The Town I live in...Paducah

I live in a small town in Western Ky...Paducah, Ky to be exact. I was born and raised here. Population is about 64,000. I love Paducah. We have so much history here. Lewis & Clark came through here and so did the Underground Railroad. We are known for the American Quilters Society...very BIG here...and also for the most beautiful lakes in this part of the country. Kentucky is the bluegrass state and home of the Kentucky Derby (the most important 60 seconds in sports history)...but we have alot more that I'm going to share with you.
The people here are down home people...most off us know someone that knows someone and so on..which means we all know everyone...something like that.
We have great city wide activities...such as The Paducah Summer Festival...this is in July and there are things planned everyday and great concerts on the river at night with fireworks...we also have BBQ on the river....we have about 25 vendors set up all competing for the title of Best BBQ....and if I havent said it before...we have great BBQ...this goes on for 4 days. We have Hot August Blues which goes on for 4 days out on Kentucky Lake alot of bands get together and play thier hearts out with lots of Bluegrass Music....we honor our famous Quilter Tourist the last week of April and show them an awesome time......we have a great Artist Location downtown who have remodeled tons of old civil war and pre 1900 homes which you can tour only certain times a year. May-October our downtown opens up and people can walk up and down the streets on Saturday nights just like they did in the 40's we have people on the sides of the
streets singing and stores open up and its a great thing for us.
We are located on the Ohio River and its a great place to go down and sit and eat lunch and watch the barges going down the river.
We have the best strawberries and Jet Star Tomatoes, we have great schools,
a great tourism board, wonderful Antiques Stores, outstanding ice cream, and fabulous people who are down to earth friendly country people.
We are only 2 hours from Nashville, Tn (the home of country music) and 3 hours from St Louis ( the gateway to the west)...We are on the border of Illinois and Kentucky...and have been named The New Tornadoe Alley (this past spring)
What I'm trying to say is:
Paducah is my home its my childrens home and most of all its a place where you will always see a smile....a good old fashioned hand shake or nod. Some of us are as southern as southern gets with a glass of iced tea sitting on our front porches waving at every car that drives by or walking through the old market on the corner and knowing everyone in the store...our churches are small and some big...but they all have one thing in common they are all family and when someone has a baby or someone burys a loved one we all make a dish and take it to them....or watch thier kids if needed or pray for them everyday.Deep down we all want everyone to be happy. We try not to gossip...but it happens...and we try to be good honest people..always wanting to help out if someone moves or needs help with a project. We enjoy each others company and love seeing friends and family. Even watching our kids run through the back yard and catching ligtning bugs while we sit on the deck and chat with friends....there be no need for invitations here....you just stop by and visit and always have something cold to drink in the fridge. This is how I grew up this is how I was raised and this is how I will raise my kids......here in Paducah.
Paducah is the town I live in...I hope you enjoyed my town. Come back and see us..now..ya here?
Jen

Comments

mom of 2 said…
Sounds good to me! We live in a large suburb of an even larger city here in Texas. Our little neighborhood is great, but venture too far out and it's big city all over the place! I like small town atmosphere...the friendly people and laidback way of life! I also enjoy being close to the mall and grocery store, so I don't want to move to far away from the city. It seems like the suburbs just keep reaching out farther and farther into the country...which is a shame! I've lived my entire life in the same general area we live now. However, where we live now used to just be farmland and now it is all houses and schools.

I really enjoyed reading about where you live!! I enjoy reading your blog everyday...thanks!!
Tina Leigh said…
In many ways it sounds like where I live! If I was a moving gal you would have me sold on coming to your home town!! Is the town paying you to do P.R.!! LOL!
Barb said…
You know what? Paducah sounds like a lovely place. Honestly, how lucky are you and especially your kids?

But....Rob and I raised our children in Frederick, Colorado. That's a little town on the eastern slope of the Rockies. Population? 800. THAT'S a small town. 64,000 sounds nice but oh my goodness, can you imagine only 800? You literally could not sneeze without every single person in town sending you a get-well card.

Suddenly that whole part of the state went beserk with growth. We knew Denver would eventually have to start spreading north and east, but it was awful. We hated what happened to our little corner of the world. So we left.

I'm so blessed that when my girls were growing up, it was still small. Small enough that they knew there were 1600 eyes on them and we'd hear about it if they messed up. :-)

Lovely. Really really lovely to raise your children in such an environment.
Shawna said…
Wow, you make me want to move there! I have these fantasies about wanting to move, but I probably never will since ALL of our family is here. I was born & raised here, & like Barb, it is SMALL, pop. around 1,000 or so - so 64,000 sounds big to me. But if moving were in my future, I would check out Paducah now!
Overwhelmed! said…
Sounds like a nice place to live and raise children. I was raised in a small Midwestern town of only 150 people. I loved it!