Oh Nuts

“We felt like something was taken away from us,

and now we’ve got it back.”

Betty Ann Matthies, Mayor of Seguin, Texas

You know what they say: everything’s bigger in Texas. And the folks in Seguin, Texas (population 26,842) aim to keep it that way—especially when it comes to their nuts.

Seguin, known since the 1960s as home to the world largest pecan, lost that title in 2009 to little Brunswick, Missouri (population 836), which cracked the top spot with a pecan 7 feet around and 12 feet long. This did not sit well with the folks in Seguin. They’ve been hard at work building a bigger nut, and during their 4th of July parade this week unveiled the newest world’s largest pecan: 8 feet around and 16 feet long—showing folks in the Show Me state what big is. Still, the pecan in Brunswick wins the weight division: a whopping 12,000 pounds versus 2,300 pounds in Seguin. Something tells me we haven’t seen the last of the nut wars yet.

And that’s today’s news . . . in a nutshell.

Read the Articles:

Texas ® Seguin reclaims title as home of the world’s largest pecan
Missouri ® The world’s largest pecan (Has a picture of Brunswick’s world’s largest nut; it’s a big ‘un!)

Explosive Export

“This is better than dope.”

Dan Glozer, Police detective

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department

Photo by Ian Kluft

It’s a familiar scene, one that’s played out a hundred times on television: cops patrolling the California border watching for signs of illegal smuggling. But this time it isn’t the border with Mexico they’re watching; it’s Nevada. And it isn't drugs or illegal immigrants; it’s something much more explosive: fireworks.

You see, fireworks are legal to sell in Nevada but are not legal to own in California. The border town of Pahrump, Nevada (population 39,344) is doing a booming business in the kaboom business. Folks from California drive to Nevada, buy up pyrotechnics at about twice market value, and sneak back to California with their explosive stash under covers. As in any smuggling operation, officials are always on the lookout for suspicious vehicles. They say they’re not hard to spot—sedans, minivans, and trucks packed with blankets in 90 degree heat.

There’s another activity that’s legal in Pahrump but not in California: ladies of the evening. But this one would be much trickier to smuggle back across the border. Can you imagine the fireworks at home if these guys get caught?

Read the Article ® Illegal fireworks small town's explosive main export

Not Your Typical Festival

“There will be fun all over Big Rock.”

Mary Hauge, Resident of Big Rock, Illinois

It’s the beginning of a new month (can you believe it?), so that means it’s time for a new Not Your Typical Festival list. Click on the link, or the tab at the top of this page, and check out the latest offbeat celebrations. To mark the occasion, I’m sharing a few celebrations that were held this last month but didn’t make the June list.

Zippy Birthday Bash
Big Rock, Illinois (population 2,118) made a big deal out of celebrating the town’s zip code birthday last month. And what’s a zip code birthday? It’s the date that matches a town’s zip code. In this case, 60511: June 5, 2011 (6/05/11). When one of the town’s residents realized their zip code would be an actual date this year, she and a bunch of volunteers threw together a birthday bash. It included a truck and tractor show, train rides, a BBQ chicken and pork dinner, and let’s hope cake. The zip code for my town is 52054, so I’d have to wait until 2054 to celebrate. I’m not holding my breath.
Read the Article ® Big Rock prepares to put some ZIP in village anniversary


What’s in a Name
The festival in Elizabeth, Illinois (population 644) is an exclusive kind of thing—you have to be named Elizabeth to attend. Okay, the festival allows the families, too, but it’s really all about the Elizabeths. The town, named after Elizabeth Armstrong, who spearheaded efforts to defend Apple River Fort during the Black Hawk War in 1832, sets aside time each year to celebrate that spirit, and namesake. One hundred and seventy-five Elizabeths showed up this year, donning matching purple shirts and a spirit for fun. A portion of the money raised during the Elizabeth Festival goes to support the Apple River Fort, still standing today, thanks to an Elizabeth.
Read the Article ® Elizabeths elicit excitement


Priceless Festival
The Strawberry Festival held by The Brethren Church in Linwood, Maryland (population 5,149) might look like a typical festival—good times and good eats—but unlike most festivals, it doesn’t cost a dime to partake. The church, which has held the festival for 100 years, decided three years ago to practice what it preaches and make the festival available to everyone without regard to income. The church does accept free-will donations during the dinner, and it uses that money to feed the needy. The funny is, since the festival stopped charging for the dinner three years ago, the amount raised for charity has nearly doubled.
Read the Article ® Donation-only festival helps those in need in the community

Around the World in 90 Seconds

Photo by Minnesota Historical Society

Today I’m doing something different. In searching small town news lately, I’ve come across a handful of too-good-to-pass-up stories about small towns outside of the U.S. So instead doing my piece on one small town in America, today I’m giving you snippets from around the world. Enjoy the trip.

Two Humps or One?
Did you know that two-hump camels are found only in the Ladakh region of India? The small town of Deskit has built an entire tourism industry on the backs of these dromedaries. Literally. About 50 visitors a day come to the town to see and ride the camels. But that could be coming to an end. Because of a shortage of basic amenities, the camels are dying out. Thirteen died on one safari farm last year. Deskit townspeople are worried that if something isn’t done soon, their livelihoods will become extinct along with the two-hump camel.
Read the Article ® Double-hump camels on verge of extinction in Ladakh

No Smoking. Period.
Smokers who are banned from buildings, buses, and businesses usually take to the streets to sneak a smoke, but if a small town in England has its way, those will be off limits, too. Stony Stratford (population 12,000) is the first town in England expected to ban smoking on the streets and in any public place. Nonsmokers applaud the move; smokers lament that they will have no place left to smoke. I think that was the idea.
Read the Article ® British town to ban smoking on streets

Unlikely Allies
It’s boom time in Löcknitz, Germany (population 3,027), and the town has its neighbors from Poland to thank for that. Löcknitz is in one of the poorest regions of eastern Germany and was struggling to survive, when Poles working in Szczecin, Poland discovered the town and its cheap housing. With Szczecin only twenty minutes away, Polish workers are happy to drive a few miles to save 85 percent on housing costs. And German shopkeepers are happy to have their business. They say politics makes for strange bedfellows. So does affordable housing, as it turns out.
Read the Article ® A Polish lifeline for an ailing German town

Crossed Legs
When the women in Barbacoas, Colombia (40,000) want something, they know how to get it. In this case, they want a new road. The one they’ve got is in terrible shape—it takes more than 10 hours to travel to the nearest town 35 miles away—and it’s been that way for 20 years. The women are fed up, and so last week they went on a sex strike. Called the “Crossed Legs Strike,” the men in the town aren’t “gettin’ any” until the women get a new road. Something tells me it’s not going to take another 20 years to get that road fixed.
Read the Article ® Women refuse sex until their road is fixed

War of Words

“If I wanted the best scores in the state, I can move to Falmouth.”

Kenneth Smith, Millinocket School Superintendent

  Photo by David Jakes

A while back I wrote a piece about a little school in New York that found a novel way to fill its classrooms: woo foreign students (A Tale of Two Cities). It turns out the idea wasn’t so novel after all. Small schools around the country are doing the same thing. But when a school in Millinocket, Maine (population 5,322) set its sights on students in China, it set off a war of words.

Here's what happened. Looking to boost its numbers, Stearns High School (enrollment 200) turned its charms on China and its 1.3 billion people. Stearns set an ambitious goal by its standards—persuade 60 Chinese students to come give the small town school a try. The campaign caught the attention of an ex-Pat American living in China. He fired off an editorial about the scrawny school and its “run-of-the-mill” academic offerings. He scoffed at the thought of Chinese parents sending their students to such a school. The Millinocket school superintendent shot back his own editorial, casting dispersions on the character of the columnist and defending its humble school. Stearns might not be the best school in the state, he said, but its teachers are dedicated and its students have pride. A columnist from The Atlantic caught wind of the dueling commentaries and jumped in the fray, taking aim at the Chinese newspaper that published the piece. A blog in written by another American living in China picked it up from there, adding that it’s downright unfair for a big newspaper in China to pick on a little town in Maine.

When the dust settles, what it all comes downs to one question: do kids from China want to come to a small town in the United States to get an education? Probably, yes. I know kids here who jump at the chance to study abroad. It’s more than book learning and grades. It’s learning about foreign customs and cultures, and learning how to get along despite, or because of, your differences. Now, if the adults could just learn the same lesson.

Read the Article ® Chinese newspaper slams Millinocket; student recruiting effort sparks cold war of words

Follow-up: The columnist who wrote the original piece in the Chinese newspaper wrote a second piece, this time in the Maine Opinion, the newspaper folks in Millinocket read. He didn’t take back what he said, but he did say he’d visit Millinocket to see if there was more to it than meets the eye.
Read the Article ® Is a Millinocket education a good buy for Chinese families?

Whistle Stop

“The Russians have never invaded Boerne.”

Gary Miller, Police Chief of Boerne, Texas

You know the old saying: “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” It’s true. In my case, that means silence. Sweet, blessed silence. I work at home and I’m used to being surrounded by the sounds of silence while I putter in my office. But my husband was laid off work recently and my son graduated from high school last month, and the house is no longer silent. It’s filled with the sounds of lawn mowing and television and music and chit-chat.

Residents in Boerne, Texas (population 10,639) say it’s too quiet in their neck of the woods. Everyday since 1948 they’ve heard the town siren sound off at noon. The siren was installed back in the days of Civil Air Defense to warn against invasion. It hasn’t seen a lot of action but it’s done its job, says the Boerne police chief: Boerne’s never been invaded by Russians. The siren did see a little action during the flood of 1997, sounding one long, continuous wail to warn residents. Problem is—most folks didn’t know what it meant. They were only familiar with the noontime toot.

But the town siren went silent a few months ago. The police department, which was responsible for pushing the siren button everyday at noon (or thereabouts, if they were busy), got new digs and no one was left to sound the alarm. The police chief welcomed the quiet, but residents and shopkeepers missed the old bell. So it’s been taken down, cleaned up, and fixed with a new, automatic timer that will sound the alarm everyday at noon on the dot. The town soon will have its noisy neighbor back.

Back here at home, things are about to get a lot quieter. My husband got called back to work starting next week, my son got a job working full-time as a lifeguard, and I’m getting my peace and quiet back. Maybe I’ll find, like the residents of Boerne, that silence is not golden . . . but I don’t think so.

Read the Article ® Downtown will soon hear noon siren's wail again

“Phil-ing” a Need

“When the tornado hit, this trip went from

being whimsical to necessary.”

Phil Campbell, Coffs Harbor, Australia

  AP Photo

This spring when tornados cut a swath through the South, the small town of Phil Campbell, Alabama (population 1,057) was not spared. An EF5 tornado with winds 210 mph ravaged the town, leveling houses and killing 28. After the storm, residents faced the heartrending task of picking up and putting it all back together again. But they didn’t face it alone. The town has a fan club, and all of the members go by the name of Phil Campbell.

Phil Campbell, Alabama was settled in the 1880s and named after the railroad engineer who put a train depot in the town. For the last 15 years or so, Phil Campbells from across the country and around the world have come to visit their namesake, sometimes by themselves and sometimes as a group. The town keeps a guest registry of all the Phils who’ve visited.

This year, the town’s 100th anniversary, was supposed to be special. A celebration was slated and Phils from around the world made plans to attend. All that changed with the storm. The Phils didn’t want to celebrate in the aftermath of the tragedy, but they didn’t want to stay away, either. So 18 of them from England, Scotland, Australia, and across the United States showed up to help. They pitched in to clean up the community center where the Phils first held a picnic in 1995. And with the help of friends and Phils who couldn’t travel to Alabama, they’ve raised $40,000 to help with the rebuilding. Faced with devastation all around them, townsfolk in Phil Campbell, Alabama have found a fulfilling friendship with their namesake neighbors.

Read the Article ® Phil Campbells bring support to tornado-stricken namesake town

Click on the link below for an NPR interview with the mayor of Phil Campbell, Alabama, and Phil Campbell from Brooklyn, New York, who organized the Phils’ relief effort and fundraiser.

Phil Campbell celebration turns into fundraiser for twister-ravaged town