180 Degrees
Want an inside look at a yearlong project by journalists at the newspaper and the Web site to help Rockford solve serious problems and turn around? We’re focusing on five areas that are key to our way of life in the Rock River Valley: Crime, education, the local economy, state and local government and our culture/sense of place. Would you like to help us in this campaign to bring about change? Give us your ideas and insights and help guide us to better solutions for Rockford. You can join the conversation here.

But … is living here fun?

May 6th, 2008 at 04:36pm Geri Nikolai

We all know Rockford is a great place to raise a family. It’s a generous community, a church-going community, place you can round up volunteers for a worthy cause quicker than the weather changes in April.

But, how much fun is our region? Are you, and/or your family, happy with the arts-entertainment-cultural-recreation scene in the Rock River Valley? Has that part of our lifestyle gotten better, or worse, in the past 30 years.

We know NAT went off the map but look what happened at the Coronado, and the MetroCentre, and Burpee, and Discovery Center, to name a few success stories. Or, are you not impressed?

I’m interested in your view of our after-work life in Rockford, and your attitude about the city? Optimistic? Pessimistic? Sure nothing will ever change? Convinced we’re on the brink of a renaissance?

 Please share your thoughts with me at  gnikolai@rrstar.com or 815-987-1337. Leave a message if I’m not available, with your name and number, please.

Thanks.

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1 Comment Add your own

  • 1. Scott Phillips  |  May 31st, 2008 at 7:19 am

    I am a 51 year old Rockford native. I spent my first 42 years in Rockford before relocating to Nashville. I continue to watch my home town from a distance with mixed feelings. I lived on Indian Terrace for several years before I left and in the five years before I left I owned a small business in the Highcrest Centre. Is Rockford a fun place to live? Define “fun” I guess. You certainly can keep yourself very busy in Rockford.

    During my time in Rockford I prided myself in taking advantage of what Rockford had to offer. From museums, parks, local restaurants, events, lectures and film series at RVC and Rockford College, you name it, I did it. All the while having to listen to friends say, “If only Rockford had this”, or “if they’d only do that”. And believe me I did my share of complaining too. I don’t know who we thought “they” were.

    Yet at many of the events I attended where I thought surely those who complained the loudest would be in attendance, weren’t. I’d go Storefront Cinema and be one of only a few people there. I’d go down to Davis Park on a Sunday afternoon in the summer and the place would be deserted. It’s a great place to go for a picnic and throw a Frisbee or let your dog run around but, there was never anyone there. I’d walk over to the art museum on a Saturday afternoon and be one of two people there. I’d go to a foreign film series at RVC and sit with five geezers. For me that was really discouraging. It seemed like many people liked to complain but were unwilling to support the on-going small cultural events that are a vital part of a city.

    Events like the Wing Ding and On The Waterfront are well attended and that’s great but, events like that are here and then gone. That’s not sustained culture. And for me chain restaurants out on East State or north of there now are not culture. Yet places like that thrive. That told me something about who lived in Rockford.

    The bottom line for me was that I didn’t feel a part of my community, at least from a cultural standpoint. I just felt apart. I found myself traveling to Madison, Milwaukee and occasionally Chicago to find my culture. The vibe I got in places like Madison was like, wow, I feel a real sense of community here. Like the people here know they’re a part of something great. I felt good there but, at the end of the day I’d have to drive back to Rockford’s deserted downtown. I really got tired of having to drive elsewhere for the culture I needed. So I left.

    Rockford is what Rockford is, an okay little mid-western town not unlike hundreds of towns its size all across the country. The fact that Rockford is so close to Chicago, Madison and Milwaukee probably doesn’t work in its favor. Rockford seems to look to these other towns and wants to be more like them. Because of that close proximity it has an identity crisis.

    Rockford is not a bad place. Not a bad place to raise a family. Not a bad place to have fun. It is what it is and there just isn’t enough of the right kind of people to make it much more. It isn’t very progressive. The weird thing for me is that Rockford seemed like a much cooler place years ago. Back when the downtown was a thriving place or when Charlotte’s Web was in its heyday. But that’s another story.

    All the best,

    Scott Phillips

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