At the 4th of July celebration we attended the other night, NikkiZ and I ended up sitting next to the Mayor next to the stage. We didn’t mean to, we were just looking for a place where she could dance and see her DamPaw play drums. As she was dancing and winning the crowd over with her toxic level of cuteness, the Mayor patted me on the shoulder in a way that said, “Your kid…she’s freakin’ hysterical.” I’m not sure if our Mayor would use the word freakin’ - but I’d like to think she would.
I’m always talking about how Huntsville is the perfect sized city for me. It’s big enough that we can sustain good shopping and cultural events, but small enough that you can find yourself sitting next to the Mayor watching a band play on the Fourth of July. Or — big enough to be opening the third Barnes & Noble, but small enough that the Mayor shows up to read a story to the kids. I just love it here. It’s culturally and politically diverse, but still has that small town in the South type of friendliness.
And it has about 20 different BBQ joints to choose from when you’re craving a pulled pork sandwich. That’s really all I’d ask for in a town.
So what part of town should I start looking for houses in? I have to come visit for sure. You make Huntsville sound so desirable. The Chamber of Commerce should link to you.
You don’t have to sell me on the idea of living in Huntsville. We’ve already decided that’s where we’re headed when my husband retires from the Air Force. My sister and her husband are on the lookout for lots for us to build on already…. Just 2 more years!
How far are you from Birmingham? May be going that way in just over a month….
Our mayor lives in Houston. Go figure.
It sounds wonderful. We live in a small town in the south as well and I love it. It would be nice if we could have some more shopping (we don’t even have a Target!) but I love the atmosphere. Very friendly people.
I am from Enterprise, AL which I never liked. My husband is from Decatur and always loved the area including Huntsville. We haven’t been back to Decatur in years, but your blog makes me want to go.
So, can I move in? Oh, and can we move Huntsville up north, closer to my family? Yeah? Thanks!
You had me at pulled pork….
dude:
are you trying to get me to move to huntsville?
i mean, damn. my fourth of july would have been way better if i would have spent it watching nikkiz dance to dampaw’s drums, rather than watching my dumb boyfriend light those fountainy firework things, and then try to jump over them.
(yes, i have a picture of that. i’ll be putting on flickr soon. or my blog, if i feel like making fun of my boyfriend.)
p.s.
your kid?
she IS freaking hysterical.
Don’t get too attached to the size. Growth predictions put Huntsville from 175k people now to around 612K in 2012 and over 800K in 2014! We’ll be the size ob B’Ham by 2020 if these predictions were correct. That’s a crazy insane amount of growth in a very short time too.
YUMMMM…me too! You are a girl after my own heart!
I’m glad it works for you! I’ve just never been able to really get my bearings here, so I don’t think I’m going to miss it much when we finally leave this winter. It’s a cheap, relatively safe, and really pretty city that’s within a short driving distance to a lot of cool places, but Huntsville itself — I don’t know. To me, the culture is just lacking something organic at the core. I think it grew too fast for its own way good back in the 1950s and never caught up culturally. But I really am glad you — and a lot of other people — love it. Huntsville, it’s not you, it’s me!
The lack of BBQ is one of my complaints about Nashville. I thought moving south I would be surrounded by BBQ…but instead we are surrounded by chain restaurants.
Now I HAVE To have a pulled pork sandwich.
OK so I saw you guys at the opening (I was one of the library ladies) and wanted to say hi (again) but thought you might think I was a weirdo stalker (again). But thanks for coming out! We were SO happy it finally opened! They’ll be closing the University store so there will still be two B&Ns in town, but this one is bigger.
And the mayor? She’s nice and all but it was like pulling. teeth. to get her there. This from a woman who, when addressing a room full of librarians, confesses to being “not fond of reading”. Um… I think I would lie if I was in that situation.
WOW! That is a lot of options for the sandwiches!! Maybe i should come and live on your side of the world?! mmmm my tummy is rumbling now