Older Folks Are Sharing Their 'Small Town Stories' And Some Of These Are Spot On

Recently, u/PrestonRoad90 asked r/AskOldPeople, "Those from a small town, what was the most small town thing your town ever did?" And we thought we'd share some of the best responses.
1. "I went to visit a friend in Ridgecrest CA back in the '70s. One night for dinner they packed up folding chairs and a cooler. We went to the main crossroads in town. Half the town was there. Turned out they had gotten their first traffic light, and it was turned on that night. We all drank beer and watched the lights change for hours."
– TeamKitsune
3. "Cruising Main Street in a tiny downtown area. Basically driving back and forth for hours on weekends."
– Delightful_day53
4. "I painted my best friend's horse purple for Halloween; it was a pale buckskin mare. She thought it was funny... Her dad not so much. He called the sheriff and he came out to speak with me and my uncle (family foster)."
– prpslydistracted
Searchlight Pictures
6. "When I was younger the courts would accept thanksgiving meat and side donations in lieu of cash fines. $25? You could pay a turkey instead. Or pay stuffing and pie. The food went to shelters, etc."
– Overall_Lobster823
7. "My oldest brother's graduating class was him and two other students."
– boringlesbian
Miramax Films
9. "Hit a hay bale with a Chevy Nova going 30 mph. Them Duke boys are full of shit. You can't drive through a hay bale. That car was messed up."
– No-Orchid-53
10. "Our homecoming parade went down Main St, turned around at the old folks home and then went back down Main St. in the opposite direction."
– Academic_Ad_8229
11. "My town would put a junker on the ice of Parker's Pond, and then the whole town would bet on the date it would fall through ice, and the winner would take the pot. It was a thing that was run by the local radio station WLDY."
– donac
12. "Rural students in grades four to eight were allowed to miss the first and last month of the school year so the kids could help with planting and harvesting crops. Town kids always resented them. Rural kids also got snow days but the town kids would still have to fight the snow drifts and go to school."
– PeaceOut70
13. "Grandfather was a small town doctor. He took livestock as payment fairly regularly."
– Animalhitman50
NBC
14. "They tried to have a Christmas parade but it was just two tractors and the fire truck and five people came."
– AnastasiaNo70
15. "We did a beach day! They brought in loads on sand and covered a small side street with it. There was a dunking booth and they brought in the Pepsi taste test folks. It was a ton of fun!"
– SunnySamantha
16. "Once a bird pooped on a woman's window and it looked like Jesus. A photo of the Jesus poop with the woman standing beside it was on the front page of the town's newspaper."
– Meduxnekeag
Sony Pictures Releasing
17. "I went to visit a friend in La Belle, Fl in the '80s for the yearly swamp cabbage festival. It was the first time I experienced an entire town drunk at the same time. It was a helluva fun time, but I definitely don't recommend anyone visiting – not much else to do."
– Turbulent-Watch2306

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Newsweek

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Woman Finds 1962 Barbie in Thrift Store—Can't Believe The Price Tag

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A Virginia woman was left stunned when she wandered into a thrift store, only to find a 1962 collector's item listed for just $10.99. For Grace Caroline, 29, thrifting has long been an exhilarating hobby, and she's found countless second-hand treasures in the past. But when she and a friend recently traveled further afield to some of the larger thrift stores in northern Virginia, she couldn't believe what she found in the Christmas decorations aisle. To her surprise, Caroline saw a vintage Barbie doll from 1962, still in her original box. It seemed too good to be true, as Caroline told Newsweek that she thought "it had to be a reproduction" at first. But as she looked closer, she realized what an amazing find this was. An original 1962 Barbie that was found in a Virginia thrift store. An original 1962 Barbie that was found in a Virginia thrift store. u/mewisme700 / Reddit "I just thought, there's no way this collector's item was just sitting out," Caroline said. She continued: "She is still in her original box from 1962 and looks mostly untouched. She does have a case of what Barbie collectors call green ear, where the original metal earrings she once wore oxidized into the vinyl of the face. She is missing her hand tag, but still luckily has the original booklet with her, still sealed." Caroline didn't hesitate to buy the Barbie, especially as it cost just $10.99. Indeed, the packaging even has the original sticker with the price on, showing that the doll was once sold for $2. When adjusted for inflation, this equates to around $21 in 2025. Although Caroline isn't a Barbie collector, she is a Pokémon collector and certainly knows the value of an original item. "Once the doll was confirmed not to be a reproduction, I immediately recognized the significance of this Barbie as one of the first releases. I wanted to ensure that it was saved from the thrift to be in the hands of a Barbie collector where it can be cherished and appreciated after 63 years in storage," Caroline told Newsweek. She shared her discovery in a Reddit post (posting as user u/mewisme700), and it's gone viral with over 12,000 votes and 270 comments in a matter of days. Amy McKune, a curator at the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, believes that it's an amazing find, made even better by the near pristine condition it's been kept in. McKune told Newsweek: "She does appear to be in her original box, wearing her original swimsuit and red sandals. Often the thin strap on the tops of those sandals has split as the plastic has aged. I can't see her ears to know if she still has her original earrings. The pearl earrings often have left an area of green discoloration around the ears." It appears to be a #6 Barbie, introduced in 1962, McKune says. She noted that the #6 model was the first doll to wear the famous red swimsuit, with earlier versions sporting a black and white striped one instead. "Isn't it amazing that after only three years, Mattel had introduced six models? The model number on one end of the box (Model 850) was used for all of the Ponytail Barbie dolls," McKune continued. The box that the 1962 Barbie came in, showing the original $2 price tag. The box that the 1962 Barbie came in, showing the original $2 price tag. u/mewisme700 / Reddit The online reaction has been astonishing to see, as many social media users were just as bewildered as Caroline by her thrifting find. In fact, many didn't even believe that it could be real. Caroline said: "I have a lot of people calling it staged because thrift stores have become very adamant in making sure the good stuff goes behind the counter. But with the sheer amount of daily donations thrift stores get because of our hyper-consumeristic lifestyle, it doesn't surprise me that gems like this do slip past thrift employees." Among the hundreds of comments on the post, many Reddit users were amazed by the iconic vintage Barbie. One comment reads: "That's an impossible find! I'm so jealous!" Another Reddit user wrote: "Amazing find. Never even seen one in the original box!" While another person replied: "This is awesome! Think of all the hands it went through at the thrift store and nobody there thought enough to grab it. Congratulations!" Do you have any amazing thrifting finds that you want to share? We want to see the best ones! Send them in to life@ and they could appear on our site.

Geek Tyrant

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Laika Revives PARANORMAN With New Short Starring Anna Kendrick & Finn Wolfhard - Plus a 3D Halloween Re-Release — GeekTyrant

Laika's cult-favorite film ParaNorman is coming back from the dead this Halloween, as fans will get to experience the stop-motion film on the big screen once again, this time in newly remastered RealD 3D. And that's not all. The return comes with the world premiere of a brand-new CG short film: ParaNorman: The Thrifting , featuring the voices of Anna Kendrick and Finn Wolfhard. The announcement came out of the Annecy Animation Festival, and the limited theatrical run is set to kick off on October 23 from Trafalgar Releasing, with U.S. screenings beginning October 25 through Fathom Entertainment. ParaNorman , originally released in 2012 and directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell, was a landmark film for Laika and was a funny, spooky, heartfelt, and unapologetically weird movie. Laika's Chief Marketing and Operations Officer David Burke reflected on its legacy: 'ParaNorman was a breakthrough film for Laika – emotionally rich, visually daring and proudly weird in all the right ways. Bringing it back to theaters in stunning remastered 3D, paired with a brand-new short film, is an invitation for audiences to rediscover the heart and humor of Norman's world – or experience it for the first time.' The all-new short, The Thrifting , is directed by Thibault LeClercq and written by ParaNorman Butler. It was developed in partnership with Passion Pictures and features Anna Kendrick returning as Norman's sister Courtney Babcock. Joining her is Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard, though Laika hasn't revealed who he'll be voicing just yet. The decision to revisit ParaNorman was fueled in part by the unexpected box office success of last year's 3D return of Coraline. Fathom Entertainment CEO Ray Nutt noted: 'Coraline consumers voted with their wallets last year, resulting in approximately 70% of the record-breaking $34 million+ U.S. theatrical box office coming in 3D. ParaNorman is the ideal, spooky follow-up for audiences.' Trafalgar Releasing's Kymberli Frueh added: 'ParaNorman is a visually stunning, emotionally resonant film that deserves to be experienced in theaters – both in 2D and in vividly remastered RealD 3D.' Whether you're revisiting Blithe Hollow or discovering it for the first time, this Halloween offers the perfect excuse to embrace the ghosts, ghouls, and wonderfully weird world of ParaNorman all over again.

Yahoo

a day ago

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TVLine's Performer of the Week: Jonathan Roumie

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As such, Jesus' every syllable landed with a great, and at times haunting, weight. 'In a little while, you will not see me. And then after a little while, you will see me,' he told them. 'Truly, truly I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.' The way Roumie served up this part of the Last Supper, you could feel Jesus' intent to not only prepare his followers for what is to come, but a certain excitement to speak plainly and not 'in figures of speech.' Pivoting away from this opening, eight-minute segment, we picked up where Season 4 left off, with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Roumie's expression whilst seated upon a donkey could only be described as beatific. As the crowds sang 'Hosanna to the Son of David!,' you had to feel chills. A beat later, though, when Jesus was overcome with a rare bout of anxiety — 'seeing' blood seeping through the walls of Jerusalem, clutching his chest — the chills were of a different kind. 'Father, save me from this hour,' he said, triggering a thunderclap that barely masked the words, 'I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.' Capping Roumie's moving performance, we witnessed a low-key Jesus, 'out for a walk,' happen upon and join in the revelry of a betrothal ceremony. Upon being identified, he deflected the attention, but graced the couple with his blessing. In a subsequent scene, Jesus wept (as they say) as he looked out over the plaza and 'saw' the fiery fate that would eventually befall Jerusalem. '[Your enemies] will not leave one stone upon another in you,' he lamented, 'because you did not know the time of your visitation.' Scroll down to see who got Honorable Mention shout-outs this week… Aras Aydin's Matteo wasn't the only Nine Perfect Strangers character to have an emotional breakthrough during Episode 6, but his was easily the most affecting, thanks to Aydin's soul-baring performance. When Matteo's therapy session with Masha took an unexpected turn, and he revealed he didn't want to stop grieving his late family members, Aydin communicated a palpable mix of heartache and hope while hardly raising his voice above a whisper. 'I'm a boy who was loved and lost this love. The thing that everyone fears most in their life, and it's happened to me. So yes, there is pain,' Matteo admitted, Aydin's eyes wide and tearful. 'But there is no fear of loss, because I've already lost. So I can have nothing to fear.' Aydin colored his character's words with such profound sincerity that we were as moved as Masha was by the time his monologue was over — and when she later called Matteo's therapy session 'perfect,' we couldn't have agreed more. — Rebecca Luther Leighton Meester had us wrapped around her finger from the moment she uttered 'Nice hat' with the perfect blend of swagger and wit in The Buccaneers Season 2 premiere. As Nelle, Meester went on to masterfully deliver plenty of other piercing lines, particularly during her character's confrontation with Patti. As Nelle read her sister for filth — 'Oh… you're fed up. Is that it? You're bored?' — Meester made sure the words were charged with plenty of subtext. She feigned compassion with a nod of the head during her sister's admission, before swatting away Patti's claims of newfound independence with a brush of the hand and a sneering accusation of boredom that hung between them with all the weight that Meester had so purposefully given it. All in all, in only a few scenes, the former Gossip Girl reminded us that she's still Queen Bee. — Claire Franken Poker Face has a grand tradition of bringing in familiar faces for juicy guest roles, and Alia Shawkat sunk her teeth into a good one this week as murderous grifter Kate. Setting her sights on that ultimate New York City prize — a cheap rent-controlled apartment — Kate wooed retired professor Anne to get her hands on the lease, with a smiling Shawkat laying down a barrage of phony love-bombing. But Kate needed to get Anne's granddaughter out of the way first, and Shawkat was downright frightening as Kate plotted to knock her off in secret. When Charlie got on the case, Kate even tried to woo her, too, and Shawkat nimbly toggled between seductress and killer before finally getting caught. Kate will go down as one of Charlie Cale's most formidable adversaries yet, though, thanks to Shawkat's deliciously sinister turn. — Dave Nemetz Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments! 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