I live in an amazing small town, just 3 miles from the city line of Philadelphia.
Narberth is over 100 years old, and takes it's name from another Narberth, in Wales. This area was settled by the Welsh very early, in the late 1600's. Place names all around us are Welsh. Narberth is an independant Bourough, surrounded by Lower Merion Township (kind of like the Vatican!). We have our own mayor and Police force, but share the school system (very highly rated), with Lower Merion Township. Our area is also known as "the main line", referring to the commuter train line that runs through the towns.
Some of the great things about our town are the community spirit, pedestrian culture, and town events.
Every Halloween, there is a kids' costume parade, led by the Narberth Fire trucks. It winds it's way through the streets where everyone not in the parade comes out to see all the costumes. It ends at the park, where everyone gets cookies and cider, and the winners of Best Costume are announced for every age group. My sons both have won "scariest" costume, and were thrilled to get $6 as a prize!
We also have a really old-fashioned carnival on the 4th of July. When my son was about 3, he participated in the "baby parade", where the babies get all dressed up in red, white, and blue, and ride in their decorated strollers past the judges table. We were not prepared with any decorations, and Sam was in a really bad mood! But when I heard they had a catagory for "most serious", I entered him. He walked past the judges with the biggest frown on his face, and won! He was still in such a bad mood that he wouldn't let me take his picture!
In the evening, on the 4th of July, we have the best fireworks around. The park is mobbed with people hours ahead of time, staking out their spots. We usually go early, and bring our dessert. One year we had blueberry pie and vanilla ice cream while sitting on our blanket, waiting for the fireworks to start.
Although I've never attended, I'm told Santa Claus comes to town every year on the train, getting off at the Narberth stop to greet all the kids. Obviously, this is a family friendly place! We even have sidewalks, which makes it safe to let your kids walk to the park, to a friend's house, or to the toy store.
We live about 10 minutes walk from the main street, where ther is a first run movie theater, lots of great shops, but not one chain store. We have a Yoga Studio, two handcrafted art shops, a yarn shop, a fabric shop, a cheese shop, a fabulous French patisserie, a "5 and 10", a hardware store, a liquor store, a Japanese market, a food market, 2 consignment shops, a few restaurants and pubs, a gas station, florist, antique jewelry,and I could go on! And all that in about three blocks.
We are surrounded by very expensive neighborhoods, but Narberth is much more modest. Historically, it was where the servants and blue-collar workers lived. Now it's very gentrified, populated by lots of professionals, artists, writers, and various interesting people. Just because the atmosphere is modest doesn't mean it's a cheap place to buy a house. Prices have sky-rocketed in the past several years. But people really want to live here, and for good reason. When I hear friends complain that their kids can't walk anywhere because they have no sidewalks, and it's so far between each house, that they need a ride to every playdate, that they don't even know the kids around the block, I feel so lucky to be here!
