2021 West + Main Octoberfest! | October 10th, 2021
We hope that you’ll join us for free pumpkins, live music, petting zoo, family photos, food truck + libations and more!
Location: Lakewood Heritage Center, 801 S Yarrow Street, Lakewood CO 80226
The 10 Best Small Towns to Retire in the U.S.
Retirees can enjoy the simple joys of life in these quaint towns.
There's something about small towns that inspires nostalgia and the feeling that traditions of the past still exist on their quaint main streets. Many retirees look for that atmosphere, whether it recalls their own history or a long-imagined ideal place to settle down. There are also practical reasons to move to a small town upon retirement, including affordability, safety, wellness, culture, and comfort. Although not every town offers the ideal combination of these factors, there are many that meet the needs of retirees seeking a simpler life.
Definitions of small towns in terms of population vary from under 10,000 to several times that. Sometimes, towns are considered "small" based on their appearance, lifestyle, or sense of community. In creating this list of small towns, we looked at a variety of qualities (including cost of living, crime data, healthcare availability, senior housing, activities, transportation, and attractions and activities in the area) with the understanding that "best" is ultimately a matter of taste.
Here are some of America's best small towns to consider for retirement or perhaps even for a weekend visit.
Greer, South Carolina
Located in upstate South Carolina with a population of about 33,000 as of 2019, the city has maintained a small town atmosphere, with a revitalized downtown, easy pedestrian access, and attractive twinkling lights. Restaurants, weekly farmers' market, parks, and Thursday night food trucks create a community atmosphere. On the city's website, Greer is described as charming, with festivals, concerts, holiday gatherings, and a variety of recreational activities. Served by the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport as well as Amtrak, the city is accessible and convenient to additional amenities in nearby Greenville. Two hospitals and a cancer center are located within the city, and BMW's manufacturing center is nearby.
Coolidge, Arizona
This south central Arizona town has a 2019 population of 12,685 residents. Set in the northern area of the Sonoran Desert, Coolidge is about 60 miles from Phoenix. Retirees who enjoy desert living for health reasons or personal preference know that summers are quite warm, with July being the hottest month, averaging 106 degrees. Winter is moderate, and snowfall is rare. The cost of living in Coolidge is lower than the national and Arizona average. Natural beauty and a quiet lifestyle are also attractions. The nation's first archaeological reserve, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, is located in Coolidge. Central Arizona College offers personal enrichment classes, continuing education, and workshops for the community. The town is home to a variety of adult and assisted living housing.
Dillsboro, North Carolina
This small town is located on the banks of the Tuckaseigee River near the south entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With a population of fewer than 300 residents, Dillsboro maintains its 19th century railroad town charm. Its walkable downtown consists of century-old stores, restaurants, gift shops, and galleries focused on local artisans who have moved to the town. Annual events are centered around arts and crafts. The cost of living in Dillsboro is comparable to the national average, and crime rates are low. Retirees seeking true small town life, a historic setting, and year-round outdoor activities might enjoy Dillsboro, and for a change of pace, Asheville is less than an hour away.
Fredericksburg, Texas
Located in Texas Hill Country, Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 by German immigrants, and that heritage infuses the town's food, architecture, and culture. Wine lovers will enjoy living in the midst of more than 100 wineries in the area, and stargazers will appreciate the city's efforts to become a Dark Sky Community, with measures to minimize light pollution. Seasonal changes are significant, with dry, warm summers and cold weather in winter. The area is safe, and crime rates are low. Hill Country Memorial Hospital in Fredericksburg includes an acute care facility and a Wellness Center. As a tourist destination with a number of historical landmarks, the city offers a variety of restaurants, hotels, museums, and entertainment. San Antonio and Austin are the closest major cities, both within 70 miles of Fredericksburg.
Cedar Key, Florida
The Sunshine State is home to many charming small towns, and Cedar Key is one of the smallest and most charming. Retirees in Florida enjoy the financial benefits of having no state income tax, and Cedar Key's cost of living is low to moderate. Set on the Gulf coast with fewer than 10,000 residents, the town is considered safe, quiet, and relaxed. Nature lovers will appreciate the proximity of Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge, nature trails, and unspoiled environment. A tourist destination, especially in winter, the town features excellent seafood, with farm-raised clams and Florida oysters available all year. About an hour's drive southwest of Gainesville, the island's cottages, homes, and aquaculture are accessible by Highway 24, the only road entering the town. Residents and visitors enjoy the friendly, low-key atmosphere and a variety of events throughout the year.
Paso Robles, California
Located about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Paso Robles is a city of around 30,000 residents. A walkable downtown features restaurants ranging from casual coffee shops to upscale dining, shops, galleries, breweries, wine tasting rooms, and entertainment. Nearby, wineries are set among picturesque rolling hills, many with outdoor areas for picnics. A weekly farmers' market brings the local agricultural products including olive oil, seasonal produce, cheeses, herbs, and flowers. Summers are warm, and the coast is just a half hour away with several beaches and seaside towns. Active retirees will enjoy nearby camping, golf, biking, and outdoor activities along the shore or at nearby lakes. Several active adult communities are located in Paso Robles, and a range of health care providers are available.
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
Located in northeastern Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, Stroudsburg has a 2020 population of 5,598. Its walkable downtown combines historical architecture and modern amenities including restaurants, wine bars, museums, galleries, shops, antique stores, and hotels. For more than 40 years, the Monroe Farmers' market has been a seasonal fixture in Stroudsburg, with locally grown produce, honey, baked goods, coffee, and more. The annual arts and crafts festival takes place each August at the town's Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm, a living history museum set on 114 acres, featuring a variety of tours, educational workshops, and events throughout the year. As a tourist destination, Stroudsburg offers family activities — for grandchildren's visits — and many places to stay. A variety of senior living accommodations are available as well as hospitals and home healthcare services.
Mequon, Wisconsin
With a population of 24,422 in 2021, Mequon is about 15 miles north of Milwaukee on the western coast of Lake Michigan. Open space, farms, and single family residences are spread over the area, and 25 parks and five golf courses offer ways to enjoy the outdoors. Within Mequon, the urban residential center is the Village of Thiensville, located along the Milwaukee River, with a population of around 3,000. Restaurants, shops, and family-friendly events like the Memorial Day parade, Independence Day celebration, Christmas Tree lighting, and farmers' market add to the small town community atmosphere. Annual events include a softball tournament, bingo, carnival rides, car show, and chicken dinner sponsored by the local Lions Club. A variety of senior living facilities and health care programs are located in Mequon.
Bristol, Vermont
A quintessential New England small town, Bristol will appeal to retirees who appreciate its quaint atmosphere and scenery, as long as they're ready for cold, but picturesque winters. Located in the foothills of the Green Mountains, Bristol's population is under 2,000 residents. Its old-style walkable downtown — a National Historic District — features restaurants, coffee shops, and stores offering gifts, local arts and crafts, clothing, and more. A summer music festival, street fairs, Harvest Festival in fall, and the Independence Day Outhouse Race are a few of the community events. For a truly vintage touch, recycling is picked up by horse and wagon. Summer band concerts in the village green have been a tradition since the Civil War. Bristol is considered a safe, friendly, and charming place to live, and senior living as well as health care facilities are conveniently located in town.
Hamilton, Montana
Retirees who enjoy being outdoors, independent, and active would enjoy life in Hamilton where gorgeous scenery is a constant backdrop. Wide open spaces and a rural small-town feel with a strong community atmosphere describe Hamilton, but the convenience and amenities of a bigger city are available in Missoula, about an hour's drive away. Fewer than 4,000 people live in Hamilton, surrounded by small farms, ranches, and orchards. The historic town boasts the Ravalli County Museum, set in the original 1900 county courthouse, and now listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings. Bitterroot College University of Montana is located in town, and the public library was built by Andrew Carnegie. Several retirement homes are available in town, and there's a local hospital and a variety of healthcare providers.
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How to Protect Your Home Against Rain Damage
With changing weather patterns and extreme conditions becoming more common across the globe, it only makes sense to take an extra measure of precaution when it comes to protecting your home against relentless precipitation. Before you find yourself underwater, here are some ways to be better prepared for the rain.
Review Your Home Insurance
It's important that you do not take your home insurance for granted. Take the opportunity to assess the changing conditions and check your coverage annually to ensure you have all your bases covered. As more geographical areas that were previously unaffected by flooding are experiencing catastrophic conditions, perhaps it may be time to consider additional flood coverage if it's not in your standard home insurance package.
Further, your home insurance agent is your advisor as far as what you need to protect what is likely your biggest investment. Bring your concerns and questions to your agent regularly to be sure you're properly covered to anticipate all the potential risks. Although you can't predict everything, there's much you can accomplish with open communication with your insurance agent.
Waterproof Your Basement
You don’t need to wait for storms to come to assess the moisture levels that may be present in your basement. The fact that this part of your home’s structure is situated underground is enough to tell you that this is one of the first places to inspect to mitigate the potential for water damage. Small moisture problems can become more serious if they're ignored for too long. In order to keep your property intact, look for a professional that offers waterproofing services.
Waterproofing your basement must be done professionally and up to code. Whether it's having a basement slab poured, foundation repairs, foam or epoxy injections, interior/exterior drain, tile systems or installing a sump pump, a professional job assures that only the best materials are applied. Also, with a professional, you can have peace of mind regardless of the weather conditions outside.
Mold and Mildew Treatments
Where there's moisture, there will be mold—and it's not always visible. Before you find yourself battling a respiratory illness from mold spores, it's advisable to have an inspection. If mold is found, there is a multi-step process that helps in removing the dangerous material and sanitizing the area to completely eradicate mold.
This could involve removing flooring materials and baseboards, because water and moisture have no boundaries. If drywall is affected, that must also be removed. You need professionals who have the proper equipment for the job, as well as the powerful chemicals necessary to kill traces of mold and mildew. It's a good idea to have the phone number of a qualified waterproofing company on hand to be sure a problem like this does not occur again in the future.
Concrete Wall and Floor Repair
It may not seem like much, but hairline cracks in concrete create ingress or entry for groundwater, insects and radon gas. While these fissures typically do not pose a structural threat, they're the natural result of the curing process. As water evaporates in the drying slab, it tends to shrink slightly. This is enough to produce these fine cracks.
The common patching and filling products might do a nice job of filling these cracks; however, over time, these can fail and leave you with the job of chipping them out and starting over. For the right products and proper methods to avoid future issues, be sure to consult with a professional waterproofing company. Also, if you detect large cracks or bulging walls in your home, you will want to consult the pros. These are likely indications of more serious problems.
As winter approaches, there is an increased risk of water damage occurring in your home. Rather than wait until you're in the middle of a serious storm, it's best to consult professionals in advance in order to be ready. There's hardly a greater comfort than being safe inside your home when a storm is raging outside, and it's an even greater comfort to be assured your home can take the punishment without damage.
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US Housing Supply Continues to Lag Household Formations
Highlights:
In 2020 and the first half of 2021, the U.S. saw 2.1 million household formations, resulting in 12.3 million household formations between 2012 and June 2021. In this time period, 7.5 million single-family homes were started, and 7 million single-family homes were completed.
The gap between single-family home constructions and household formations grew from 3.84 million homes at the beginning of 2019 to 5.24 million homes as of June 2021.
At the five-year average rate of home completion and household formation, the gap would only widen.
Assuming household formations continue at current 5-year average, the average rate of home completion would have to triple to close the gap in home completions and household formations in 5 to 6 years.
If instead household formations sustain the sluggishness of 2021 and home completions continue to be strong, it will only take double the rate of home completions (as assessed in 2021) to close the gap in 5-6 years.
Builders are accelerating production:
In the first six months of 2021, 565,000 homes were started, which is 57% of the total homes started in 2020. If sustained, this will mean a 15% increase in housing starts for 2021 compared to 2020.
Home starts per 1000 households increased slightly in 2020 from 7.1 in 2019 to 7.9 in 2020, indicating acceleration.
New Home Sales data suggests that a decreasing proportion of affordable homes are being built and sold in 2021 compared to 2018-2020. Only 32% of new homes were sold for less than $300,000 in the first half of 2021, down from 43% in 2018.
Builders are ramping up most in the south and west:
Over 50% of home starts through June 2021 were in the south, and almost 25% in the west.
Through June 2021, 13.8% of all building permits were granted in Dallas, Houston and Austin, Texas metro areas.
Cities such as Austin (TX), Nashville (TN), Raleigh (NC), Phoenix (AZ), Denver (CO) and Tampa (FL), are seeing an outsized proportion of housing permits.
Smaller scenic towns such as Boise City, ID, and Provo, UT as well as beach towns across Florida are seeing significant proportions of building permits relative to their size.
Builder confidence suggests that this trend could continue. Home builder sentiment is strong and up year-on-year, though dropping from its peak in November 2020.
The Gap Between Home Starts and Household Formations Continues to Widen
As discussed in the writeup the last time we examined the question of housing supply adequacy, 2012 to 2019 marked a period of economic expansion and prosperity. Right after the January 2020 research, the Coronavirus pandemic changed daily life worldwide. Being stuck at home led to a re-examination of home life, resulting in increased housing demand across the country. However, as housing demand ramped up, the construction industry ran into issues with material and labor scarcity, driving the cost of both inputs up and widening the already large gap between home construction and household formations. Housing demand was strong enough that these hang-ups did not stifle home sales growth, but these trends exacerbated the preexisting shortage, making the problem worse.
Between 2019 and 2021, an additional 2.1 million households formed, resulting in a total of 12.3 million new households between 2012 and June 2021. Through 2020 and the first half of 2021, homebuilders started construction on about 1.55 million single-family homes, bringing the 2012 to 2021 housing starts total to 7.47 million homes. As combined household formations outpaced housing starts in 2020 and 2021, the gap between these metrics widened to 5.24 million fewer housing starts than household formations.
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Upcoming fall festivals in Colorado: Oktoberfest, car shows and fall colors
Fall colors, harvests and Oktoberfests fill the schedule for some of the last festivals of the year.
Denver Oktoberfest, 24-26, Ballpark Neighborhood
A 51-year tradition of Bavarian fun. German food and beer, stein hoisting, keg bowling, long-dog derby. Costumes everywhere. Live music.
Fridays, 5-11 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Admission for full weekends, $45 or $65 with a stein, or single days $20-45: in advance thedenveroktoberfest.com
Longmont Oktoberfest, Sept. 25, Roosevelt Park
The traditional German celebration, the city’s ninth, is back and is a benefit for two nonprofits, A Woman’s Work and the Left Hand Brewing Foundation.
11 a.m.-9 p.m. Music includes bluegrass group Wood Belly and house band CSU’s Neue Polka. More than 10 breweries, distilleries and cideries. Food vendors. Sack races, costumes and stein-holding competition.
Entry $10 or special bundles including drink tokens $25 and $35. lhbfoundation.org/ longmont-oktoberfest
More Oktoberfests:
Brecktoberfest in Breckenridge is Sept. 24-26 on a more limited basis and expected to sell out, $50, gobreck.com/event/breckenridge-oktoberfest. OktoBREWfest in Greeley is in Lincoln Park Sept. 24-25 with music, brews and brats. mygreeley.com/events/oktobrewfest Steamboat OktoberWest, Sept. 18, boasts more than 30 regional craft breweries. steamboat oktoberwest.com
14erfest, Sept. 24-26, Buena Vista
Colorado Mountain Festival in Golden, also planned this same weekend, was just canceled until 2022, but this 14er trail festival is a go. Four-wheeling, hiking, mountain biking, running and fly fishing. Base camp is downtown Buena Vista. Live music nightly.Watch the website or Facebook for schedules or changes: 14erfest.org or facebook.com/14erFest
Telluride Autumn Classic, Sept. 23-26
A celebration of the spectacular gold colors of the mountain aspens combined with amazing cars and motorcycles.
Add to that classy aircraft, vintage and exotic vehicles. All in a town with major art and music.
NOTE: Check websites for late changes or cancellations because of COVID-19.
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