Okanogan - anyone been there? heard of it? lol

[LordBalfor]

When I first came to Washington State MANY years ago, I was a typical EastCoaster and had NO idea how to pronounce many of the Indian-based names in the area. I remember calling Okanogan "Oh Con A Gan" (with sort of an Irish sound - O'kanogan kind of like O'brian, or O'leary) instead of "Oh Ka Nog Un". My best friend (a true local) just about died laughing.

Hey, they could have been some lost tribe of Irish Indians!



Ken

[C.O.]

I'm from the Okanogan valley, and If you lived there; then you'd understand the problems the locals deal with.Sometimes a few bad people can label a whole group;which is pretty sad.Not right, but I can honestly say that people that have grown up there hate to see it change.That's what we love most about there.Personally,I hate to see the tourism come there cause what makes it so special is the fact that it's remained almost unchanged there(in some places) and less populated

[tawanka]

Originally Posted by fish2026

I saw a really pretty building for sale in the downtown but even the realtors told me its trashed inside totally. I just wonder what kind of place Okanogan is? Its not growing and theres no college there but thats about all I know.

Wenatchee Valley North is a community college in Omak. Lots of students use Running Start to get advanced classes at free tuition. We moved here a year ago and love it. 1950's small town. Look for graffiti---you won't find much. If you are looking at public schools, I would strongly suggest Okanogan, from my experience substituting there. Local weekly newspaper in The Chronicle. It would give you a feel for the area. Omak is just 4 miles north, and there is a great library, community choir, little theater, radio stations, good hospital. TV is cable or satellite dish. Not much reason to leave the area for anything. Strong art community, friendly people.

[tawanka]

Originally Posted by kirin222

I came to live in Omak, Okanogan area.
These are my impressions in this area.

Good things
Beautiful nature
Lots of wild life
Almost everyday sun shin
No heavy traffic

No good things
Small town, small mind
People are not friendly except outsiders
No options for restaurants
Too far from civilizations
Discrimination (No civil rights in some situations) to outsiders or minorities unless you agree 100% to locals


This area might be the nice place to live for people who love to die in nature if you do not expect good social life, stimulus conversations, and that you can put up with those no good things. Statistic data and informations did not show us those facts.

We've been here a year and love it. You forgot to mention church bells that ring the hour among the good things! Have you not tried The Breadline, The Corner Bistro, Magoo's or Rancho Chico's right down town for meals? There's the Koala Street Inn out on the highway that makes a great spinach salad, as well as many other "nicer" kinds of foods. I pretty much avoid the fast food places, but we do have Arby's, Dairy Queen, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, Stampede Teriyaki, and Taco Time, for that kind of food. I think that you carry your civilization with you -- try hanging out with a different crowd. The PAC and the college provide some intellectual challenges.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by kirin222

I came to live in Omak, Okanogan area.
These are my impressions in this area.

Good things
Beautiful nature
Lots of wild life
Almost everyday sun shin
No heavy traffic

No good things
Small town, small mind
People are not friendly except outsiders
No options for restaurants
Too far from civilizations
Discrimination (No civil rights in some situations) to outsiders or minorities unless you agree 100% to locals


This area might be the nice place to live for people who love to die in nature if you do not expect good social life, stimulus conversations, and that you can put up with those no good things. Statistic data and informations did not show us those facts.

Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but I happened to notice this post and it irritated me. I don't mean to pick on this poster specifically, because I read a lot of these posts.

But, under this person's list of "No good things", he/she lists off a number of factors that EVERY small town in America shares. Almost every small town has a relatively narrow scope of opinions - simply because there is a narrow scope of people. Almost every small town has few restaurants - would you expect a town of 5,000 to have 30 different Michelin star restaurants? Almost every small town (RURAL town, not suburb) is far from civilization - that's is part of the definition of "small town". And the discrimination thing is certainly present in many small towns, but there are large cities that have as much or more discrimination than many small towns - BTW, Okanogan has a very large Native American population, and I, personally, have never heard of a hate crime occurring against a Native American since I have lived here.

The point is that I get tired of reading criticisms like this - obviously written by a big-city-person - because none of this poster's list is unique to Okanogan, but usually fits all small towns. In other words, if you live in Colville (for example) you're not going to move to Okanogan and be mad about being far away from high-class restaurants - you complain about that if you live in Portland and then move to Okanogan.

In summary, don't expect to move from the big city to a small town and then expect all the small-town locals to change their point of view to yours.

Okay. Rant over.

[TribalCat]

Okanogan sounds just like Ontario, Oregon where I went to high school in the late 70's. It was a bit cliquish to people new to town, but there's a lot about it that I miss. It was a good, safe place to raise kids.