Tourist Towns

I grew up in Grafton, Vermont (pop. +-600). Grafton is one of those touristy towns. A place that is quaint and quiet, and tourists come and get bored and ask "what do people do?". My mom used to work in the inn and got that question more than any. It wasn't always that way of course. When my Dad was a kid, it was a mecca for motocross racing, back when off-road motorcycles were a relatively new thing. In fact, Grafton is where the first race called "motocross" ever happened in 1959. Vermont Life magazine actually had a major article in the 1960's about motocross racing in Grafton. Oh, man, not anymore. You would not see an article like that in that magazine today. NO way. Too real. Not fake enough. Not high-brow enough, or crunchy enough. Anything in a tourist town must be fake at all costs. I used to fly gas-powered radio-controlled airplanes as a teenager, and helped start a club that flew in a large field in Grafton. But not for long. Here's the letter I wrote to the Grafton News at the time:

"To the editor: To those who enjoyed watching us fly our radio-controlled aircraft at Grafton Ponds, I regrettably announce that we will no longer be flying at that location. Since we formed our club last July, we have had numerous complaints about noise and flights over houses and across the road. We resolved not to fly too early in the morning, but otherwise the noise problem is not possible to solve. As for avoiding flight across the road it is simply impossible with the current location of the runway. The problem could be solved only by moving the runway toward the stone wall which would allow flying over the ski trails instead, but the Windham Foundation would not grant permission. It became increasingly clear that the Ponds was not a suitable location, so as of July 4th we set up in a new field at Townshend Dam."

And the part I really wanted to you to see... a great letter (in reply to mine) from a resident in the following issue:

"To the editor: You know, we wondered what happened to the airplanes. In fact, while walking with visitors at The Ponds the other evening, we pointed out the now overgrown little airstrip and wondered why no one was using it anymore. Our friends "jokingly" said, "Perhaps someone complained!"

"We can imagine that the Foundation switchboard must have lit up like a Christmas tree with hundreds of complaints every time one of these handcrafted, three-foot-long giants lofted into the sky. Really!"

"We do not know Andy, but can sense the frustration in his letter in the August News, as well as his desire to be a little more sarcastic as he tactfully penned his words. We are the closest full-time residents to Grafton Ponds and had no problem at all with the planes. It was nice to see someone actually "doing" something."

"So next time we are approached by one of these Levi Dockered, L.L. Bean boatshoed, Polo-collar-shirted creatures [tourists] who "quietly" wander the streets at night and ask: "What do people who live here do??" We can tell them for sure that we do not make any noise, and we do not have any fun."