Hell is a small rural town that has adapted to survive, attracting 70,000 visitors annually
to Hell is paved with good tarmac. Water runs clear in its creek. The township in Michigan has only 72 residents, Hellians, but offers attractions aplenty. Post-office staff singe cards and stamp them, in blood-red ink, from Hell. Two bars—the Hell Hole and Hell Saloon—bustle with customers. Both of them, and a mini-golf course, are decorated with ghouls and monsters. Chuckling tourists browse a shopful of perdition-themed souvenirs.
Hell, nonetheless, is a success. The Midwest’s landscape “is littered with has-been towns”, says Richard Longworth, who wrote a book about the decline of similar places. He notes other settlements dwindling much faster, such as Gravity, a farming town in southern Iowa. It once had more than 1,000 people but has steadily lost its pull, especially after the school and local businesses closed. It now has an estimated 150 residents, many of them elderly.
Rural towns survive by adapting. Hellians are creative in luring tourists, preferring families who shop and eat with gusto, rather than the biker gangs that used to flock in. The township won national attention on June 6th 2006 by hosting a 12,000-strong party to mark 6/6/6. In especially cold weather, when Hell’s creek freezes over, television journalists are invited to report from its banks. Each autumn it hosts “Hearsefest”, a spooky parade.
What could others learn from the boomlet in Hell? James and Deborah Fallows, who visited 42 towns and small cities across America, last year published a popular book celebrating the most successful. They say towns need “local patriots”, often in business, who are energetic, set out grand plans and excite others. They also need a clear civic story, “myth or a lie”, that residents can organise around. Being open—both to migrants and visitors—is important.
Some things, however, are unique to a town with an odd name. Mr Colone doubts that earlier generations would have been as keen on shopping in Hell, but says public attitudes have grown more relaxed. “Hell sells,” he says. Pay attention, residents of Satans Kingdom, Massachusetts."Lessons from Hell"
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