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I grew up in Madisonville KY (18 years there) and my parents are still there and I have many friends in the Paducah-Eddyville area. Tough to describe an area where you grow up because you dont know any different. I have lived in generally small midwestern towns since my time out of Kentucky so dont have much experience how to compare rural versus urban living and social scene.
That said....the one thing I recall about growing up is that in order of importance...it was 1. God 2. Family 3. UK basketball. Religion and church activities will be vey common out there...but I dont think there will be any backlash against anyone not wanting to go to church or have different beliefs. Times have changed that much in the age of internet and cable TV.
But I always tought that as long as you are similar to everyone else....not act up....and generally abide by the general laws of how to act and society (not making yourself too noticeable or different) then no problems will come your way. As far as cafe, or artsy places....boy dont know as where I grew up entertainment was going cruising around the mall. The folks down there though are very nice and welcoming I think...again as long as you are pretty similar to them...dont do things to stand out from the crowd.
I have never been to Murray so dont know about that area.
A little background about me, that may lend some credibility. I was born in Paducah, and grew up across the river in southern Illinois. I live 10 minutes away in Illinois now. In the interim 30 years, I lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Dallas, Jacksonville, FL and Wichita KS. I'm also 55, which may not be credible to a 20 year old.
If you have spent all your life in a major metropolitan area, you most likely wil be disappointed with Paducah, or any other area, with a population of less than 1 million.
The Artist Relocation Program is basically a facade. The city decided to rehab about a 4 block area of old rundown houses. Late 19th century homes that are Victorian meets southern plantation type architecture. They solicite artists from around the country to move here. Offering deals on the houses, that the artists can't refuse. The artists have galleries in their homes, and live off the sales of their paintings. The housing subsidies paid by the city, makes many of their living expenses negligible. In other words, they can live on their artwork, where they might not be able to living elsewhere.
The number of these artists is small, and they have little influence on the overall cultural climate of the city. So don't expect a bunch of intellectuals walking around town debating philosophy.
Nightlife is good for a young person, relative to city size. Meaning, don't expect the bands downloaded on your iPod to be appearing live anytime soon. However you should find enough people here your age with similar musical taste.
Paducah built a world class performing arts center a few years ago. Comparable with those in major cities. Jerry Seinfeld and George Carlin have appeared there. On the musical side, it's limited to the big name country stars. Simply because that's what draws crowds here. This entire area is dominated by country music, to the exclusion of about all other genres.
Good mall area. Comparable to most suburban shopping areas. Downside, no Borders or Barnes and Noble.
Murray State is a good college, but small, 50 miles from Paducah and dominated by local students. I wouldn't expect much diversity in the student body.
Most liberal and large university is Southern Illinois U., an 1 1/2 hour drive north.
For any significant culture, concerts, pro sports, you must drive:
That does help! I'm not worried about 'big bands' coming, since I refuse to pay more than 10 dollars for a concert ticket anyway.
I love 'country' if country means bluegrass and 'old' country, I also love good blues...but if it's like here where country means urban celebs like Tim McGraw, oh dear.
I actually grew up in some pretty lousy suburbs, it's only fairly recently I've been hanging out in the tiny 'downtown' we have in Phoenix.
I'm not completely enamored, and I didn't expect to be, but it looks like a decent experience to spend a year there if I do decide on it. My sister and her family are being flown out to tour it before they make their decision.
Check this out for events in Paducah, this is not an all inclusive list.
iList Paducah - Your Invitation to Everything (http://www.ilistpaducah.com/index.html - broken link)
There are at list 3 Blues festivals in the area every year and far more BBQ ones as we are not that far from Memphis, TN.
Nashville and Memphis about 2-3 hours away has tons of places with cheap bands, under $10. Paducah has a few, but there is generally something going on somewhere in the Jackson Purchase ... some of it fairly cool, some that might be called hokey.
Fun and excitement is where you find it. If you like the outdoors there is plenty of it here and 100's of miles of hiking trails in the LBL. Enough places to fish to choke a goat and if you've been in AZ your entire life, you've never seen so much green. My AZ family goes here and never stop saying ... "It's so green here!" Just like I say "It's so brown here." when I go to AZ.
They flew my brothernlaw down there for a meeting at the job before they sent the whole family. So far he's gone all as far as a drug store, and already he was advised by a young lady to put his kids in the city schools to avoid (word that starts with 'N.')
That's fairly appalling. Was this just a freak case, or is there race really still an issue there? I know it's a small town in the south, but it's still pretty shocking.
I don't mean to get on a here-versus-there high horse, because Arizona has plenty of racism abound- but aside petty comments about language and legislation, you don't hear it at the corner store. I'd rather not be around that, or have my nephews around it.
They flew my brothernlaw down there for a meeting at the job before they sent the whole family. So far he's gone all as far as a drug store, and already he was advised by a young lady to put his kids in the city schools to avoid (word that starts with 'N.')
That's fairly appalling. Was this just a freak case, or is there race really still an issue there? I know it's a small town in the south, but it's still pretty shocking.
I don't mean to get on a here-versus-there high horse, because Arizona has plenty of racism abound- but aside petty comments about language and legislation, you don't hear it at the corner store. I'd rather not be around that, or have my nephews around it.
Schools in Paducah with high minority populations score the lowest in state testing, very low, that is a verifiable fact you can check and not a racist comment. While the choice of words this lady spoke may not set well with you, the advice is sound.
As I've said I go to Arizona often and I heard the same word there, many times and assorted words for the Hispanics too. The this is not some trait that is exclusive to small southern towns.
Schools in Paducah with high minority populations score the lowest in state testing, very low, that is a verifiable fact you can check and not a racist comment. While the choice of words this lady spoke may not set well with you, the advice is sound.
As I've said I go to Arizona often and I heard the same word there, many times and assorted words for the Hispanics too. The this is not some trait that is exclusive to small southern towns.
I'm sure it's advise if she'd advised not to send kids to poorly funded schools, but throwing an extreme racial slur in the mix to fill in for the word "poverty" just gives me a hint of the economic and social air, and is, by all means, a racial comment.
I'm sure it's advise if she'd advised not to send kids to poorly funded schools, but throwing an extreme racial slur in the mix to fill in for the word "poverty" just gives me a hint of the economic and social air, and is, by all means, a racial comment.
I was referring to my statement not hers, not being racial. And I've heard ample racial comments in AZ BTW.
Facts are minority schools, not just in KY tend to perform poorly in standardized testing. Her advice was to seek out schools like Heath, Concord etc if you want your kids to get a good education.
I grew up in Paducah Kentucky and then moved away for years to go to school and pursue a professional career. I decided to come back "home" to Kentucky about 12 years ago. I love Kentucky but, while I feel a connection to Paducah, it has evolved politically to the point that it really isn't home anymore. IF you don't already have family connections here I would suggest moving elsewhere and taking your tax revenue with you! Others have given you good advice. The city schools are indeed very bad in Paducah and only some of the county schools are better. Check the stats. Also, Paducah is not only very conservative but those that have been given even a speck of power abuse it readily a fact many of us that believe in things like personal rights have problems accepting.
If you are thinking about buying a home in the city proper, dealing with the Paducah city inspector's office can be a nightmare. They enforce so-called codes according to who you are, where you live, and the potential value that your property might have if put to other uses. In other words, they will make it hard enough on you that you will choose to sell and move elsewhere or they will just outright take your property under imminent domain. The emphasis is on "arts", "antiques", and "quilts" but if you are the slightest bit different you will definitely be perceived as an outsider and treated accordingly. The one poster was right, there aren't a lot of intellects walking down the city streets and there certainly aren't any in the city inspector's office.
Fortunately, I actually live outside McCracken County but have plenty of relatives, friends, and acquaintances in Paducah who detest the city code's office and its inspectors in particular. Fortunately, most haven't had to deal with them on structural/electrical/plumbing issues. I'm sure that would be a nightmare. Never-the-less, the inspectors thrive on such things as making sure your grass is exactly 2 inches high (although by code it can be up to 10 inches high), writing you up for "rubbish" if you leave a flower pot tipped over in the yard and never giving you specifics of what the "problem" is they are perceiving so that you can even have a chance to correct it. Also, you might as well not even try and attempt to find out why SPECIFICALLY you have been cited for a violation. They answer in generics and wont tell you precisely what the problem is. If you receive a notice of violation it will inevitably be on Friday and you have THREE days to correct the problem despite the fact that you don't know what the problem is and despite the fact that is an evolving problem that changes as time progresses. In other words, they make it up as they go. That's why they won't tell you specifics and why they certainly don't write them down in any documents that are accessible to the public.
As a note, while most of the experiences I am relating are second hand, I do have on personal experience to share that convinced me that I was not being misled by others that reported problems with the inspector's office. I tried to find out the details on a house that I was considering buying when I first moved here and was treated with pure contempt and disrespect by the code enforcement officer, treated as though I was responsible for whatever problem it was the inspector had with the house I was looking at buying! Actually that was a fortunate encounter on my part. I elected to buy OUTSIDE the city. Others aren't as fortunate. they have lived here for years and find themselves being treated the same way when they raise the ire of the almighty inspector.
If you choose to ignore all of this advice and buy in Paducah, and if you do ultimately receive a citation, the three days you have been alloted on Friday are counted over Saturday and Sunday too. If you don't comply (even if you attempt but don't do it to their satisfaction) they levy a $100 fine. Then, if you still don't fully comply they call in a "contractor" and you are forced to pay them. Sound fun? It has happened more than once in Paducah and we aren't talking in the middle of low-rent-alley either.
They flew my brothernlaw down there for a meeting at the job before they sent the whole family. So far he's gone all as far as a drug store, and already he was advised by a young lady to put his kids in the city schools to avoid (word that starts with 'N.')
That's fairly appalling. Was this just a freak case, or is there race really still an issue there? I know it's a small town in the south, but it's still pretty shocking.
I don't mean to get on a here-versus-there high horse, because Arizona has plenty of racism abound- but aside petty comments about language and legislation, you don't hear it at the corner store. I'd rather not be around that, or have my nephews around it.
That is weird, of course it's also completely the opposite of how it actually is, the city schools are where most of the minorities are. The County schools are much more rural(ten miles from downtown Paducah in pretty much any direction and your in the middle of nowhere, it's not a very large town). There is racism everywhere but in Paducah comments like that probably have as much to to with education and poverty as anything else. There are some uneducated backwards people in this town but there are also some incredibly educated intelligent people here too. It also depends on which drug store he went into and where it was located, I've lived in Paducah for 36 years and I haven't heard that word used in decades but then there are some areas of town that I know to avoid too.
You have to remember that Phoenix is a city with a Metro population of 4 million people, Paducah is a town with a population of 26,000 it's going to be a very different experience. The entire population of Paducah and the surrounding area would fit into University of Phoenix Stadium, there will be some serious culture shock moving here. Paducah is a good place to to raise a family and retire, it's not really a fun place to be a active 20 year old in. This is a town that just got a Starbucks last year and the biggest event is the yearly quilters convention. This might be a good fit for your family but I doubt you would be very happy here for very long.
The artist relocation district in Paducah is nice and is drawing in some people but it's not all that large or developed at this point, it's a handful of working artist working. There are some progressive people at Murray(they have good art and theater programs there)but in this area you might look at SIU in Carbondale, it is a highly ranked and fairly liberal school(it also used to be on Playboy's top party colleges list). If your looking for young intellectuals hanging out in coffee shops then SIU is probably the closest you will find to that around here(and it's a hour+ drive from Paducah).
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