I never even thought about what this word really meant prior to living in Wyoming. Growing up in the suburbs of New York, and living in the city for 5 years after college, the word community actually never even came to mind. For me, the New York attraction is family, exceptional live music(every day of the week), some occasional anonymity(non-existent here), and a whole lot of diversity.
Jackson Hole, on the other hand, brings to mind things like beauty, nature, adventure, outdoors, and in my opinion, the word community defines this place. The love that residents share for this area and each other is truly amazing. Locals come together for the good times and bad like I have never seen before.
From reading other local ski town blogs, it is apparent that the other mountain areas operate in just about the same way. Locals love their mountain towns. I decided to go to Wikipedia, and find out what they had to say about Community. The page is huge … here is just a “snippet”:
”A community is a social group of organisms sharing an environment, normally with shared interests. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.”
“If the sense of community exists, both freedom and security exist as well. The community then takes on a life of its own, as people become free enough to share and secure enough to get along.
Hmmm … Bottom line …. If you’re searching for some community with your outdoor lifestyle … a small mountain town may be calling your name.