A few weeks ago, I did a post that mentioned, among other things, the "stubbornness of the people who live in Brown County's Nashville in wanting to keep their town a certain way." While I was on vacation, I got this e-mail in response:
Leo, your story about Nashville was a total hoot. Either you've never been there, or never talked to residents. Oh, I'm sure you may have talked to shop owners, but they are not residents. Those hicks you refer to, most have college educations. When you talk about Nashville not wanting to change, you are so far off base it is not funny. Change? Those against change are the out-of-town shop owners who pushed Nashville to change until it fit their idea of what it should be, not the residents. I suspect you have no idea what Nashville looked like 40 years ago, so let me enlighten you. In Nashville 40 years ago, you could buy a new car from any one of two dealers. You could get your car repaired, get a set of tires. You could get groceries, go have a malt, anything you could do in any town in this part of the state. There was an A&W rootbeer stand (woh, yes, franchises existed in Nashville 40 years ago). You could buy building materials, the list goes on and on. As a 50-year life resident, I'd suggest getting facts correct by talking to real residents. The tourist industry pressured out the community businesses, and tried to rebuild Nashville into a solely tourism franchise, except that most shops sell Chinese or other imported trinkets. Only a handfull of artists and craftsmen still exist there. There were more 40 years ago.
As it happens, I have been going to Nashville off and on for at least 30 years, and I have noticed at least one of the mentioned changes -- the declining number of real artisans and the proliferation of shops selling cheap imported junk. I guess the lesson is, for those banking on tourism to spur economic development: Don't let the developers steal your city. It should be first and foremost a place local residents can enjoy and thrive in.
