Orange City, Iowa — A northwest Iowa community is the subject of an article that will appear in the November 13th issue of The New Yorker magazine.
The article, written by Larissa MacFarquhar, is titled Where The Small-Town American Dream Lives On. MacFarquhar writes that “as America’s rural communities stagnate, what can we learn from one that hasn’t?”
The article features interviews with folks from Orange City…those who were raised there and left and never looked back, those who were raised elswhere and found their way to the Sioux County seat, and those who left but found their way back.
MacFarquhar writes, “Orange City is one of the most conservative places in the country, and those who leave it tend to become less so. It is not despairing, however, nor is it stagnant. Change happens differently in a place where people tend to stay. But staying is not for everyone.”
MacFarquhar credits, in part, the strong religious and familial ties that keep young people in Orange City, or lure back the ones who choose to return to their hometown.
The article neither praises nor denegrates Orange City, but instead is a thoughtful piece that examines the traditional strengths, along with the progressive influences, that have kept Orange City vibrant and growing, while many other small towns around the country have become stagnant.
The article will appear in the November 13th issue of The New Yorker, but you can view it now, online, at https://www.newyorker.com
