Oh what have I done??? (St. Louis, Springfield: home, neighborhood, subdivision)

[SouthernerInSeattle]

In Nixa the only time the parks are really used for is kid's baseball/t-ball during the summer. Don't really remember seein' anyone there much during the winter. Figure the same is true for most the other parks in the area..

[Silvermouse]

Originally Posted by OA 5599

If I remember right, ozarksboy lives in Rolla. Rolla has several large parks, including the Lion's Club and Schuman (sp?) Lake parks...all which have plenty of playground equipment.

Well I know both places and Hartville is nothing like Rolla. What ozarkboy said is more in line with the way Hartville is. Hartville has a VERY RURAL nature.

[OA 5599]

Originally Posted by Silvermouse

Well I know both places and Hartville is nothing like Rolla. What ozarkboy said is more in line with the way Hartville is. Hartville has a VERY RURAL nature.

I've been through Hartville numerous times, and it is indeed a tiny town. I was referring to ozarksboy saying that there aren't parks in the country, when just about every small town has a city park, including Rolla which has 2 (again, I'm not sure that Hartville has one). And yes, they'll be dead right now in the winter, but a park just about anywhere would be.

[Silvermouse]

Originally Posted by OA 5599

I've been through Hartville numerous times, and it is indeed a tiny town. I was referring to ozarksboy saying that there aren't parks in the country, when just about every small town has a city park, including Rolla which has 2 (again, I'm not sure that Hartville has one). And yes, they'll be dead right now in the winter, but a park just about anywhere would be.

It's not that they don't have parks - heck, even Edgar Springs has a park. I was referring to the culture of most of these small towns (Rolla is somewhat an anomaly because of the university). In the rural Missouri that I'm familiar with, people make friends through school and church - as ozarksboy said. I have kids in school and I don't know any Mom's who 'hang out' at the park. That's why saddle clubs, 4-H clubs, etc. are so popular in the country, they bring the whole family out. And that's why I think the OP would be wasting her time trying to find a circle of friends at a park in a town the size of Hartville. Better off trying to find an organized group to join. IMHO

[ozarksboy]

Lynn and OA,

In my poorly worded post, I said we don't have parks in the country where moms and kids go to hang out, and I stand by that observation. What I meant, so of course should have said, is that, of course, we have parks in country towns and families with children go to them, but the rural culture is not one in which there are large numbers of stay-at-home mothers who take their children to small parks regularly to hang out, visit with one another and watch their children play. That is apparently an urban practice; I don't know for sure because I am not an urbanite, I am a good ole boy from the country.

Lions Club Park in Rolla MIGHT be a place where moms gather daily to visit with one another while watching their children play. I don't think so, but OA seems to be more familiar with the area than I.

In the smaller towns, though, the population of non-working moms just isn't sufficient to sustain such a regular gathering. If a mom like Nexxie, the OP, over in Hartville goes to the town park on any given afternoon, what are the chances that she's going to find a group of moms there with their children? I suspect that even in larger towns like Salem, or even Waynesville, it would be difficult to find stay-at-home moms going to the parks on a regular basis with their kids, giving a newcomer mom the opportunity to establish new relationships with local mothers.

The mother of my children met her friends at church, school functions and Scouting activities. Those are the suggestions I made and continue to make to Nexxie, the OP, and any other urbanite who for some oddball reason finds herself dragged to the country kicking and screaming to live in a new house on 120 acres next to the Gasconade.

The rude old Ozarks Boy

[Silvermouse]

Originally Posted by ozarksboy

but the rural culture is not one in which there are large numbers of stay-at-home mothers who take their children to small parks regularly to hang out, visit with one another and watch their children play.

In the smaller towns, though, the population of non-working moms just isn't sufficient to sustain such a regular gathering.

BINGO! Whether they believe you or not, that is exactly the truth. And I don't think you were rude at all.

Originally Posted by ozarksboy

Those are the suggestions I made and continue to make to Nexxie, the OP, and any other urbanite who for some oddball reason finds herself dragged to the country kicking and screaming to live in a new house on 120 acres next to the Gasconade.

And this was just funny!

[ShadowCaver]

MOD NOTE: all, please review this post http://www.city-data.com/forum/6433717-post4.html

Keep on track to the main issues herein, helpful to each other, with understanding that, at times, we all may only be seeing only parts of the elephant. We are here to share information/opinions, but not at the expense of another's view - so, be respectful to the differences of our individualistic outlook and experiences.

[Cali BassMan]

Ahhh Heck just buy the boy a .22, point at a squirell and say shoot... He'll have fun, and you clean it and have squirell and dumplings.....

[Silvermouse]

Originally Posted by Cali BassMan

Ahhh Heck just buy the boy a .22, point at a squirell and say shoot... He'll have fun, and you clean it and have squirell and dumplings.....

Mm Mm - good!

[linicx]

I lived in the "Ozarks" for a number of years, both in the country and in the city And I've drriven through most of the little towns to reach 'point B' at some time in 25 years. As I was not born and raised in Missouri, my prospective is entirely different than a native born son.

Not all small towns have a park. There is no state provision for funding a city park. The city park is arbitrary and entirely dependent upon the city fathers and city taxes to support it. A swimming pool does not attract children and moms when it is not open. I did not see a park in Rolla. There may be one, but I never found it.

Parents and small towns and schools support each other. Every town that likes kids and supports the school system has a park with playground equipment. There are some towns and parents who believe parks and after school activiites are too expensive and too time consuming. These towns fail kids, fail the parents, and the towns are dying because of it.

All small towns are to a degree clanish to outsiders. So is mine but not so much anymore, The town where I live, once called "Little Reno", built a river front park, added a playground, covered picnic areas, boat launch with trailor parking, a small camping area, a pump-out station, and some other things, The town pop is about 2500. The town was ready to let bids for a waterpark - before the economy tanked. Fifty miles from my town is a mega town; the park district owns and manages more than 60 parks of which most are profitable. It didn't happen over night. It required vision, donations, volunteers and unwavering support.

I love water, parks and christmas lights and I hope I never get too old to remember.

Suggestions: OP could take the kids on weekend trips to parks with nearby camp grounds. [I excluded Lake of the Ozarks because of traffic and its commercialism]. Carthage, MO has three parks with picnic area, swimming, skating, walking/jogging track, soccer field, 18 hole golf course and tennis courts. Nearby is an arena where kids ride for free on Tuesday night when no calf roping evens are scheduled. Volunteers take care of the kids while the parents watch in comfort inside the bar and grill. Carthage is also steeped in histgory with its Carthage Civil War Battle field and cememtery. Nor very far south of Carthage on the AR border is the Pea Ridge CW Battlefield. Wilson's Creek CW Battlefield is kicated in betwen Springfield and Carthage. South of Pea Ridge not too far is the water powered War Eagle Mill with its 200 year milling stone. And about 45 minutes WSW of Carthage in Northeast OK is Grand Lake with its Japanese Garden, World's Larges Multiple-Arch Dam (near Disnery) and World's Largest Anitique Museum at Grove. The 40 acre Bernice Honey Creek State Park in Grove is the largest full service camping ground on Grand Lake; It too offers a pump-out station.

With Christmas comong on, it is worth mentioning the Chirstmas lights at Carthage are awesome - especially the Million plus light show on Fairfiew Avenue. It's a free, two block drive-through, animated story gratefully presented by the Vietnamese community. The Plaza at Kansas City always gets tood marks for its light show. Also worth mentioning is the Wild Animal Park at Stratford but I don't believe it is open. The park was lighted at night with more than a million lights too. The Ozark fairgournd used to light up too, but I don't know what it offered or cost; I never stopped.

One of the largest, midwest, night time christmas displays in the nation is "FOLEPI" at East Peoria, IL The larger than life displays are mounted on flatbeds and pulled behind trucks throughout the parade route. And then, they are dismounted and placed through the city until January.