BOONEVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PRESENTS: OUR TOWN!
I have lived in some small towns, though, I was lucky that most of them had at least a movie theater, a place to buy stuff and a enough people outside of your family that, if you wanted to, you could bring someone other than your sibling or cousin to the spring dances and such.
Good times indeed.
My mom's hometown was not so lucky.
Where she grew up, the population was twenty three(today, the population has grown to a big time city of forty-eight) and had a gas station, three times daily trains going through and a grain elevator.
There was a school for the county but the local fire marshall decided he wanted some job security(I kid you not) and moonlighted as an arsonist.
He burned down the school, part of the firehouse and his car (which was by accident, according to official court records. A leak in his gasoline container plus a still glowing match = car goes whoosh!) within a few months time frame.
If it hadn't been for Ms. Martha's watchful eyes and seeing Fire Marshall Dan fleeing from the scene, his pants ablazed, the case would still be unsolved!
My hometown, that place which grew me from a bright eyed elementary school child to possibly an adult, though I would never use the word 'grown up', was small enough that we could use the term small town and not have to go to confession for lying on the day of our Lord.
But it was big enough that we had a K-Mart AND a Woolworth within walking distance of each other.
Woolworth was the big store in the mall until K-Mart opened up nearby and chased them away.
Now that spot is occupied by a fashion shop and K-Mart is close to death because of Walmart farther down the road.
The movie theater in the mall, the place were I kissed Mary Swanson on the lips back in 7th grade(our first date, don't remember the movie, too busy kissing!), is still there.
It still has crappy flat soda!
We brought our own!
My mom's home town had a movie theater too but to get to it, you had to pile into the car, drive an hour both ways and hoped that the movie reels made it from Bufford in time for the 7pm showing.
Sometimes they didn't, the afternoon train from Bufford was stopped by cattle crossing the tracks, or the train's engineer was falling down drunk from Aunty Still's 'Medicine' bottle on his way through Alex's Falls.
Then, they would get to watch some newsreels from 1928 and possibly a cartoon or two from 1943 and go to Chip's for some chipped beef on toast and a rootbeer.
Small towns, got to love them, if just for the characters.
And the rootbeers!
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Comments
But they still have "The Spot", an actual car-hop drive-in where my dad and brothers worked as young men. My brother met my sister in law to be there.
And they still have those frosty mug Rootbeers!
R
Seriously, great post!
@Con - Boonville Missouri doesn't have the "e" in Boone. However, they do have a casino!
where Walmart is THE place to go
and when you go to McD's everyone knows your name, and if they don't they stare at you like you are on exhibit
....not knocking it at all, it's just so alien- kinda cool, but scary at the same time
I do miss my sweet hens but not the roosters, they met the guillotine for criminal attacks. Ah, happy memories...
I ran small town Chambers of Commerce for 12 years with the largest town being 12,000 people. I'd rather be back there than just about anywhere else I can think of.
I've done several posts here on it including a memorable Easter Egg Hunt and the saga of my vasectomy.
I think that rooster retired here too. He lives just down the street. The hen used to live just up the road. She's not there any more; the Legion put on a chicken dinner last Sunday........
;-)
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To small towns! (Pig rape and all.)
Rated.
R.
r./
Your EP and cover, are my evening's whoopee Pie
Congratulations!
All kidding aside, congrats! You deserved it.
The End of Days are truly upon us.
Really though great story and I still live in small town America less than 400 folks and I like it...When I moved here the 8th grade graduating class had 9 graduates, now we have 60! Woo Hoo we is a growing up.
Now you can relax! On second thought.. nah.. Keep at it!
So many small towns have a cafe named after Ruby. She must have been a friendly, hard working, straight talking gal who loved cinnamon rolls, coffee and gravy.
My first OS video! Cool! R
Dianne, the bear is my VP OF MARKETING!! :D
Token, ~nodding~ Heck, a few towns around here have less people than their grave yards!! :D
Con, Bear wanted to put in some jackalopes but we decided our mayor with gun was better!! :D
And that's Booneville, USA! :D
Steel, I want a root beer float!! NUMMY!! :D
Gerald, I think some towns have been destroyed by the chicken wars!! ~nodding~ :D
jl, New Albany is awesome!! And the high school mascot is the same as my high school in Butte, MT -- BULLDOGS!!! :D
tai, I think my "attitude" is due to the arsenic and lead in the water!! :D
Midwest, 35,ooo is good size!! :D (but still small enough that you can be alone when you want to be!! :) )
Boaner, yeah, town gotta have a liquor store for me(none of that dry counties for me!! :D )
jmac, oh my yes!! :D
Julie, ~nodding~ One of the benefits and problems of living in a small town, everybody knows everybody!! EEK! :D
Matt, and I bet the town had a sign at the entry to town telling EVERYONE!! :D
Bleue, oh my yes, poor hens! :( :D Yeah, in small towns, you couldn't do a thing without others knowing about it!! EEK!! :D
Walter, got to love the small towns. ~nodding~ In some areas, they beat big cities' life hands down!!!
designanator, thanks! Small town life might miss some of the attractions a big city can bring but heck, don't miss them that much!! :)
mical, and thanks to you my friend! Yeah, peeps run as fast as they can from their towns. "Best part of my town is seeing it in the rear view mirror!" :D
sky, chicken dinners at the VFW!!! MMMM MMMM!! :D
Rob, ~nodding~ That's the plus plus of living in a small town, free candy!! :D
Stacey, you are very welcome!!!! :)
Matthew, Oh yeah, living in a small town is an adjustment if you use to living in a big city(sidewalks get rolled up at 7pm in small town, 5:30pm on Sundays!!) ~nodding~ :)
Sheila, ~nodding~ Breathing room is nice, that's for sure!! :)
Kid, oh man, I forgot to add about the 'crazy fellow' who think EVERY RELIGION even his own stole his soul!!! :D
lefty, GOD BLESS AMERICA!! :D
Walter, shhh, don't let the Big City folks hear about our fun times. Corn hole is fun too!!! :D
Trudge, exactly!! :D
Cymraeg, SQUIRREL!!! :D
lschmoopie, ~nodding~ I think some big cities still have that small town feel which is why I love Louisville and the local area here, Louisville not HUGE MONSTER CITY but it's a city but it kind of feels like small town, which is good!! Got the benefits of some shopping too!! :D
WAIT, AN EP??? YAY!! Ed I Tor Sugar Cube got my "shipment"!! AND YAY, IN GOOD COMPANY ON THE COVER!! :D
Thanks all, I thought it was smudge too on my screen but...:D
Bowl, Thanks! Yeah, if the towns got some better sodas, they'd get, DEFINITELY MOVE THERE,LEAVE THOSE BIG CITIES IN THE DUST!! :D
Abrawang, I don't know, I think in big cities, you just have so many more weirdos and strangers that you just don't notice that much.
:D
maria, he lived but they put him in prison for awhile. :)
Lunch Lady, WOOOOOOO, town is growing!! :D
EP! EP! Whooooo...and Cover!! EVEN BETTER!! :D
Seriously, thanks everyone!!!!
P.S. My family knew the Swansons and Mary was really a boy.
This is like stand up comedy :D.
Rated for WAHOO!!! it's an EP!
Half your schtick is gone 8-O.
P.S. I love and miss A&W root BEER!
Love this!
Βravo Tink, it is a great story for all of us the one you wrote!!
Julie, he might be!! BEST ED I TOR EVER!! :D
Muse, it should be if it isn't!! :D
Seer, exactly, my life is stand up comedy!! :D
And I know!!! EP!! EP! :D
phyllis, might be going legit!! EEK!! Nah!! :D
Kate, I LOVE the new Ed I Tor!!! Drinking a root beer in his honor!! :D
Linnnn, Booneville is awesome!! :D
STATHI, I might have to write more!! :D
In both places, rather than root beer and chipped beef on toast, crystal meth and handguns are the Saturday night entertainment. The college kids in Rolla don't participate in that; either they're studying all weekend or they carpool to Saint Louis. Newark doesn't have a lot of that, so the casualties are higher.
I haven't been in either town since the coming of satellite TV (since cable didn't make many inroads at either place), so there's no real knowing how jealous those places are of the big city life they are fed daily by DirecTV. It sure hasn't stopped the number of meth labs out there, with the regular rate of rural explosions.
And Jake? There's lots more where this came from. Just stay tuned to this same cat channel (a nod and wink to 60s television addicts).
Congrats on the EP and the COVER!!!!
and I will say my prayers now because surely
the armageddon thing will be tonight!
neutron, meth is its own industry in a lot of small towns, that's for sure!! EEK!!
Erica, thank you very much!! Yeah, job security!! :D
Libby, ya welcome!! :)
Boaner, ahhh, thanks my friend!! I do write some funny stuff!! :D
Harry, got to do something when ya bored!! :D
Damon, I feel sorry for K-Mart too, they were never the same when they brought in MArtha Stewart!! :D
Proud, I like to purr too!! :D
Stim, nothing beats a cap!!! :D
Steel, three mice!! Teehee!! :D
Kenny, yeah, definitely can be a life change, that's for sure! EEK!! :)
trig, Hell has frozen over!! EEK!!! :D
Lezlie
Sirenita, my folks have chickens, they cool!! :D
You got an EP!!!!
And you did it the "Good Old American Way" too......
You waited,
And waited,
And waited,
And waited,
And waited,
And waited,
And waited,
And waited,
And FINALLY!
IT ALL PAID OFF!
Someone clued you in and you bribed someone just like we real writers do!!!
CONGRATULATIONS, TUNA BREATH!
;-)
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