Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Why I love Small Towns Like Mantorville


                                                                                                                                       August 12, 2014
People often ask me why I am still in Mantorville and why don't I move to a big city? I have always found this to be a strange question, I mean why would anyone want to live in a big city when they can live in a beautiful community like Mantorville!
Mantorville, like many small towns, has a strong sense of community identity where neighbors help each other and are considered valuable assets and not just someone to put up with. We are neither disgruntled about life in a small town nor do we feel like we're stuck here. We embrace membership in our community, county and state and celebrate life through a strong volunteerism committment. We have back yards for our children to play in, pay lower taxes in communities with a low crime rate and enjoy beautiful public spaces because we all chip in to clean up, fix and build these community assets.

We start our businesses here in order to provide goods and services to our neighbors and friends and in turn we make an effort to shop locally because we want our friends and neighbors to be successful with their business endeavors.

When I tell my big-city friends that I know the names of the neighborhood kids and where my neighbors work, they tell me that is what they wouldn't like about living in a small town--how everyone knows everything. However, what they are missing is that we take the time to understand each other not because we are nosey but because we care.

Mantorville is also a historic town which was chartered before Minnesota became a state. In historic communities like Mantorville we have preserved our heritage through architectural assets because we realize that in order to understand where we are going we must have a understanding of our past. We also realize that many of the “old structures” in our community can be re-purposed and this actually saves money. Small towns in America are where our traditional values are still held in high regard, where we live by the golden rule and we understand that if we see something that needs to be done, we call our neighbors and friends and make plans to fix it and make it better.

Why do I love living in Mantorville? Is it because of our sense of community? Is it because of lower taxes, lower crime and higher quality of life? Is it because we have stronger educational systems? Yes! All these things and many intangibles make me ask, “Why wouldn't everyone want to live in a small town?”

Sincerely,

Chuck Bradford
Mantorville

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