Huntington has been singled out as the poorest, unhappiest, unhealthiest city in the nation in a number of recent surveys. One such study even concluded that our town has the fourth ugliest men in the country. It seems that our city is often a target of misguided scorn. With all of that negativity in mind, it is my pleasure to announce that Huntington, WV has won my award for happiest city in America. What a comeback!
Here are eleven contributing factors that put Huntington over the edge.
-Ritter Park has been ranked by Child Magazine as one of the ten nicest parks in the country.
-Our downtown arena, the Big Sandy Superstore Arena is, according to Venues Today, the , "11th top entertainment venue worldwide among venues with seating capacities between 5,001 and …10,000." That same venue was also recently nominated for an Academy of Country Music Award for Venue of the Year (Medium capacity) for the second year in a row.
-Huntington offers a ton of free activities for kids, most notably the Huntington Museum of Art's Saturday KidsArt program, which offers kids Pre-K through 5th grade free art classes every Saturday afternoon.
-Our area's focus on fitness rivals many areas its size. From the PATH to Critical Mass to the Marshall marathon to the high number of 5K races (3 in March), and a YMCA that has basically tripled in size over the past two decades, Huntingtonians should be proud of the improvement made in this category.
-From musical theatre to Pulitzer Prize winning work to the best in children's theatre, Huntington boasts a wide variety of stage works with something for everyone. It is rare for a weekend to go by without some play being brought to life for Tri-State audiences.
-How many communities can boast an amusement park among the many things to do? Huntington can. Camden Park!
-Be it Greek Fest or a Marshall football game day or a Halloween block party or a Hot Dog Fest, Huntingtonians are never at a loss for coming up with an excuse to party with their neighbors – thousands turn out for these events and many, many more.
-Speaking of food, and we know good food, did you know that Cam's Ham sandwich was ranked one of the Top 50 sandwiches in the USA, according to the Food Network's "50 States, 50 Sandwiches"?
-While too many communities our size were tearing down their Keith Albee or Jeslyn theatres/performing arts centers, ours was focused on restoring them and ensuring the quality arts programming and educational outreach that comes from both.
-While many communities our size have let their downtowns die, ours has held on better than most with Pullman Square and other small businesses.
-A recent survey of 34 West Virginia cities ranked Huntington the ninth best place to live in the state. Two of the positives this piece pointed out was that our town has both the lowest cost of living and lowest student to teacher ratio of any other city in their top 10. (I would argue that either one of these should bump us up a few spots.)
And this list is just the tip of the iceberg. I didn't even mention McClelland Park, Jim's Spaghetti, Tudor's, Heritage Farm, a beautiful riverfront park, Heritage Station, Central City, and much, much more.
Congratulations, Huntington. You've earned it.
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