Roasted 1w ago21 views21 pts
We're sorry. Actually, no we're not.
Roanoke's iconic landmark is an 88-foot neon star that the Merchants Association put up in 1949 as a temporary holiday promotion, and 75 years later it's still the only thing on the brochure. The city looked at a seasonal marketing ploy and said 'yes, this is us.' Even the star has been trying to leave since the Truman administration, and you keep plugging it back in.
Before the railroad gave you a glow-up in 1882, this town was called Big Lick, named after salt deposits that animals gathered to lick. A city that traded 'Big Lick' for 'Star City of the South' is a city that hired a PR firm and still kept the vibe. Deep down, you're still a bunch of people standing around a mineral deposit hoping something shows up.
Roanoke's personality is a craft beer in one hand and a hiking trail in the other, as if every downtown guy in a fleece vest hasn't been telling people about McAfee Knob since 2016. Meanwhile, the indoor trampoline park is where the city sends visitors once the mountain has beaten them. Hike a mountain, drink a flight of IPAs, then go bounce in a warehouse. That's the whole itinerary.
Roanoke calls itself the hub of Southwest Virginia, but its two high schools are bursting at the seams and the city's answer is trailers in the parking lot. You built a giant lit-up star for the tourists and couldn't find a classroom for the kids.
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