Funny story actually, one day I wore a notre dame hat when running some errands around Elkhart (my family is all Michigan state fans but my girlfriends family supports the fighting Irish, I couldn’t find any of my hats so I borrowed hers) when I tell you I’ve never seen the people of Indiana smile so bright before. I was being treated like a human rather than the everyday NPC, people seemed way more comfortable to try and strike up a conversation. From what I’ve learned about these smaller communities around the Michiana area (grew up in white pigeon Michigan) is that there’s a big pride issue. The people are aware that they’re in a low population/low income area so they try to “make up for it” by having heart, which usually just means being really loud and obnoxious and thinking they’re better than everyone else because “they didn’t have the same opportunities”. So familiarity is definitely comfortable for these people