Facebook friend and Brookings product Matt Hildreth points me toward Livability.com's list of the top ten small towns in America. Spearfish doesn't make the list, but the Spearfish of East River, Brookings, places fifth! Brookings might have been first if Pat Powers and Dwaine Chapel weren't dragging the place down. But here's what Livability.com says makes up for Pat and Dwaine:
- Downtown! Shops, galleries, places to eat (find me better pizza than George's or more fun burgers than Nick's), and loads of street events.
- Also downtown, the Brookings Children's Museum!
- McCrory Gardens
- Recreation: the pool, the hockey rink, and Oakwood Lakes
Now how Livability can look at those features and not come up with a similar ranking for Spearfish (Downtown Friday Nights, City Park, the D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery, Lookout Mountain, Spearfish Canyon...) defies me. And any methodology that would rank Brookings or Spearfish or any town in South Dakota lower than oil-tundra outpost Dickinson, North Dakota, as a nice place to live should be regarded with deep suspicion.
But congratulations, Brookings! You do have much to love.
The cottage at McCrory Garden was donated by one of my cousins. When I was a little kid I always wanted my Dad to get it moved out to our farm, so I could us it for a playhouse. I think it is a cute little cottage.