Rural America, 'Romanticism' and Open Minds

ACCIDENT, Maryland -- Hours before the festivities began, generations of families were lining up along U.S. Route 219, which is Main Street in this Garrett County town. Armed with coolers of ice, folding chairs and old blankets, and dressed in colorful patriotic clothing, they came to watch the 100-year-old homecoming parade that celebrates their community and the bold beginning of our independence.

Anticipation, that sweet pang of excitement and eagerness that's becoming less common in an age of instant gratification, was tangible as nostalgia swept the old and novelty thrilled the young.

A meaningful silence filled the crowd as the American Legion color guard of veterans spanning World War II to today's conflicts crested Route 219 and made their way along Main Street. A wave of applause and salutes greeted the men who made the sacrifice to serve their country in their youth and then their community in their maturity.

Following them were scores of floats, fire equipment, local bands, scout troops, church groups, the Rotary Club, beauty pageant winners, plenty of livestock and the all-important volunteers, who tossed out penny candy to the gleeful young children.

Accident, Maryland, is not much different from many small towns that dot our countryside. It's got an odd name (yes, based on an accident), great trout fishing along the creek named after a bear, and just enough small businesses to provide a family's essentials (plus any sweet tooth, pizza craving or appetite for fresh, locally made cheese).

This isn't the story of rural life you'll read in much of the media. "I spent a lot of my vacation driving around rural areas, through NC, KY, and TN," wrote Vox.com blogger Dave Roberts. "My impression: horrible land use, bland, ticky-tacky strip-mall architecture, & economic decay. I feel compassion for those people but I have zero time for romanticism about US rural life."

But Mike Koch and Pablo Solanet don't romanticize about their lives in Accident. The married couple are Washington, D.C., expats. Koch worked in housing finance for 22 years, and Solanet was a sought-after Argentine trained chef. They gradually eased out of Beltway life beginning in 2002, permanently departing a few years ago.

FireFly Farms, their bustling cheese business, is lined with paradegoers on the day of the homecoming. Despite their exquisite, locally made goat cheeses appearing on the coveted shelves of Whole Foods, Wegmans and Zabar's and served in dishes in some of the finest restaurants in New York and Washington, the men remain grounded and committed to their rural enterprise.

Koch said: "When we first started the business, Pablo was the original cheesemaker, the original herd manager. He really put his heart and soul, while I continued to work because, as you probably know, starting a farm-based business, the money just doesn't roll in. So, it was necessary to make sure we could sustain ourselves."

They are also deeply committed to their rural community. Koch said: "On election night 2016, we stopped watching the national news, and Pablo and I made the decision to focus on our community: Do we know the county commissioners? Do we go to the chamber of commerce annual membership dinner? Do we know about what's hot in Garrett County politics and what people would like to see in terms of improvements in recycling? Do we know Mayor Carlson of Accident, Maryland? Do we know Ruth Ann who runs town hall?"

That additional investment in community (outside of working with six local farms for their fresh goat milk and employing over 20 locals) has been, in a word, remarkable.

Koch dismisses the typical stereotypes hurled at rural people, saying: "It's no secret that Pablo and I are married and we're gay. It's never brought up. What they care about is: Are you contributing to the community? Are you creating jobs? Are you behaving like a responsible citizen? And the red/blue stuff? Well, people don't obsess about that in the way society assumes they do."

With the exception of a few years in Florida, Glen Maust has called Accident home. The hardworking entrepreneur who has both a construction company and a 25-unit apartment building fulfilled a dream last year when he opened the Rolling Pin Bakery with his wife.

On doughnut day, which is three days a week, the aroma tempts the pedestrians to dive into the baker's family legacy; she is Mennonite and is using the same recipe her grandmother taught her as a child. There are also sandwiches, cookies, muffins and anything else you need to satisfy a sugary craving.

The father of six, Maust employs 15 locals including his son. He knows the challenges of rural life and embraces them: "Our town has had its up and downs, but we are definitely a prosperous, growing little town, but not so much that we're not in danger of getting a Walmart anytime soon."

It is a pretty open-minded town, said Maust: "I would say that we still would be a fairly conservative town, and most conservatives are open-minded. Certainly some aren't, but then there's some liberals that are so open-minded that their brains fall out."

So they fled the swamp.
And now like a cancer, they want to do things in their adopted local town like “what people would like to see in terms of improvements in recycling? “.
High end cheese sold at whole foods for a small town in flyover country?

Getting to know the local levers of power. How very egalitarian of you.

Not sure if the author is being sarcastic with this article, or if its just too much time in DC has brought on cultural blindness.

Sadly the Norman Rockwell-esque, tree lined street rural communities are slowly but steadily losing their idyllicism. Opioids, crime, lack of economic opportunity and shifting demographics have turned many rural towns into rural slums. For every gentrified Accident, MD there are several towns top heavy on the old and devoid of the young, leaving a vacuum being filled by illegals. The Trump economy has slowed the trend but not reversed it. Seek out these bits of Americana while you can and before they completely fade into oblivion.

...if its just too much time in DC has brought on cultural blindness.
_______________________
I’ll go with cultural blindness:

“My impression: horrible land use, bland, ticky-tacky strip-mall architecture, & economic decay. I feel compassion for those people but I have zero time for romanticism about US rural life.”

(But they do have the married gay goat cheese makers whose products are sold at Whole Foods.)

So some fags move to the countryside, and now it is an enlightened place?

What about the thousands of small towns WITHOUT cheese-making faggots? The ones with half a dozen churches, trailers for homes, pigs in the sty, cars on cinder blocks, sofas on the porch? Not enlightened. Needs some gays doing artsy things to have THAT.

Sure, to an elite, having a couch on the porch is tacky, but to the country boy, it’s just to nice outside to have to sit in sterile, dark house. Sit outside and watch the grandeur of nature!

A car in the yard up on blocks is a project. You loved that car once. You WILL get running again. You don’t give up.

Rural life—away from the hustle and bustle—is closer to nature. Humans feel it more here. What birds are singing tells you the time of year. The feel of the air on a humid morning tells you today will be a scorcher. At night, what do you hear? Deafening noise of insects? Frogs peeping? A poorwill singing? The sound of rain marching through the forest right before it hit’s your home; the sound it makes on the tin roof.

Knowing if you’re in need, strangers will still be good Samaritans and help out. That guy in the pickup truck with the chain to pull you out of the mud, the woman who brings you a pie because you said her apple trees in bloom were lovely.

Walking up the long driveway from the bus stop on a warm sunny Fall day, with the riot of colors that the trees wear. The sound of geese heading South, the smell of burning leaves, the sense that you’re part of Mother Nature.

That to me is rural life, not artsy gays making cheese seeking recycling.

I have to disagree. Those things you say exist, but are huge magnifications of rural life by city elites, too. As a rural country dweller, that is hardly the case everywhere.

Sure, people are poorer, but they’re still strong and proud as any free people can be. What you call a slum is to them a home, even so. And crime is not a thing like in town or city... Not even close. People here protect THEMSELVES and don’t have to rely on the cops.

Opioids, drugs and booze are still a crutch to too many people everywhere, regardless of where they live. Crack in town, meth in the trailer, bad both places.

No illegals UNLESS there is work. Some places of big farms have them, but only in season.

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