We helped out at a fun event that my community puts on to celebrate what it means to be a part of this place. My husband and I grew up in @watfordcitynd when it was small and getting smaller. They told the young people to leave. So we did.
But then, we got to come back.
Now, nearly twenty years after we graduated high school, my town has boomed from 1,200 to close to 10,000 and climbing, in just the last ten years. The median age used to be close to 60. Now it is 32. The amount of families and young kids that showed up tonight to eat ice cream, jump in the bouncy houses, get their faces painted, do some art projects and learn more about their town is a testimony to what it looks like when a community leans in instead of awayâfrom the new, from the unfamiliar, from an uncertain futureâour Watford City has smiled, shaken hands, pulled on our pants and got to work. It hasnât always been pretty, it hasnât always been easy, but here we are, in it together.
If youâre new here or have been living here 100 years, tonight we took a moment to say âwelcome!â
#boomtown #westernnd #welcome #hometownboomtown #bakkenlife #bakken
