Small Town Life

In last week’s post, I shared a snippet from the novel I’m writing. It is the description of the stationery shop that is owned by the heroine of the story, Kate. The shop is located in a darling small town.

I have always been attracted to small town living. I’ve watched hours of television shows that center around small towns. The towns of Blue Bell (Hart of Dixie), Middleton (The Good Witch), and Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls) are the stuff dreams are made of as far as I’m concerned. I love the quirky townspeople, the small shops and restaurants, and the community festivals that take place in the town squares.

When my husband got a new job, in Vancouver, Washington seven years ago, I immediately began searching for our new home. The city of Vancouver  was an obvious choice, and Portland, Oregon was just across the river, but neither were good fits for us, so I continued to search. Then my husband’s boss recommended his town, Camas, Washington. The schools were excellent (very important for my daughter’s sake), but I really fell in love when I saw the photos of the little downtown.

The first evening I was in town, our realtor recommended we have drinks at Birch Street Lounge, a cute bar that specializes in Prohibition Era cocktails. As my husband and I listened to the bartender give us the history of the drinks he was pouring us, I felt like I was finally home. Not because I love cocktails (I do.) but because I wanted to live a place where people had the time and inclination to share their personal obsessions with you.

Camas is an old paper mill town. The downtown area is still filled with many of the old commercial buildings that were built up around the mill in the late 1800s. It fell into disuse years ago, but just before I came to live in the town, the downtown had been revitalized. The best part of the revitalization was the community’s commitment to keeping the charm of a small town.

There are no big chain stores or restaurants in our little downtown. It is filled with small businesses. I shop at Camas Antiques almost weekly and Natalia’s Cafe reminds me of Luke’s Diner (Gilmore Girls) with it’s large picture window, ringed with string of lights.

In the spring and summer, there are baskets of flowers hanging from the old light posts that line the main street. The annual Garden Fair happens every year the Saturday before Mother’s Day. It’s not your usual, commercial garden event. Instead, it’s filled with vendors who grow and sell their own starts from heirloom seeds, artist’s who create outdoor art, and flea market finds of antique garden furniture and accessories.

The summers are filled with festivals like Camas Days and The Vintage & Art Fair happens in August. The shops pass out candy for a special trick or treating event in October and, in December, the big tree in front of the Liberty Theater (circa 1927) gets lit with Christmas lights at the annual Hometown Holidays celebration.

The best thing about living in a small town though, is the people. When I am downtown, I almost always run into someone I know. When I went to the Garden Fair last weekend, I hugged three people. Shopkeepers know your name. It sounds quaint, but it is real and I feel so very lucky to live here.

So, of course, my novel’s little town is modeled after my beloved town. And, of course, the heroine has a stationery shop. Because I’m not going to lie, that’s a secret dream of mine. To own some sort of small shop (stationery or a bookstore?) in my beloved town, to be able to learn the names of my fellow shopkeepers and patrons and host things like ‘The Paper Town Correspondence Club’-like my character, Kate, does in my novel. I’m discovering that’s the best part of writing fiction-you can live alternate lives through your characters and your characters get to live some of your ‘real’ life too.

Now it’s your turn!

Do you live in a small town?

If not, do you want to?

What’s your favorite small town in books, movies, or television?