ex, your cousin, and your other ex. When I moved here and settled down, I turned on my online profile on all these dating apps and found only a few local women (who were on all the apps) and a lot of fake out of town profiles. So there’s nothing going on via the apps.
2) Your tax guy knows your social security number by heart. Because of the great job they did last year, I recently had my taxes done by the same folks. And I was surprised how much they remembered from last year.
3) Mav3rick features your town in his series of articles, Tiny Towns. Yeah. I’ve mentioned before, as a big city guy (from LA), small towns and the people that live in small town fascinate me. And after writing about some of these Tiny Towns, I have fallen in love with many of these places. In fact, I’ve had people commenting that they either want to visit some of the places like Krupp/Marlin, or move and retire to a place like Coupeville.
4) The mayor of a small town has a full time job at the laundry mat. Small town mayors with a second job isn’t surprising, and isn’t uncommon. They're also plumbers, barbers, etc... even in medium size markets. I was born and raised in Torrance, California, and as a kid, Mayor James Armstrong’s full time job was our government teacher at Torrance High School. Not just mayors, but other city officials, was well as pastors.
5) There’s only one flight in and one flight out at the airport. Sorry. This will always be an ongoing joke until Alaska Airlines bumps up their flight schedule, or another company comes into Pangborn Airport. But I will tell you that there are other towns/cities that are much larger than Wenatchee that don’t even have a major airport. They have to drive an hour or two to get to an airport so they can go to…let’s say…Disneyland!
6) You know your neighbors by their pets. Which makes it embarrassing if you don’t clean up after your dog, because that neighbor will also recognize the poop and which dog it came from. No really. And if you’ve been there, you’re nodding your head right now with a smirk on your face.
7) You think John Cougar Mellencamp secretly wrote any one of his songs based on your small town. That’s just part of the relatability of artists like Mellencamp, and the reality that although different, we’re all the same.
8) Police chases suck. Again, I’m from LA. The home of police chases. I kid you not, they happen more often than you think. Only a few actually get broadcasted on LA TV stations. But when they do, there are several helicopters flying over the city, following every move with commentaries from your favorite reporter like Stu Mundel on FOX 11. And when they send out an app alert, people stop working, grab a fresh cup of coffee and stare at their phones watching it go down. Ask any of my co-workers. Sometimes they will hear me yell, “OH! They hit that car!” “Do a pit-maneuver!” Yes, they are very serious, sometimes tragic, and drivers and residence are always told avoid the area and/lock you doors. But there are people who will play games like, ‘How many In-N-Out’s will they pass by’, or ‘Count the number of Teslas on the road’. But in small towns, they’re not that exciting. Oh, they do happen! I have a police scanner. And I hear about it. But they don’t last long or go too far. I mean, where are they going to go? There are only a few exits out of Wenatchee, so the police are at those roads. Or the police get their drivers license, call their mom’s or wait for them to get home.
9) Your small town gets called by the bigger town next to you. Or just the other city. When people out of town ask, “Where do you live?”, you’re gonna say Wenatchee. Not East Wenatchee. Not Rock Island. And in all fairness, big cities are the same. People ask where I’m from, I’m usually general and say, “LA”. But I’m not from LA. I’m from Torrance. And believe me, people in the South Bay don’t want to be associated with LA. But, it’s a part of LA.
10) Costco is an option for lunch with co-workers. I can’t tell you how many times when someone at work has asked, “Where should we go for lunch?”, Costco comes up in the conversation along side, Applebee’s or Wild Huckleberry. And when Costco is the choice, it’s, “Hey, let’s try out the samples first!”
11) BONUS: Hallmark films a movie in your town. Yeah. Plot line is the same. Big city girl comes to a small town to change the company structure, but falls in love with small town boy. Heck. Leavenworth has been the ideal place to film.
Can you think of any other fun things that scream you live in a small town? I would love to hear back from you.