By J.D. Eddy, Editorial Editor
Are small towns dying?
For years, the youth of small towns across America have moved themselves to large cities across the country. Because of urbanization and the number of things to do, people believe these large cities hold more promise for them.
According to the University of Michigan’s sustainable systems website, “It is estimated that 83% of the U.S. population lives in urban areas, up from 64% in 1950.” That is more than 283 million people living in urban areas of the U.S. That leaves 47 million people living in rural areas of the U.S. and the small towns across the country.
Alva is not a terrible place to be, but it is true that the population has dipped from 1970 to now. In 1970, the town’s population held steady at 7,440 people, according to the U.S. Census. As of 2020, Alva’s population went down to 5,028 people.
Having things to keep the youth of this town around is important. Now more than ever, it is up to the leadership of these towns to keep people invested in the community. It’s not terrible to allow outside businesses to build in town.
Use Alva as an example. We have a Walmart here. You go to other small towns in Oklahoma like Hydro, Hinton and even my hometown of Tuttle, and you have to drive 15 minutes to an hour to get somewhere with activities your town does not have.
Things to do are hard to find in these small towns: fishing, hunting, ride an ATV or drive around (also known as backroading). Now, this does tend to get repetitive, so finding somewhere you can go on a consistent basis is key to having a good time.
Having attractions that bring tourists to the town will also generate revenue to support local businesses, like: motels, gas stations, computer stores, movie theatres, bowling alleys and little boutiques.
Something to add would be a small racetrack. Alva has the car show once a year, and all of the businesses in town have an influx of customers who stay at the motels or shop at some of the places downtown, bringing in more money for Alva.
As someone who is from a small town, location is everything. Alva is about 50 miles from any major city in Oklahoma and about 100 miles from Wichita, Kansas.
That said, it is not fun to drive an hour to another city and an hour back to go to a store that isn’t a Walmart or to find restaurants that Alva does not have.
Now, I’ve already said I like Alva. The people are amazing. What I am trying to say is that small towns in this day and age don’t have the population needed to maintain the same concepts that worked in the past. You must expand a little in order to encourage people to move there. You must adapt to the times or the population will keep dropping and people will leave.
One thing I have seen on Facebook, which I mentioned already, is the racetrack.
Having this throughout the year would allow Alva during the weekends to see an increase in revenue at local businesses, help the town expand by bringing in new outside companies, turn the town into an even bigger tourist destination and attract more students to the high school and college.
I am not saying that Alva specifically has a problem with growth; most small towns across the U.S. are facing these same problems. It is not a bad thing to allow outside companies to put businesses in.
Overall, the rural population has decreased dramatically over the past 70 years by almost 30%.
They need to increase interest in having people move there or the town will not survive on its own.