Welcome to Carlsbad, New Mexico, the "Pearl on the Pecos"!  Founded in 1888 as Eddy, the town was renamed Carlsbad after a famous European spa of the same name after the local mineral springs were commercially developed for medicinal qualities.  The town is also home to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  The town has been called home by several notable people including Dan Blocker.  Blocker, who played "Hoss" Cartwright in the TV series bonanza, was an elementary school teacher and coach at Eddy Elementary School.  We home you enjoy our stop in Carlsbad, despite our fascination with Old Yeller.  

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

The small town so nice, we had to stop twice!  We hope you enjoy the continuation of our visit to Ellensburg!

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Welcome to Ellensburg, Washington, where "it's a pleasure to host you"!  The town was founded in 1871 along the Yakima River in the Kittitas Valley.  The town grew rapidly in the 1880s after the Northern Pacific Railway arrived.  In 1889, the town made a bid to be the capital of the newly formed state of Washington.  The bid was stymied when a major fire destroyed the downtown area on July 4th that year.  The town was never able to recover it's footing in the race, and Olympia became the state capital.  Ellensburg hosts a number of different festivals including Dachsunds on Parade, which includes a parade, races, pet tricks and a costume contest.  We hope you enjoy our first double episode of a town.  We will wrap up our visit to Ellensburg with next week's episode.

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Welcome to Pottstown, Pennsylvania... and Exton... and Boyertown.  The primary source for this week's podcast is the Berks-Mont Newspapers, which covers a number of communities in the area.  Each of these towns claims the paper, so we are including them all in this week's podcast.  This area has quite a few interesting claims to fame.  Which town do you think was selected by director Kevin Smith to be the location for the never filmed sequel to Mallrats, named MallBrats?  Was Steve from Blue's Clues born in Pottstown or Boyertown?  And lastly, but surely not least, which town was home to Amanda Smith, THE Mrs. Smith from Mrs. Smith's Delicious Homemade Pies, Inc.?  These questions and many more no one would ever ask are answered in this week's episode.   We hope you enjoy!

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Welcome to "The Boat"!  Steamboat Springs is an internationally known ski resort destination and has produced more athletes for the Winter Olympics than any other town in North America.  The town got its name when early trappers heard the chugging sound made by the natural hot springs in the area and mistook them for a steamboat.  We presume these trappers were well into a bottle or two of poop wine when they came across the springs to make a connection that crazy.  The town is home to "The James Brown Soul Center of the Universe Bridge", which has an incredible story.  We explore that and many other interesting town stories in this week's episode. 

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov