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Sometimes we go to small towns to see what their bars are like. Something hit me last night as we were in Mingo for a drink. When I am in Saint Paul and we go to the bars (not dance clubs) almost all of the clientele are 21-40. There are never groups of old guys in worn clothing just sitting there. Counter this with small towns (and many in Marshalltown, too) where it's mostly older people. Has anyone else noticed this? Why do you think people in larger cities don't go to the bar and people in smaller towns do? It has to be more than just a lack of other things to do, right?

When we walk into many of these bars I see people I don't want to become. I don't get that feeling in larger towns.

What are your experiences?

As someone who worked in Mingo, you need to realize the town is all of about 700 people. You're not going to get many young people to live there unless they grew up there.
 
Sometimes we go to small towns to see what their bars are like. Something hit me last night as we were in Mingo for a drink. When I am in Saint Paul and we go to the bars (not dance clubs) almost all of the clientele are 21-40. There are never groups of old guys in worn clothing just sitting there. Counter this with small towns (and many in Marshalltown, too) where it's mostly older people. Has anyone else noticed this? Why do you think people in larger cities don't go to the bar and people in smaller towns do? It has to be more than just a lack of other things to do, right?

When we walk into many of these bars I see people I don't want to become. I don't get that feeling in larger towns.

What are your experiences?


Mingo, Iowa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Let's think about this for a minute... You went to a bar in Mingo, population around 300 people. What percentage of this 300 people do you suppose are 21-40 years old (has children under 18)? The wikipedia page says 36.7% So lets assume there are 110 people that fall into this age group. Most people in this age group have kids and don't go out to the bar every weekend. Probably less than 10% of this population have an opportunity to go out on the weekend because of kids etc. (I'm just making a guess here based on how much I go out since I live in a small town, fall into this age group, and have kids.) So now we're down to 10-11 people in this age group that COULD go to this small town bar, or then may run into the city to have a few drinks.

You are probably lucky if you saw 2-4 people in this age group in that bar, and it also could be that you miss judged someones age and they were there.
 
Consider also that small town Iowa is slowly dying. Thanks to always improving technology, it takes far less people to farm than it did 30 years ago, & 30 years before that. I grew up in a cornfield called Rockwell City. A lot of my peers have ended up in bigger towns pursuing careers in things like finance and insurance as opposed to agriculture.

That being said, some of my favorite party memories have happened in small town bars. Visit one of these places around the holidays; you'll often see "the boys are back in town."
 
I can go back to the town where I was raised, walk into the only bar in town, and know at least half the people in the bar. This is after leaving that town 25 years ago. Love small town bars.
 
Consider also that small town Iowa is slowly dying. Thanks to always improving technology, it takes far less people to farm than it did 30 years ago, & 30 years before that. I grew up in a cornfield called Rockwell City. A lot of my peers have ended up in bigger towns pursuing careers in things like finance and insurance as opposed to agriculture.

That being said, some of my favorite party memories have happened in small town bars. Visit one of these places around the holidays; you'll often see "the boys are back in town."

Hopefully with more people working from home, this changes. These small towns are super cheap and it's great knowing everyone in town. If you can find one that is 10-20 miles away from a big city, that's even better.
 
Great small town bars:

Valley Inn - Kendallville
Bubba's - Schley
Long Branch - Florenceville
Barney's - Burr Oak
Laddy's - Chester
The Pit Stop - McIntire
Irish Shanti - Gunder

Is the Irish Shanti home of the Gunder Burger? Took my father in-law there (he is from California) he could not believe the size of that thing and how good it was. There was a place in St Olaf who had a pork tenderloin sandwich that was the size of a dinner plate. Incredible.

I think the food in some of these small town bar (and grills) is some of the best you will find.
 
Mingo, Iowa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Let's think about this for a minute... You went to a bar in Mingo, population around 300 people. What percentage of this 300 people do you suppose are 21-40 years old (has children under 18)? The wikipedia page says 36.7% So lets assume there are 110 people that fall into this age group. Most people in this age group have kids and don't go out to the bar every weekend. Probably less than 10% of this population have an opportunity to go out on the weekend because of kids etc. (I'm just making a guess here based on how much I go out since I live in a small town, fall into this age group, and have kids.) So now we're down to 10-11 people in this age group that COULD go to this small town bar, or then may run into the city to have a few drinks.

You are probably lucky if you saw 2-4 people in this age group in that bar, and it also could be that you miss judged someones age and they were there.

The Mingo bar has people in it that range in age from 20 to 80. On the weekends there is a good group of younger adults in the bar.
 
A town has to have about 200 people living in it to support a bar with a kitchen, or it has to draw people from the area around. About town of 400 people can support a bar and a cafe, but these still need to draw visitors from the neighboring area. Proximity to highways or places of work is a big factor too.
 
I am sure in larger cities older people are still going to bars... they just aren't anywhere near the bars that young people go to. For example, I remember the bars on main tended to have an older crowd whereas in campus town the ONLY bar that it appeared to be remotely acceptable to go to as a 40 year old was Welch Ave Station. The problem is you are likely going to the younger people bars. In DeWitt, IA they have a bar that is mostly younger people, one that is mostly older people, and one for drug addicts and burn outs. Such is life in a small town. Buzzies in Welton, IA is a mix but that mix is townies and the only young people near Welton are farmers. Compare that with the Quad Cities and there are bars, Nan's Piano bar, that has a good mix (of pathetic people who are just trying to be hip across all ages) and then bars like the Carriage House are exclusively younger crowds, and some of the brewery based bars are older crowds. Just have to look. Crowds geared toward older people will not have blaring music, have a lot more open atmosphere and the bar tender pretty much knows how to server beer, younger bars have bands, noise fewer tables and what not.

Just my observations
 
Haven't been there in years but used to love FlatHeads in St Anthony, great food.

And to to answer the Mudders question, it is a good little bar. Have a couple farms by Minburn and we will stop in for a drink at the end of the day on occasion. Owner is a retired guy. Have always been treated good there.

Also these types of bars with people that the OP is bagging on exist in large cities too. They are called neighborhood bars, they to are a far cry from the clubs and hook up bars described. Yankee Clipper in Ankeny is a perfect example. My sister used to live in the river north area of downtown Chicago and there were lots of neighborhood bars around with the same age groups described in the small town bars.
 
Sometimes we go to small towns to see what their bars are like. Something hit me last night as we were in Mingo for a drink. When I am in Saint Paul and we go to the bars (not dance clubs) almost all of the clientele are 21-40. There are never groups of old guys in worn clothing just sitting there. Counter this with small towns (and many in Marshalltown, too) where it's mostly older people. Has anyone else noticed this? Why do you think people in larger cities don't go to the bar and people in smaller towns do? It has to be more than just a lack of other things to do, right?

When we walk into many of these bars I see people I don't want to become. I don't get that feeling in larger towns.

What are your experiences?

So you're comparing bars in St. Paul to bars in Marshalltown?

The variable at play isn't the style of bar.
 
Its not nearly that complicated. Rural areas have an aging populations, the demographic curve is nothing like a larger city. Kids get college degrees and never come back home. Outside the bar, the people too old to make it there are at the nursing home. The second biggest industry in many rural counties is health care for old people
 
A town has to have about 200 people living in it to support a bar with a kitchen, or it has to draw people from the area around. About town of 400 people can support a bar and a cafe, but these still need to draw visitors from the neighboring area. Proximity to highways or places of work is a big factor too.

Check out the Mt Hamill Tap. Town of about 30, but people from all around Lee, Henry, and Des Moines counties have been going there for years for some of the best chicken you can get. Like their sirts say, "To get a better piece of chicken, you gotta be a rooster". And their tacos rival Tasty for flavor and size.
 

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