Small towns have their charm and friendliness, but they’re also not the best place to be if you wish to avoid old friends or enemies. Not all small towns can be as fun and unique as Stars Hallow in Gilmore Girls. These are my 10 reasons why I wish I grew up anywhere except Fairhope.
Through my teenage experiences of growing up in Fairhope, I’ve learned how boring a town like Fairhope can be. Adults can enjoy their time shopping and eating at various restaurants that serve alcohol. But, teenagers have no outlet to just hang out with friends. Fairhope does have a small public beach, but it closes after a certain time and officers patrol the streets every night. If you want to watch a movie that just released to theaters or go bowling, you have to travel two towns over.
Fairhope is a well-known retirement community that also has wealthy citizens. If there was a home owners association manual for Fairhope it would have a section about everyone owning the same Mercedes or BMWs with three color options: black, white, or silver. If they can’t afford the luxury brands, then the next step down is owning the largest Chevrolet SUV or Truck with the same three colors.
This is a feeling you can only experience when visiting Fairhope. The surrounding towns are full of bustling people with places to go and things to do. However, once you cross the town line into Fairhope, the world shifts a little. There’s this feeling that once you live in Fairhope, you don’t leave.
People do move to Fairhope eventually, but due to limited amount of reality and the price of property, people settle elsewhere. Because of this, you’ll never have new neighbors. If you want new neighbors, you’ll have to be the one to move.
Elegant restaurants are scarce throughout Baldwin County. However, Fairhope has the most in terms of romantic atmosphere and fine dining. Now, by fine dining I mean eating well seasoned steak and crab. There aren’t any exotic restaurants like Indian, Thai, or Moroccan. The most used restaurants in Fairhope for date nights are Ruby Tuesday, Italian Downtown, and Master Joe’s.
If you find any postcards of Baldwin County with a storybook town, it’s downtown Fairhope. There are boutiques on every corner and new styles to discover. People that live in Fairhope, barely leave to go shopping at the Tanger Outlets in Foley, AL, or the Eastern Shore Centre in Spanish Fort, AL. Before the Wal-Mart was built, people from Fairhope got their groceries from Greer’s Market and Piggly Wiggly. The community put up a fuss when the city announced that Wal-Mart would be franchising in Fairhope even though they shop there on a regular basis. Corporate foundations and companies aren’t welcome in Fairhope. So, don’t hope for any malls to be built nearby.
Fairhope is a community for retirees and families. There are no sections for millennials to take root and start a life with new adventures every day. There are only two apartment complexes in Fairhope, and they aren’t new. Fairhope is the kind of town where once you graduate high school, you either marry your high school sweetheart or move away to start a new life. Fairhope is not the kind of town that embraces change.
This boggles me the most. I’ve visited and even lived in dog friendly towns while in college, and they were always the friendliest and caring communities. Fairhope has a dog park behind the community recreation center, but there are hardly any dogs there. Downtown Fairhope welcomes dogs to stroll with their owners along the sidewalks, but there are never any owners walking their dogs. I would love to take my family dog to Fairhope, but there’s this paradox bubble surrounding the town that slightly discourages me from doing so.
Fairhope is home to the annual art festival where local artist showcase their latest works and put their paintings up for auction. The city shuts down the downtown streets for a whole weekend for the festival. But, once you visit the festival for a second time, you start to notice the same artwork from last year that caught your eye. This is because it’s the exact artwork you saw last year. Fairhope loves to celebrate its artist, but it has an unspoken agreement on what art is allowed to be displayed. Art is supposed to be an expression of oneself, but Fairhope has a censorship any artwork displayed in its galleries or festivals.
If there’s one thing Alabama values over all else, it’s football season. The iron bowl is the most watched game of the season. During the week of Thanksgiving, crimson red and orange flags fly high on residents flag poles and on vehicles of dedicated fans. We even have a local store that strictly sells University of Alabama and Auburn University.
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