Are there any towns like this? (Detroit, Ann Arbor: car insurance, how much, house)

JGatti · 08-28-2009, 05:13 PM

Watched a movie with the wife last night. Anyway this film took place in a little town in Minnesota. It was winter and the whole film painted this picture of just this perfect little town where everyone knows one another and there is a great sense of people being outgoing and neighborly. Like at Christmas there was a little parade down the street to the Christmas tree located in the middle of the town, singing Christmas Carols the entire way.
My son turned to me and commented how stupid that was. I was thinking " damn I'd love to live in a city like that" and was a little bummed that my son has such a strong negative opinion about the kindness and community spirit. He then made a comment there is no such thing as towns like that. I figured there has to be somewhere and wondered if there are any in Michigan.
Also what are your views about cities or towns like this? Would you ever want to live in one or have you? Did you like it hate it move away? Where we live right now we were pretty close to a couple of our neighbors and it was always nice they would keep an eye on your house when your gone, or help wrench on your car when it's broke. I like that kind of community atmosphere and honestly I have always wanted to live in a town like that even when I was younger. Is that weird?

chiroptera · 08-28-2009, 06:07 PM

It's not weird to want that.
However, I think your son probably has the better grasp of reality here.
OK - I've lived a lot of places. More than possibly anyone on this forum. These idyllic Mayberry places? They may or may not exist: it depends mostly on your perception. And your neighbors; but mostly your perception. Downtown Detroit can be that idyllic place. Traverse City or Mayville can be horrible. It depends.
There's no rules and no set formula for A Perfect Place. Mostly, it's in your head. Seriously.

Bydand · 08-28-2009, 06:13 PM

Nothing weird about wanting to live in a town like in the movie. right now were I am is about as close to that as I have found. We have a "Christmas Train" that stops around Christmas to bring Santa into town, and the whole place turns out to welcome it into town. In our whopping 1 block long downtown we have a small fountain area that has the Community Christmas tree and every family in town is encouraged to make an ornament with your family name on it and bring it down for the lighting of the tree. Everybody hangs their stuff on the tree and then there is caroling by the Elementary school kids and the town.

Halloween time the Elementary kids still dress up and have a parade from room to room to show off their costumes, then it is a trip downtown in a small parade, weather permitting. In September every year since time began I think we have the small Harvest Festival and all the schools building close on Friday so the kids can have a chance to go. Downtown Music festival now once a year where Main street is closed and you can wander up and down to say hi to neighbors and listen to some rather good music. A yearly car show downtown. It is kind of funny because for everything of importance in the community they close Main street and hold the celebration right there.

Kind of hokey I know, but it is a big reason we moved back to my hometown to raise my own kids. It isn't really anything special, and driving through it looks like kind of a sad little town that is struggling to hold on (and it is struggling like most small places now). but for a town of 1200 people you cannot ask for better people and community spirit. Scottville, MI has been and always will be "home" for me, and now it is home for my kids as well.

JGatti · 08-28-2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bydand

Nothing weird about wanting to live in a town like in the movie. right now were I am is about as close to that as I have found. We have a "Christmas Train" that stops around Christmas to bring Santa into town, and the whole place turns out to welcome it into town. In our whopping 1 block long downtown we have a small fountain area that has the Community Christmas tree and every family in town is encouraged to make an ornament with your family name on it and bring it down for the lighting of the tree. Everybody hangs their stuff on the tree and then there is caroling by the Elementary school kids and the town.

Halloween time the Elementary kids still dress up and have a parade from room to room to show off their costumes, then it is a trip downtown in a small parade, weather permitting. In September every year since time began I think we have the small Harvest Festival and all the schools building close on Friday so the kids can have a chance to go. Downtown Music festival now once a year where Main street is closed and you can wander up and down to say hi to neighbors and listen to some rather good music. A yearly car show downtown. It is kind of funny because for everything of importance in the community they close Main street and hold the celebration right there.

Kind of hokey I know, but it is a big reason we moved back to my hometown to raise my own kids. It isn't really anything special, and driving through it looks like kind of a sad little town that is struggling to hold on (and it is struggling like most small places now). but for a town of 1200 people you cannot ask for better people and community spirit. Scottville, MI has been and always will be "home" for me, and now it is home for my kids as well.

See now I think thats great BYDAND. I read the Gaylord Herald Times web site all the time and I know there is a pretty strong sense of community there. A lot of social events downtown and it looks like it would be a great thing to be a part of. Might not be as tight or small as the movie but then again it is a movie. None the less I think it would be pretty great.

Bydand · 08-28-2009, 07:19 PM

Gaylord doesn't have the feel it did even 20 years ago. I lived there as well for several years and while I still have some good friends there, it never held that "hometown" feeling for me. I did like Gaylord a lot, it just wasn't the same as here.

tjay · 08-28-2009, 08:26 PM

did that movie have renee zellwegar in it?? :}

JGatti · 08-28-2009, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjay

did that movie have renee zellwegar in it?? :}

Yeah I looked it up it was called new in town. It was ok for a chick flick. But that's the sacrifice ya need to make for the wife once in awhile. I was surprised my son sat through it.

northstar22 · 08-28-2009, 09:13 PM

Three Rivers, MI. Classic American small town.

I used to live there, only moved away because I couldn't find a job. Would move back in an instant.

Tyryztoll · 08-28-2009, 09:22 PM

Petoskey. Closest thing to "Mayberry" I've ever known, and I'm the biggest Andy Griffith Show fan around. No, I'm not kidding....it's really like that. I still can't believe I'm fortunate enough to live here......

I_Want_Snow · 08-28-2009, 11:02 PM

I grew up in a little town of 1100 in SE MI about 25 mins south of Ann Arbor which kinda of had that type of feel to. We had NO fast food/chain type restaurants/stores, only local Ma & Pa types. All the businesses were locally owned, except for the bank, but even that was a County Bank. If you ever needed any work done on your house, like hanging dry wall or putting on a roof, you could just call your buddies up and tell them you would buy them some beer and grill them some steaks and they would be over. Same goes for doing work on cars, bikes, snowmobiles, etc.

Every Christmas the Volunteer Fire Department would set a date and dress up one of the Firemen in a Santa suit. If you turned your porch light on, they would stop by the house and drop off small gifts for the kids, come into the house and let the kids sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted... It was great!!

And every year we have what's called our Community Day Weekend. Which consists of softball tournaments, carnival games for the kids, horseshoe tournaments, 3-0n-3 basketball tournaments, a parade, etc. Then at night, they had a beer tent and had a local band that played everything from country, classic rock, and even some of the newer rock. The proceeds of the tournaments and beer tent would support everything from little leagues, Cheer leading squads the Fire Department, etc.

Definitely a GREAT place to raise kids. My graduating class in High school was only 51. You go to any of the local stores, bars, H.S sporting events and everyone seemed to know you or your parents. It truly was a sense of community. And about 15 miles away was the County Fair which everyone looked forward to every year.

I live in Atlanta now, a city of over 525,000 and I truly miss, miss the small town and MI in general. I have been saving up my money and plan to move back to MI this summer. Here its all about how much money you make, how big is your house, what type of car you drive, etc..Even though times are tough there in MI, I will have about 3 yrs worth of living expenses saved up and the only bills I have are my car insurance and cell phone. So I am just packing up and heading "home" whether I have a job or not. I work in I.T./Telecommunications so hopefully I can get a job before all my money runs out. If not, my best friend from H.S said I can come back and work on his Family Farm till I find something.

From the few places I have lived, there are those types of towns in TX also. My sister and I lived in one a few years back and she really misses it, she lives in GA now also. The whole "Southern Hospitality" does not seem to be relevant in GA/FL the way it was in TX... But I am only speaking from my personal experiences.

Of the 4 places I have lived: TX, FL, GA, MI- MI and TX had the nicest people in general and the feel of small town America.... But like I said, those are MY personal experiences.

And one more thing... GO BLUE!! And lets go LIONS/TIGERS!!