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January 25, 2010 at 9:20 am

I moved to Avinger, TX, a tiny northeast Texas town of pop.464, to live out my remaining years. Main Street which is one block long, is beautifully maintained by the descendants of the original settlers, much as a relative maintains a grave of a loved one, but that’s because there is almost no one there to spoil it. In fact, even the state of Texas has left us off the tourist maps.

I am at the stage in my life where I want to give back to the community and this is the place I am choosing to do it. I have joined the volunteer fire department as a grant writer. I am disabled and 60 years old so I’m not much use on a fire truck. I also joined the Avinger Chamber of Commerce where I am functioning as a town promoter, so to speak.

As one who used to believe in fairy tales, and who still hopes to meet a fairy, I am heart warmed by the innocence of the people here who have lived in one place all their lives and know not of the ways of the big world, or choose to shut out the “progressive” ways to cling to what they know and understand. This town has no industry, no grocery store, only one restaurant, one mercantile, and less than a handful of micro businesses but several churches. Formerly, during and prior to the civil war, the area was cotton plantations, now converted to timber farms. Most are still owned and run by the original families of the area. If it was not for two books, “Avinger, TX USA, and “Hickory Hills”, both written by the late author, Fred McKenzie, the history of the area would be lost to all but the descendants.

I am trying with the support of the town, to bring it back to life. Everyone agrees they want that but either they don’t know how to make it happen, or are complacent, not believing it’s possible. Sometimes I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into. I structured short, medium and long term marketing plans and have started the long uphill struggle to make them happen.

My interest in small towns is to see what other towns have done successfully, and if possible to add those actions to my own marketing plan. I’m also on the lookout for anything remotely like a “magic bullet”. If a zoo can make $20k in one year selling reindeer poop jewelry surly we can find something akin to a “pet rock”. Failing that it’s simply a matter of hard work, perseverance and gumption.

I found your website documentary about small towns to be “spot on”. You’ve successfully captured the problems. If and when we are successful then maybe you’ll consider a documentary about the little town that could… I think I can, I think I can…I know I can, I know I can… and we will share any successes we have along the way.

Thanks for listening.

January 25, 2010 at 3:15 pm

Wynn Ponder

Thanks for posting, Jan. I love the way you think. Keep us updated, and feel free to send photos or videos from Avinger, so we can share them.

I hope other small town folks will share ideas on your situation by commenting here.

January 26, 2010 at 10:47 pm

Carol S

Whenever I feel the crush of life pressing against me, I take a day trip to a small town and walk the streets. I love how small town folk don’t care who you are, they smile and say hello anyway. In my first job after college, I worked in a small town south of Wichita. Our office was in small strip center next door to Clark Hardware. I remember Mr. Clark, how feisty and hard-working he was. Every Thanksgiving, the last day of work before break, I would walk next door and buy a Douglas Fir from him, load it in my car and take it home. On any given day I would walk next door and walk up and down the aisles looking at all the mechanics – tape measures, levels, needle-nosed pliers and other fascinations. To this day I can’t resist wandering around a hardware store, and if it’s in a small town, even better.

January 28, 2010 at 6:41 pm

Wynn Ponder

I hear you, Carol. I live in Wichita now, and it’s a really great city … I like to refer to it as the biggest little town I’ve ever seen, but there’s no substitute for the road trips I take when we shoot footage for “Small Town, USA.” I like the friendly eye contact and easy smiles you find in the rural communities. Hardware stores … heck, yeah. The Old Hardware Store in Halstead, Kansas, is one of my favorites. Part antique shop, part curiosity shop, part hardware store. I can get lost for hours.

February 7, 2010 at 3:43 pm

Kim Huston

I love your project and I am glad that more people are drawing attention to small town America. I just published a book titled “SMALL TOWN SEXY, the allure of living small town America”, and it has been so rewarding to hear stories from all over the U.S. about the love affair people have with their small communities. Of course, not all small towns are created equal but I do believe that you can live large in a small town. Best wishes to you with this project.

February 15, 2010 at 8:41 pm

Cathy Tarkowski-Grant

In my travels around rural Kansas, I’ve started noticing people and businesses popping up, here and there, that have migrated there from Cali, New York, Chicago, Boston. I have come to realize that an exodus has started from big cities to rural America, a trend that is in it’s very early stages. Real estate offices have seen a gradual increase in calls for rural properties over the last 15 years. We ain’t seen nothing yet!!
Cities have great shopping, mass transit, big business, museums, entertainment, universities, coffee shops and great energy. What they don’t have and cannot reproduce are all the things that flow through the veins of us that come from small town rural America. These things cannot be bought, can they?
My best friend, Pam and I, (my husband thought I should leave off her last name) walked and rode our bikes all over Belleville, Kansas at all hours, laughing and talking. We never dreamed that we could have come up against any kind of trouble, but inherently, we knew that we could knock on any door for help just like it was Grandma’s house.
When our neighbor a half a block away, was in the hospital, Daddy mowed the lawn, without a phone call to him or from him.
When we had a death in the family, food came from all over town.
We have a history that brought our great grandparents there in the first place, that made our little town what it was and that will fuel what it will become, a history that we can build on to grow our little town again. We truly were all for one and one for all. We were “community”, We cared and we care. It is not IN our DNA, it has become our DNA.
I started a business, many years ago, called “Growing a Town”. but don’t look for a website, letterhead, business card, bill board or a blog, no, not even a facebook page. Why? Because even though I had this great idea, I had/have a full time job, to provide health insurance for my family. (Dang, don’t those jobs get in the way!) Yes, I started this powerful business, in my heart. I have not understood how to put my foot in this new thing without leaving the old thing behind (my job). It wasn’t until I saw this facebook page this morning, “Small Town, USA”, that I realized the answer! (THANK YOU LYNN PONDER!!!) IT IS A DIALOGUE!!!
Now, you might think I would be cautious about sharing the details about this great business idea on a public forum like this. I am not. The only way it could ever be stolen from my heart is if you killed me, but even then, you could never take away the power of what I lived, it is forever in my DNA, My eternal gratitude goes to my great grandparents, Bernard & Katherine Wenning from Germany and Lucas & Anna Tarkowski from Poland, who through faith and determination, left everything and came to Kansas, made a home out of a hole in the ground and lived there with their children, forever changing the history of America and of the world.
I am starting the facebook page as soon as I finish this letter. It is now 3 pm cst on Sunday Feb 14, 2010. Give me a couple hours, then look me up on the “Growing a Town” facebook page. I’m going to look under this stack of crap on my desk, for my vision statement, blow the dust off it, and put it on here, as it says the whole thing!

TO ENCOURAGE THE VISION, LOYALTY, CARE, HOPE AND STRENGTH THAT IS THE DNA OF EVERY HUMAN BEING WHO WAS RAISED ON THE LAND OF THEIR PIONEER ANCESTORS , AND TO CREATE A REACH FOR THOSE THAT DREAM OF THAT LIFESTYLE OF HERITAGE FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILES. I want to speak to every human being possible, in every avenue possible, that people are coming to rural american towns with their their families and businesses, and to grow their towns by encouraging the powerful vision resident in those that are the decendants of the original pioneers;

Well, there it is! OK, it’s a hodge-podge, I know. If anyone has any feedback about how to clean it up….speak on Dear Friend!

I have 1001 ideas for growing little farm communities.
Very simply put, there is a core of amenities that people are looking for and cannot live without, when looking for a place to bring their children and their business.
They need broadband or high speed internet, fax capability, wifi, an airport, a hospital close by and great schools. The first action we need to take as a community needs to be to put these things in place.

WE ALREADY HAVE THE REST.

Love, Cathy Grant

p.s. you can call me, email me or just talk right on facebook. LET’S TALK!!

March 7, 2010 at 7:06 pm

Cathy Tarkowski-Grant

The Power of a Graduating Class

There is a movement in America that is in it’s infancy. People in cities are looking for rural communities to move to, bring their families, children and businesses to. The list of amenities these folks are looking for include high speed internet or broadband, wifi, access to a hospital and airport, cell phone towers and great schools, We already have the other things they would be willing to pull up their city roots to get, which is community caring and concern, small town values, and a stronger economy. We need to get ready for this growth.

One of the most powerful groups for growth of a rural community or a community of any size, is it’s own graduating classes.
You start by coming together around an idea to grow your town. Open a bank account in your town and everyone in your class will start to trickle money into it over, say, the next five years. One may give $5, some may kick in $50, others may want to contribute much, much more. There is no pressure on anyone, just give what you feel you can. As you get closer to your class reunion, you form a committee to “adopt” a project in your town, and to decide how the money will be spent. The committee will compile ideas to present to the class for a vote.

You may choose to install a fountain and park bench with a gold plaque, “Your Town Class of _______; adopt an aging vacant building downtown, or support the High School computer classes by funding a guest mentor and supplying laptops for each student. The ideas are endless, because they will come from amazing you and your endlessly creative classmates.

The result of this is three fold. 1. It will breathe new life into your own class. Your class will meet with new excitement and purpose. You are gathering not just for fun and around your memories, but with a vision to support the city’s growth. 2. You will create excitement and renewed vision around the growth of your town. 3. You will inspire other classes to band together around the same vision only with a different project.

Imagine if 10 different graduating classes locked arms around supporting your town!
What are the possibilities for the growth of your little town in say the next 10 – 20 years?
You won’t be waiting for someone to get an idea to grow the town. It will be a grassroots movement coming from the very heart of your hometown, it’s own kids!

Cathy Grant

March 8, 2010 at 8:18 pm

Moe Masters

Hey Wynn,
I think you need to come visit Perry, KS. I will readily admit that I lean into the whole Kansas thing pretty strong. I grew up here and subsequently, raised my kids here (Wichita, to be specific.)
But, I traveled almost 30,000 miles all the way across this island and can tell you with certainty: This place is the Shizzle.
The crops are green and plentiful. The livestock are all fat and strong. Millions of waterfowl make this part of their migration every year. We have rolling hills, curvy roads and watersheds. There’s a lake in case you need to hit up a Party Cove kinda deal, and there are countless quiet pastures and forests where you can go all the way away.
William S. Burroughs found his home and self here.
There’s crazy-good energy rolling out of Lawrence and Manhattan (that all meet here by Lake Perry) and I just think you should come when it warms up enough for me to pile the smoker fulla venison and lamb for your pending arrival.
We also do a mean Cole Slaw and Made-From-Scratch Cheesecake.
Bring Boulevard beers and we’ll fish.
If the skeeters find you attractive, you should eat a whole buncha garlic the week before you come.
Mmmmkay?

March 8, 2010 at 9:12 pm

Wynn Ponder

Moe, that sounds great. I’ll give you a call.

Tell us more about Perry, Kansas.

March 8, 2010 at 11:51 pm

Paul Klusman

My parents both grew up in the small town of New Salem, North Dakota. It is a small community of farmers and town folk with the typical slow paced main street, grain elevator, water tower, and railway. It also enjoys the distinction of having the world’s largest fiberglass Holstein Cow.

“Salem Sue” is 40 feet tall, 50 feet long, and weighs some 12,000 pounds. She is incredibly accurate and detailed in both form and color and stands proud upon a hill that rises high above the surrounding flat terrain. She is bathed in floodlights at night so that she is visible for many miles along the very straight and flat I-94 that runs east-west and passes just north of the town.

As a young military family we would often travel back to New Salem for the holidays. This usually involved several days in the car with a late night arrival. “Several days” is an eternity for a small child and my sister and I were often restless when our mom would finally announce “OK! Let’s look for the cow!” Still many miles away, we would peer out into the darkness beyond the headlights of the car. Finally we would see a small point of light on the horizon and we knew we were almost there.

The combination of flat terrain, clear dry air, and very low light pollution at night meant that we were still many miles away, however. The final act of patience for my sister and I involved watching as the point of light slowly grew to a bigger point of light, then a lighted blob, then a small animal-shaped blob, and finally the distinct shape of the handsome glowing black-and-white Salem Sue. Turning off of the highway, it was a short drive past Sue to the heart of the town and the excitement of waiting grandparents, cookies, and the wonder of the season.

March 16, 2010 at 8:30 pm

rachael

Hello,

I was born and raised in a small town called shickshinny, PA. Shickshinny is an Indian name meaning the place where five mountains meet. I recently had to move away to find better employment, but those memories are with me always. I am a small town girl at heart and long to always return home. No place in this world is home to me like shickshinny, PA. What is special about growing up in the mountains is that I had general stores to always shop at and small resturants to eat at. This part of Pennsylvania is very much still in the early 1900s and your ethic background is very special. I was raised with a staunch polish heritage. Back home we have a Kalbasi festival every year and perogies are a staple to our diet. We even have almost our own language for things. Everwhere you go Italian, polish and Irish heritage is very much alive. I always think back to living in my farm house at the bottom of the mountains walking to the general store. Nothing will ever come close to those memories. I love Small town USA!

June 16, 2010 at 1:19 pm

Jason Walker

Can Peanut Butter Save Salt City, USA?

Grand Saline, Texas – a town of about 3,000 people in northeastern Van Zandt County. Surrounded by oil boom towns where the black gold still flows freely! In the middle of all that oil sits….salt! And, lots of it!! Grand Saline sits on top of a salt dome that contains enough salt to supply the world’s salt consumption for the next 20,000 years. Morton Salt is the largest employer in town and the salt mining industry built our town.

Unfortunately, salt isn’t as expensive as oil. Over the years, as commercial traffic was routed away from US Hwy 80 to Interstate 20 (15 miles south of town); as Wal-Mart popped up in other towns nearby; as the population got older and as people moved away in favor of closer commutes to Tyler or Dallas for work, this “all-American” small town began to decline.

In 2010 many downtown buildings stand empty and have for many years. Businesses don’t choose Grand Saline to make their home because they fear losing too much money. Young people don’t stay because there is nothing here for them — we have no movie theater, no bowling alley, no coffee house — young folks like to be entertained and we just can’t compete! To come to Grand Saline today, you would see a town in decline.

Peanut Butter to the rescue!! In late 2009, Nutty’s Gourmet Peanut Butter relocated their business to Grand Saline following a fire in their original home in Overton, TX. This all natural peanut butter which comes in 12 flavors has been recognized by Food Network’s Rachel Ray as one of the top peanut butters in the US in her magazine and recently they impressed producers, stars and volunteers of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” when they supplied the peanut butter for PB&J sandwiches at the show’s project in Mineola, TX.

But, it’s not the fame of Nutty’s Gourmet Peanut Butter that could save Grand Saline alone. It’s the ingenuity of Nutty’s owners Keith and Carrie Parsons and their work with the Grand Saline Main Street Program that is breathing new life and bringing new pride into this long forgotten stop along History US Hwy 80! You see, 2010 will see the birth of The Great American Peanut Butter Festival.

The Grand Saline Main Street Program in conjunction with the East Texas Food Bank and Nutty’s Gourmet Peanut Butter will hold the first annual festival on November 13, 2010 in Downtown Grand Saline. Vendors, games, cooking competitions, live entertainment, a Peanut Butter Queen and a parade is about as all-American as you can get. Top that off with an attempt to break the world’s record for the largest peanut butter and jelly sandwich ever made (over 950 pounds) and organizers anticipate possibly having up to 5,000 people in Grand Saline for this event!

Festivals don’t revive towns, though and these folks recognize that. What does revive towns is that rebirth of pride that an event like this can bring. People in town are already talking about it and word is getting out across the country. The little mining town is starting to cause some folks to stand up and take notice. Citizens have begun to hold their heads up and proudly tell people about what’s happening.

If the festival is a success and if the people in town realize that their hometown does have something to offer to old and young people, there is a deep seated belief that they can rebuild Grand Saline. The hard-working volunteers in the Main Street Program like to say they are rebuilding Grand Saline “one brick at a time” — a slow, deliberate, painstaking effort where real progress is measure not only in how many buildings have tenants, but how many hearts come back home, too!

Peanut butter may well get people interested in Grand Saline, Texas again, but it will be the blood, sweat and tears of people who care enough to give of themselves that will bring her back to life. Don’t underestimate their passion or commitment — they believe in what they’re doing!

Jason Walker
Grand Saline, TX

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