[CaliGrown85]

After relocating to Edmond from the West Coast a little over 2 years ago, my family and I have decided that its just not the place for us as our permanent home.

I am looking for suggestions of farm towns in Oklahoma with a strong community. Nonjudgemental and welcoming to "transplants" and diversity would be nice also, as this is not something we have experienced here with the community or the school district.

[Rubi3]

Maybe if you include more information about your family it would help others in thinking about where you may like to live. I can't recommend the town I live in as I don't think it's a farm town, plus I wouldn't exactly say it is welcoming to newcomers. Many say the opposite, but I'm only talking about my own experience. It isn't that way now, but I'm talking about initially.

I think it is difficult for a small town to have a wide open welcome for new people until they know more about the strangers. We were once transferred by a company to a small town and apparently that made a difference because we were very much welcome by everyone and the school was welcoming to our 2 children. Had we moved there looking for work, it would have a different outcome, I think.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by CaliGrown85

After relocating to Edmond from the West Coast a little over 2 years ago, my family and I have decided that its just not the place for us as our permanent home.

I am looking for suggestions of farm towns in Oklahoma with a strong community. Nonjudgemental and welcoming to "transplants" and diversity would be nice also, as this is not something we have experienced here with the community or the school district.

I'd shoot for the edge of Edmond. Maybe Piedmont. There's some transplants up there (Edmond outskirts and nearby areas).

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by CaliGrown85

After relocating to Edmond from the West Coast a little over 2 years ago, my family and I have decided that its just not the place for us as our permanent home.

I am looking for suggestions of farm towns in Oklahoma with a strong community. Nonjudgemental and welcoming to "transplants" and diversity would be nice also, as this is not something we have experienced here with the community or the school district.

A farming community that Multi-Cultural would probably be Bixby OK , and Multi-Cultural in Oklahoma
would most likely mean White Caucasian and Indians population.

Bixby is a Tulsa Oklahoma suburban area and only 5% of the population is Indian with hardly any other
racial group living there out side of Caucasian whites. However Bixby is a shopping magnet which pulls
in a lot of other races for theirs shopping districts.Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed that was sort of a break down of the farming community of Bixby Oklahoma.

You won't find too many Multi-Cultural Farming Communities in the State of Oklahoma , Norman
Oklahoma is the only truly Multi-Cultural area in the whole State of Oklahoma with OKC and Tulsa
following behind and of course they are not Farming Communities but Urban Communities. Bixby, Oklahoma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia some photos https://images.search.yahoo.com/sear...ck&fr2=piv-web
A Map https://maps.yahoo.com/place/?lat=35...nited%20States Parks http://www.bixbyok.gov/blog/our-comm...n-irving-park/ 911 Memorial Park http://www.krmg.com/news/news/local/...by-park/nDfC8/

[rockyinyourradio]

Originally Posted by Bass&Catfish2008

I'd shoot for the edge of Edmond. Maybe Piedmont. There's some transplants up there (Edmond outskirts and nearby areas).

I live in Piedmont. It's a nice, overall safe community, but I wouldn't say it's that diverse. It's mostly white with approximately 5% Afro-American,Native American and Latino backgrounds. It's predominately conservative as well for what that may be worth. I will say that they are pretty congenial but tend to be cliquish. If you are a church attender, that will help some.

Another town to consider is Okarche which is about 30 miles NW of OKC. Very quaint town and nice folks but again, pretty cliquish. If your an outgoing kind of person, I'm sure you'll be more than welcome there as well.

Other places to consider that are nice safe towns, Kingfisher, Crescent and Guthrie. Want a little bigger town with all the basic amenities close by, Mustang and Yukon. If you want to stay on the east side of OKC, look into Arcadia and Choctaw. All these towns mentioned are at least 85% white though.

Most farming communities most anywhere in Oklahoma are pretty much the same way with a growing percentage of Hispanics, most of which are hard working folks with families to support. Hope this helps some.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by rockyinyourradio

I live in Piedmont. It's a nice, overall safe community, but I wouldn't say it's that diverse. It's mostly white with approximately 5% Afro-American,Native American and Latino backgrounds. It's predominately conservative as well for what that may be worth. I will say that they are pretty congenial but tend to be cliquish. If you are a church attender, that will help some.

Another town to consider is Okarche which is about 30 miles NW of OKC. Very quaint town and nice folks but again, pretty cliquish. If your an outgoing kind of person, I'm sure you'll be more than welcome there as well.

Other places to consider that are nice safe towns, Kingfisher, Crescent and Guthrie. Want a little bigger town with all the basic amenities close by, Mustang and Yukon. If you want to stay on the east side of OKC, look into Arcadia and Choctaw. All these towns mentioned are at least 85% white though.

Most farming communities most anywhere in Oklahoma are pretty much the same way with a growing percentage of Hispanics, most of which are hard working folks with families to support. Hope this helps some.

To the bold, that sounds about right.

Also, if they move to Okarche they better learn to drink that thick German lager with some fried chicken!

[StillwaterTownie]

But most Oklahoma farm towns have been on the downhill slide since the Great Depression. They have steadily been losing population since then. The presence of Wal-Mart was of no help to their downtowns. Except for the ones who grew up there, I wouldn't expect anyone to live in such a depressing environment. What exceptions are those towns close to Oklahoma City or Tulsa or those, which have luckily attracted new industries to grow off of.

[Johnhw2]

Try Durant in SE ok. It's a growing small town close to dallas if you need city things on occasion. The weather in the winter will be slightly milder and summers not noticeably hotter than okc area. It has a Texas flavor which is not a bad thing in my view. The casino has been a positive for the community thus far with entertainment to supplement the good SEOSU shows and better restaurants as well.

[Goodpasture]

Most small towns in Oklahoma are dying out. A lot of the small towns were never that much of a farming community, but were oilfield communities. Those towns never had the long term traditions found in more eastern communities. Cornwall Oklahoma is a good example. It went from nothing to several thousand. Developed a violent and organized criminal underground. Opium, Heroin, prostitution, theft, and gambling were rampant. When he was in his 70's Bill Tilghman was asked by the Governor to "tame" it. That is where he was shot and killed. It caught fire one night, burned the entire town down, and became a virtual ghost town almost over night. Some towns would have died out long ago except for the ramps at the Turnpikes and Interstates. The City of Cleveland, Henryetta, etc barely survive. Towns like Yale, Oilton, Agra, Avery, Tryon, Cashion, Luther, are either dead in the water or being absorbed by other more urban entities. Cities that have all but disappeared include Bethany, Midwest City, Spencer, Mustang.........all have an "identity" but are considered just another part of OKC.

So you want a small town in the OKC area.......do you want "in town" or a few acres where you can be left alone?

If you want "in town" look at Chandler, Harrah, El Reno, Arcadia, Perkins, Guthrie. If you want a more rural environment, look east of I-35 in areas like those areas outside of Choctaw, McLoud, Tecumseh, Meeker, Wellston, Jones, or along Highway 62 or Highway 33. You can also find good potential properties alond Highway 3 towards Okarche, I 40, and I 44 towards Lawton. I assume you've already checked out the I 35 corridor south of the city.

This may sound a little strange, but do NOT expect a lot of cultural diversity. You get that in the cities. Okies have a strong southern background with a midwestern attitude underneath which is a very strong native American substructure. It is one of the things that makes us so very different than most states. Virtually everyone is spiritual. A lot of people are religious. But most of us are willing to live and let live.......you do your thing and don't push it off on me, and I will do my thing and keep it to myself.

Evidence of that native American substructure is in the way we treat others. Too often we will give the shirt off our backs to help someone in need and never expect payment. I am an old fart with gray hair. Twice in the past three years I've had a flat tire in the country and before I could get everything out to change the tire some kid has stopped and changed it for me. We take care of each other. We hunt and fish and have absolutely no problem with those who do. My partner carries a leather western purse up north and women look at her like she killed baby seals. People here compliment her on how nice it looks.

We have a New England attitude towards business. Look at the successes of men like Sam Walton, David Green, Rick Bayless, Waite Phillips, William Skelly and others too numerous to count.

Finding a place that is "accepting" is not hard provided you make an effort to fit in. What you have to do is figure out what kind of place you want.

[CaliGrown85]

Thank you all for your responses. To give you a little more information we are young conservative family who does not look conservative. We really don't care about moving to a place where we'll find people like us because we have friends and family from all backgrounds, we just would like to find a place where people are welcoming and less "up-ity".

We are looking for a town that is more laid back. We like animals, fishing, hunting and being outdoors. We really like alot of the areas mentioned above, i.e. Piedmont, Guthrie, Arcadia, Kingfisher, Cresent, Luther, Cashion. The area between Edmond and Guthrie is beautiful, all the way from Portland to the 35. The issue I've been coming into lately though is that there aren't alot of rentals in these areas and we are not ready to buy because we are not set on a location.

Goodpasture, at this point we are looking for a rental on a few acres (or less if the area is rural) but in a town that has community events or at least an active community. It does not have to be in the OKC area as we are considering the entire state.
Regarding the "accepting" part, as stated above we have friends and family from all backgrounds. I have found this area to be very prejudging overall, for instance, homeowners do not associate with "renters" in my area. We are very private people and we stick to ourselves but there is a big difference between that and excluding someone just because they are not from where you're from or because you consider yourself to be higher in society. It's almost like they are so afraid that I'm going to bring some new "belief" or "idea" into their community that they don't even get the chance to find out that I actually have the same beliefs and values they do, except I'm about 10 years younger.

I really think this is a suburb thing though because we have visited so many smaller towns and we have a totally different experience. Thus the reason for ditching the suburbs