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Le Mars living?

Wasn’t expecting this thread to be this popular lol. Read every reply so far, appreciate the advice and experiences. My future father in law works in the blue bunny factory and has informed all of his kids to make sure they never do that for a living. I’ve obviously been to Le Mars a bunch, and am generally familiar with the area, I feel like a big obstacle would be explaining to my mom (whom I’m not all that close to but I have lived with her my entire life) that I’m moving to Le Mars Iowa and it’s something that is wise for my career and life. I did mention the girlfriend has no real ties keeping her there, but she does sort of have an in with her current part time employer to be promoted to middle management, but her employer has chains in Omaha too, so that’s not entirely keeping “us” in Le Mars but it is a factor
 
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I also wonder about the true sustainability of finding a remote job now. How do I know how long a career will remain remote for? Do I really want to attach myself to my residence all day? My degree is in criminal justice so that adds another wrinkle of “not many options available” especially in a small town unless I wanna settle for being a cop, that I would suspect would be fairly tough to get in to. How many additional cops does a small town want/need?
 
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carvers4math said:
This year is hopefully not the future for schools and probably not the best to judge academically. Two of my elderly relatives are teaching math this year because teachers quit right before the school year started with concerns about health and safety. Friend in neighboring district told me they have a PE teacher teaching high school chemistry. Not sure how they get away with that unless the DE is waiving all kinds of requirements due to teacher shortage.

Husband and I lived in a large urban area right after we got married but the only time we did anything due to the area was when people came to visit. Traffic just usually not worth it.

I do think the decision probably should be more about what time of your life you will be in whether young and carefree or raising little ones where education and vicinity to relatives and friends becomes more important.
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Teachers can teach about anything, they just have to promise to get certified in that area in the next year or two. Know a couple teachers who did that, then took an in-house transfer after one year and had never made any progress towards the degree. Shortage of math and science teachers out there.
 
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CheapClone1202 said:
I also wonder about the true sustainability of finding a remote job now. How do I know how long a career will remain remote for? Do I really want to attach myself to my residence all day? My degree is in criminal justice so that adds another wrinkle of “not many options available” especially in a small town unless I wanna settle for being a cop, that I would suspect would be fairly tough to get in to. How many additional cops does a small town want/need?
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I know of a few FBI agents in the Sioux City area. Generally there are always some around any place with casinos also.
 
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Gunnerclone said:
If you’re a home body wouldn’t you want like a nice big new suburbs house? I wouldn’t want some old small town house.
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Both houses we have bought in small towns now are bigger then anything you could find in a suburb for anywhere close to the price. Would be spending $50-60k more fore a smaller house in the suburbs.
 
I grew up there many moons ago. As a kid it was pretty great, though I was always jealous of my cousins in bigger metros. As young adults, it might be a challenge socially. In small towns so much of the social activity is built around whatever school your kids go to from band concerts to sporting events, etc. I know similarly in bigger communities parents make friends with the parents of other kids, but there's a real attachment to the schools. You can build a white collar career there now much more easily than when I left in the 90s (Wells for one has really professionalised a lot the last couple decades), but would probably suggest staying in a larger metro for the career advancement and social benefits, and then if/when you decide kids are in your future, you can do worse than a smaller community. It's been said multiple times, but I wouldn't have had to chance to play/letter in multiple sports, band, and lots of other extra-curriculars at bigger schools. And those are the memories that stick out the most to me. Plus, my parents were friends with several of my teachers so they weren't afraid to put a foot in my a$$ if I got out of line :) Good luck!
 
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CheapClone1202 said:
Wasn’t expecting this thread to be this popular lol. Read every reply so far, appreciate the advice and experiences. My future father in law works in the blue bunny factory and has informed all of his kids to make sure they never do that for a living......
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Well's use to be a profitable company and a great place to work. Building the south plant was the last good business decision they made.
Tried to go national, got in bed with Walmart, built a disaster of a plant in Utah, sold off their milk plant in LeMars and yogurt plant in Omaha, and then started hiring consultants to fire/rotate salary people every five years.

Now it's just another company, not a career company. Faye Wells has to be rolling in his grave.
 
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There are some communities in rural Iowa that are treasures. Most have the same thing in common:

County Seat, Small Hospitals, Small College, Less than 15,000 people,

For example, Decorah, Pella, Sioux Center, Grinnell, Orange City, Waverly, I would also add Carroll to that list (even though there is no small college).

Obviously, it really comes down to your effort. Anyplace can be wonderful if you have the right attitude and a volunteer spirit.

Also...you guys should seriously look at Sioux Falls. So much nicer than Sioux City and Omaha.
 
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Beernuts said:
There are some communities in rural Iowa that are treasures. Most have the same thing in common:

County Seat, Small Hospitals, Small College, Less than 15,000 people,

For example, Decorah, Pella, Sioux Center, Grinnell, Orange City, Waverly, I would also add Carroll to that list (even though there is no small college).

Obviously, it really comes down to your effort. Anyplace can be wonderful if you have the right attitude and a volunteer spirit.

Also...you guys should seriously look at Sioux Falls. So much nicer than Sioux City and Omaha.
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Most of those smaller towns that you mention have a large, or a couple, large companies/employers that give back to the community pretty well also.
 
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CheapClone1202 said:
Wasn’t expecting this thread to be this popular lol. Read every reply so far, appreciate the advice and experiences. My future father in law works in the blue bunny factory and has informed all of his kids to make sure they never do that for a living. I’ve obviously been to Le Mars a bunch, and am generally familiar with the area, I feel like a big obstacle would be explaining to my mom (whom I’m not all that close to but I have lived with her my entire life) that I’m moving to Le Mars Iowa and it’s something that is wise for my career and life. I did mention the girlfriend has no real ties keeping her there, but she does sort of have an in with her current part time employer to be promoted to middle management, but her employer has chains in Omaha too, so that’s not entirely keeping “us” in Le Mars but it is a factor
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I’ll put a different spin on this: I grew up in Omaha, and there is NO. WAY. you could have gotten me to live in Le Mars after I finished at ISU. I thought AMES was a rinky-dink town! (Narrator: Over the next 20 years, both Ames and Pat grew, and grew to love each other).
It’s a completely personal decision about the size of town and location. Everyone is different. A bigger city has more conveniences and more career options, but also things like more crime and fewer gravel booze cruises. Find what works for you. And remember: “Happy wife, happy life” is not necessarily true, but “miserable wife…” is.
 
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JP4CY said:
Do you like "tavern" sandwiches?
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Lol that is such a meme with me and my girlfriend. Every time I’m there it seems like someone is making taverns. Never had one. It’s different than a sloppy Joe, but they also believe manwich is different than a sloppy Joe. I believe if you had me a sloppy Joe that doesn’t resemble manwich, it isn’t a sloppy Joe
 
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