'Micropolitan' burgs offer best of both worlds
Elizabeth City Daily Advance
Published on: 07/10/07
Elizabeth City, N.C. —- One night last week, around 10 p.m., I was walking my dog down Main Street in downtown Elizabeth City. It was a warm night and a few people were out, walking or driving, and the main business drag was peaceful.
As I strolled down the sidewalk, the clock tower over the Pasquotank County Courthouse began to chime. I paused for a moment and reflected on my surroundings. Late and quiet, this small town wasn't exactly rolled up for the night, but it was calm. Growing up in a major metropolitan area, I never envisioned myself enjoying small-town life. But I do, and so do a growing number of people.
They are people who are finding that communities like this one offer the closeness and affability of a small town, but with the services of urban centers.
The next day, I drove the short distance to work, down the same street. On my way I witnessed the bustle of Main Street, with the courthouse traffic flowing in and out of the doors and small mom-and-pop businesses open for another day of commerce.
Along the familiar route, I spotted familiar faces. With the window of my old red-and-white pickup truck rolled down, I easily leaned out and waved to folks I knew.
Yes, Elizabeth City is a small town. But according to the federal government, it's also classified as a "micropolitan." That's a small town with the kind of services found in urban centers, only on a smaller scale —- we have a hospital, big-box retailers, movie theaters, two museums, parks, a university and a college.
And these so-called micropolitans are becoming more and more popular with both urban-oriented young families and the baby boomer generation —- a group set to retire but that more than likely will move into other endeavors, like owning their own businesses, according to some experts.
"Boomers are set to retire, but they don't want to stop," says Art Jackson, director of the Small Town Initiative, an arm of the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center. Jackson says Elizabeth City is part of a small group of "unique" small towns popping up across the state and around the country. These towns offer urban amenities but maintain the community character of a small town.
When I first walked through downtown Elizabeth City several years ago, I was immediately struck with the sense that this downtown is striving to be something other than any number of dying, small Main Streets found across the country. There are shops and restaurants dotting a waterfront that hosts boats traveling the Intracoastal Waterway, and clothing stores and art galleries, a movie theater and even live theater.
People from urban centers are moving to this waterfront community. They're moving here for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its sense of community and ambience that is propped up by the waterfront and historic neighborhoods that boast thriving Victorian-era houses.
Tunde Afolayan is an adjunct professor of art at Elizabeth City State University. He and his wife, Latanya, are both born-and-bred urbanites who have found a home in this small town.
Afolayan grew up in the West African city of Lagos, Nigeria, and lived for a time in Atlanta. He said coming from a city with 16 million people to a town with little more than 17,000 is a step up —- although he admits his wife, an administrator at the same university, misses city life.
"She came out here first and checked it out, and she said it's a very small town," recalls Afolayan. "She said, 'You're going to like it.' "
And he does like it. The Afolayan family lives on the far end of Elizabeth City's historic district, and he says the perks of small-town life allow him to walk downtown, bike with his children and just blend in with the community.
"In Elizabeth City you can get around everywhere in about 10 minutes," Afolayan says. "I don't have to worry about getting stuck in traffic. You have time to spend quality time with your children."
Mary Cherry, a native of Los Angeles and once a resident of nearby Virginia Beach, Va., sees the advantages of both worlds here but cherishes what she sees as the traditional character of a small Southern town.
"It's a pretty little, quiet town," Cherry says.
Although Cherry is a transplant, she's well-known by many people native to the area. Through her work with the community theater group Encore Theater, Cherry has made a number of lasting connections. And it doesn't hurt that she married a local boy, Tom Cherry.
"When I first came to Elizabeth City, I liked being connected so easily," Cherry says. "People are very hospitable. People want to know where you're from and who your people are. People know your business, but it's a nice feeling to know people know you."
In a small town, people do know one another. And it is a nice feeling to run into a friend, neighbor or acquaintance when out running errands.
In larger cities like Los Angeles, where I lived for 17 years, you would be hard-pressed to run into anyone you knew in the span of a month, much less a day. And neighbors typically kept to themselves.
In smaller places like Elizabeth City, even the neighbors you haven't met yet know who you are before you're properly introduced. And they really do seem to be pleased you've joined them along their street.
And it's that sort of sense of belonging that may be at the core of what Jackson sees as a growing trend —- people leaving cities for these small towns, or micropolitans.
But do beware. Popularity of any region does bring growth, and the key is to determine now, Jackson says, how best to handle that growth.
"You have to manage the small-town appeal," he says.
In the meantime, Elizabeth City and places like it are offering the best of two worlds. You can get your latte or shop at a big-box retailer and still stroll down Main Street safely at night while listening to the bell toll 10.
"There is just something about the small town, and Elizabeth City has it," says Afolayan.
> Robert Kelly-Goss writes for The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.).
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