Is Montrose "hick" or "redneck" (Denver: fit in, real estate)

[seacoastbill]

Just looking for opinions on whether Montrose is a bit of a hick town or is it more vibrant and growing. Nothing against rednecks or hicks, just wondering what the vibe is there.

[McGowdog]

Which bigoted racial slur do you prefer? Hick? Or Redneck?

Originally Posted by seacoastbill

Since I grew up in a hick town with a redneck family, I feel that I can use those terms freely. Apparently, you cannot. Neither hick nor redneck is racial.

Oh, because it's white? I see.

No, Montrose is the urban diverse melting pot vibrant center of the Western Slope.

In fact, Montrose is Rock Candy baby. HARD, SWEET AND STICKY!

http://youtu.be/lUeuAnMNDhA

[seacoastbill]

Since I grew up in a hick town with a redneck family, I feel that I can use those terms freely. Apparently, you cannot. Neither hick nor redneck is racial. There is a comedian who bases his entire career on bits about rednecks. He presents his jokes to crowds of rednecks who laugh and pay great money to see him.

Since you prefer to be offended by those terms, what word would you, the PC police, prefer I use?

Some small towns are quaint with a hippie vibe. Some are podunk with a hick vibe, some are growing with a hipster vibe.

[jim9251]

A town of 20,000 with a surrounding population of another 15,000? Neither.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by seacoastbill

Some small towns are quaint with a hippie vibe. Some are podunk with a hick vibe, some are growing with a hipster vibe.

In the case of Montrose, none of the above applies. Montrose until the late 1980's was for the most part just your basic 10,000 population town. Blue collar jobs didn't pay union wages but then again a 2 bedroom house at that time was generally in the mid 30 thousand range, some a little cheaper. This area as well as most of Colorado's western slope saw growth not only double but nearly triple in the last 20 to 25 years. Colorado's economy back then was flat for several years. It didn't go as far as Grand Junction and Mesa County regarding the oil shale bust but the unemployment stats were not good for years. And the real estate was cheap with lots of HUD and bank repo house listings in the town papers.

That changed in the early 1990's. Lots of people, mostly retirees, found out about the area and took advantage of it. They sold their houses, took the one time homeowners exemption, bought a place for a lot less, and banked the rest of the money. If I made a guess it would be 70% out of staters and the other 30% people who moved there were from the Denver area for the most part, maybe some from the Colorado Springs area.

Where do I fit in here? I've been a resident of Mesa County for 27 years, lived in Colorado my whole life. My first choice was the Montrose/Colona/Olathe area but settled on Grand Junction instead. I visit the Montrose area every other week to visit friends, all of which moved to the area in the last 15 years or so. And FWIW, I qualify for the hippie vibe at times and the podunk at times. Hipster? Umm, nope!

[Let's Go Here]

Having lived in Montrose for a year and a half I can tell you that I consider it an overgrown "cow town." It's not a progressive community by any means - most of the people native to the area have no concept of what life is like outside of Montrose County.

[motoracer51]

It's very conservative. Lots of guns, diesel pick ups, dirt bikes, and of course GUNS....Stay away.

[seacoastbill]

Originally Posted by DOUBLE H

In the case of Montrose, none of the above applies. Montrose until the late 1980's was for the most part just your basic 10,000 population town. Blue collar jobs didn't pay union wages but then again a 2 bedroom house at that time was generally in the mid 30 thousand range, some a little cheaper. This area as well as most of Colorado's western slope saw growth not only double but nearly triple in the last 20 to 25 years. Colorado's economy back then was flat for several years. It didn't go as far as Grand Junction and Mesa County regarding the oil shale bust but the unemployment stats were not good for years. And the real estate was cheap with lots of HUD and bank repo house listings in the town papers.

That changed in the early 1990's. Lots of people, mostly retirees, found out about the area and took advantage of it. They sold their houses, took the one time homeowners exemption, bought a place for a lot less, and banked the rest of the money. If I made a guess it would be 70% out of staters and the other 30% people who moved there were from the Denver area for the most part, maybe some from the Colorado Springs area.

Where do I fit in here? I've been a resident of Mesa County for 27 years, lived in Colorado my whole life. My first choice was the Montrose/Colona/Olathe area but settled on Grand Junction instead. I visit the Montrose area every other week to visit friends, all of which moved to the area in the last 15 years or so. And FWIW, I qualify for the hippie vibe at times and the podunk at times. Hipster? Umm, nope!

Great information! Thank you. Real estate there has definitely made a recovery, and there seems to be a ton to do for those who enjoy nature. The thing I am trying to avoid is a dying town similar to my home town in the Carolinas. Everything is closing there and the high school I was downgraded from 5A to 2A because of the exodus.

I just don't love the idea of a one horse town where everything seems to be an hour away. What I don't want to run into is a Buena Vista type town. Beautiful place but if you don't work for the prison or the rafting companies, you don't have a job.

[Let's Go Here]

Originally Posted by seacoastbill

Great information! Thank you. Real estate there has definitely made a recovery, and there seems to be a ton to do for those who enjoy nature. The thing I am trying to avoid is a dying town similar to my home town in the Carolinas. Everything is closing there and the high school I was downgraded from 5A to 2A because of the exodus.

I just don't love the idea of a one horse town where everything seems to be an hour away. What I don't want to run into is a Buena Vista type town. Beautiful place but if you don't work for the prison or the rafting companies, you don't have a job.

I wouldn't consider Montrose a "dying town" just yet, it just seems to be a town that is stuck in neutral. The recession hit the area harder than most of the state, and it has been a long and slow recovery. I don't see the high school downsizing anytime in the near future.

I wouldn't consider it a one-horse town by any means - when I think of that term I think of towns like Burlington, CO and Colby, KS. The town has all of the basic services you need, a handful of places for shopping (stay away from downtown stores) and a decent selection of restaurants that can be found in any similar-sized town. Grand Junction (an hour away) has more options, but I rarely went there for anything (save for Endless Shrimp at Red Lobster ). The reality is that if you want to do anything fun & exciting that isn't outdoor-related, you'll have to drive 5+ hours to Denver. The local airport is very limited and expensive to fly out of as well.

The job market isn't very good in Montrose - finding employment with any locally-owned company will be difficult since you won't be part of the Good 'ol Boy network.

Best of luck.

[NW Crow]

I don't know Montrose closely but have researched it a bit now and then. I am not rendering an overall judgment or questioning others'. I am just going to note that the city has a new rec center, performing arts / community center, botanical garden, river park, farmers market, food bank, public transit, a pretty viable airport, managed to recruit a Target store, has a public library with a $2 plus million annual budget, a museum or two, art nights, music downtown, a few restaurants with less common international cusine (Thai, Nepalese, Mediterranean), a branch campus of CMU, etc. Someone reading about the town for the first time might want to know these things and might not expect some of them.