Here's a post from earlier in the Fall that I came across recently. It's worth checking out.
My hometown is the small town of Coon Rapids, population 1,200. Downtown hasn’t changed much in the past 100 years. There are a number of new homes with the owners commuting to jobs in larger communities. All but one of the car dealerships are gone, along with a number of farm machinery dealers. In many ways it is a typical rural community except for its multi-million dollar school athletic facilities—track; swimming pool; football, baseball, soccer, softball fields; electronic scoreboards; press boxes; concession stands and more. Kids who participate in multiple sports often practice nearly every day. Several years ago the football program had to switch to 8-player teams because of low student participation and have to travel further for games.
