We’re Almost #1!

I ran across a website today that ranks cities. Sounds like my kind of place.

I love lists. I love geography. I love cities and towns.

And I especially love my town.

I was thrilled to see a countdown of the Top 20 small towns in the state of Tennessee and I was even more delighted to find that the website has ranked the Town of Farragut as the second best small town in the state.

I was searching for criteria but could find very little.  In its description of our Town, CityDescribed cited the graduation rate at FHS as well as the median income of town residents and low unemployment rate among residents. The site also noted the proximity of the near-by Turkey Creek development as another perk.

Still, I wondered how what stats were used to compare Farragut to say, Lakeland (which ranked at #1), Germantown (#3), Brentwood (#5) and Franklin (#13). And I would question the comparison of suburban bedroom communities such as those listed (and others cited in the piece) to free-standing rural small towns and the touristy trio of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Townsend. 

I do recall from my Farragut Press days that the comparison of Farragut to Brentwood to Germantown is a very apt one. It held up later when I saw Farragut theatre teams compete against representatives from those very communities. And, I know FHS often finds itself matching up with high schools from those areas in the state baseball playoffs.

As I went searching for the aforementioned metrics, I found the website is somewhat deficient in describing itself. There’s no “About us” or “Here’s who we are and what we do.”  I did run across this description of the website’s view of small towns. Indeed it seems the website is devoted to celebrating them: 

The best small towns provide beautiful locales that inspire creativity and activity. You’ll find them in the bends of rivers and at the bases of mountains, blending into the landscape rather than disrupting the scenery.
They offer a respite from the frantic pace that often comes with living in a major metropolitan area. They are filled with unpretentious people who want to preserve what makes their places unique.
The best small towns provide beautiful locales that inspire both creativity and activity. Their downtowns remain homages to the past, offering unhurried atmospheres where residents savor conversations as much as they savor morsels.

I don’t think any of us would disagree with any of that.

The countdown, itself, is fun. And I love reading about municipalities. The writers did a nice job of researching each town and sprinkling a bit of local color in the vignettes. 

The photos were a nice feature, too, although I thought a picture of our statue would’ve made more impact than, say, the Town Seal.

But, at the end of the day, I was proud to read about the Town of Farragut and to see that we fared well by comparison. We weren’t #1 but we were darn close.

JG

Originally posted 4/20/2015