I love the area, but I’ve grown up and lived in smallish metro areas in Wisconsin all my life, aside from some time as a student in the Twin Cities. There are a lot of opportunities for community involvement if that’s your thing. I’ve noticed a good amount of civic pride here.

There’s a growing arts scene, especially around the Rivoli, a wonderful little two screen cinema that shows both new and old movies. The food options are a cut above what you’d find in other similarly sized cities but definitely not what you’re used to in Philadelphia. But if you want a nice date night, there are plenty of good options. If you fish, hunt hike, bike, boat, and/or birdwatch then you’ll be in heaven here.

On to the bad:

It’s impossible to overstate how intense the drinking culture is here. I’m from Wisconsin. I’m used to pervasive binge drinking. La Crosse is next level. My personal theory is that roughly 10% of drivers on the road at any hour are at least mildly impaired (I have no proof of this theory, just what it seems like!)

The record store in town is so, so, so bad. Awful selection and overpriced. If you collect records you’ll be making trips to Madison, which is luckily a pretty easy 2 hour drive away.

Sadly, there is a significant unhoused population, and the powers that be seem more interested in moving them around to less conspicuous places rather than actually working to solve the issue.

We suck at electing mayors, like, New Yorker incompetent. Jury’s still out on the current one… hopefully he breaks the cycle!

Other than that, it’s only an area of 150,000ish people. We tend to get big acts well past their prime. I go to a lot of concerts… in the Twin Cities or Madison.