The "The Nerds Live Here" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting with my laptop on of all places, my lap, while watching Sheldon and Amy go at it on The Big Bang Theory while at the same time trying to check out the real estate website titled Movoto to see all the news about Lancaster, PA.  Lancaster is on a new "Top Ten" list!  Not real unusual since in the last year or two it has been named one of the most exciting small cities as well as one of the sexiest small cities in the country.  Lancaster is also known as the home of the Amish who drive around our town in their horse-drawn buggies and for our abundance of treats known as the Whoopie Pie.  But, Lancaster's new claim to fame is being on the "Top 10" list of nerdiest small cities in America.  

One of Lancaster's favorite Comic Book stores.

Not #1 or even #2 on the list, but #10, but that's OK since I'm not quite sure how we gained our newly declared fame.  #1 on the list is Marietta, GA and included such well-known cities as Pensacola, FL, Brandenton, FL and Sarasota, FL.  Wow, Florida is a really nerdy state with 4 of the top 10 choices.  So how were the cities ranked and what determined how nerdy Lancaster really was.  Movoto started with a list of cities between 50,000 and 60,000 people which they classified as small cities.  There were 139 cities that fit into that category.  They then looked at how many comic book stores, video game stores, hobby shops, computer stores, museums and bookstores were in those 139 cities.  

One of the many video and game stores.  Both stores
pictured here are within 1 mile of my house along with
a few museums book stores, convention center
 and a really nice public library.

They then took into account one last category of nerdom: conven- tions.  Well, Lancaster has a fairly new convention center in it's downtown which hosts conventions many weeks during the year.  But, what helped Lancaster make the "Top 10" list was it's ranking in museums which was #1.  We have museums everywhere!  We have a clock museum, farm museum, children's museum, quilt & textile museum, multiple art museums and galleries, heritage museum, car museum, bible museum, Amish museum,  train museum, science museum, military museum and even have a Hole In The Wall Puppet Museum in downtown Lancaster run by Rob, a friend of mine.  I've even written about a few of these museums over the past five years.  Lancaster also ranked 3rd in book stores.  So, with such good rankings in museums, book stores, comic book stores, video game stores and libraries, Lancaster reached #10 in the USA.  I can see a parade through the city is in order for this summer when all the nerds can ride floats through the city and be cheered on by those who have much lower IQs.  Enough of this fantasizing.  I must get back to the show.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.