Someplace Special

By Rebecca Zickefoose

Ashland is the quintessential small town. Quaint, earthy, and friendly, it’s the kind of community you’d like to raise a family in. With the lack of the hustle and bustle of bigger cities, the convenience of most of the familiar chain stores, and ease of proximally close entertaining venues it seems like it might be a boring place to reside. At first glance it appears, as most of the teenage and young adult population claim, that there is “nothing to do”, that Ashland has nothing to offer. That is so far from true. It’s not that there’s nothing to do in Ashland, it’s that the community is such an easy-going, unpretentious sort that no one is boasting about all the hidden gems. Farmer’s markets, a multitude of county and city parks, locally owned shops, community events (where everyone knows each other) and a rich history go uncelebrated simply because that’s “normal” life. We, who live here, think, “Why would anyone care about that? Doesn’t everyone have that stuff?” The answer is NO! When visitors come to our town they find fresh meat from the farm five miles out of town, fresh produce available from many local gardens, community events like car shows, BalloonFest, and many kids’ programs, a huge spray park available to the public, parks/trails/playgrounds, barn dances, library programs and many shops and stores where products and service are handled with the care of one-on-one business.  

That humble attitude is my favorite trait of my Ashland community. As a whole, when describing the personality of our town, residents repeatedly use words like modest, humble, friendly, carefree and easy going. Ashland has this happy-spirited outlook while maintaining a rich focus on history, nature, culture and real people. Anyone from visitor to long-time resident can feel the vibe and assimilate right into the infectious sense of community. It’s just someplace special.