Southern Towns Bracket - Cast Your Vote

Fayetteville, AR 41.93%


Monroe, LA 58.07%



, Damn, Monroe is beating Fayettenam.

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has that Missouri feel about it

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Well, for one thing - It's a stretch to call Fayetteville 'Southern'.

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That's a fair point.

Also, Bentonville is not a southern town, and I say that as someone who lives here. It's basically southern Missouri with an Ohio dialect. Waaaaaaay too many non-Southern transplants and northerners to be considered Southern.

I'm from East Arkansas, and everywhere I go around here people (especially locals) will say things like "you don't sound like you're from around here." My tongue-in-cheek response is always "I'm from the real part of Arkansas."

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Mena,

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Mena, foreelz?

I like Mena, just not as much to do there as the others.

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It's just so overbuilt and overdeveloped and crowded, and there are some extremely rough areas

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It's shady as hell, I like live meet and visiting friends but but don't want to live there.

As for the non-Arkansas towns in the bracket, Marfa, Texas? LOL wut?

And Annapolis? Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider Maryland southern in any way, shape or form.

Always have a good time there.

Breaux Bridge vs. Hot Springs

Breaux Bridge, the "Crawfish Capital of the World" since 1959, is a cool little Cajun town that is host to the world famous "Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival" which brings in tens of thousands of people every year, which is a pretty big deal down here ...

LINK Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival

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The Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival has also been named a Top 20 Event by the STS Society. CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, The Food Channel, PBS and numerous other individual filmmakers have all done documentaries on our festival. We have been featured in Maxim Magazine, Southern Living, National Geographic, The New York Times, Country Cooking, Motorhome Living, and Better Homes and Garden publications. The Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival was named a top 10 Food Festival by USA Today.

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... and is also home to Ali Landry - model, actress, & former Miss USA 1996. She was also married to Mario Lopez ("Saved Bt The Bell") for about 10 days.

But, honestly, it doesn't compare to Hot Springs; it shouldn't even be close.


Monroe vs. Fayetteville
Ironic.
I might know a little about those places, considering I grew up right "on top" of one, and went to school in the other.

Fayetteville should win this easily, so I don't understand how Monroe is leading.
I will say, Monroe still has one of my favorite restaurants ever, the Mohawk, where I ate my first oysters, and have been eating them ever since. Even taking into account New Orleans restaurants, Mohawk has the best oysters I've ever eaten.

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This may sound ridiculous, but I wouldn't doubt that Monroe is leading partially because it gets name recognition from Duck Dynasty (I know, it's in Left Monroe).

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It's not ridiculous at all & probably is the case.

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I wouldn't doubt a few people look at that and think, "hey, that's where they film Duck Dynasty. It must be a cool town!" and select it. Heck, just look at Funroe's Wikipedia page:

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Yes, Monroe and West Monroe are extremely different places these days. WM has grown tremendously over the past many years, mainly out of necessity. It is really very nice - some great restaurants, beautiful homes & of course, home of the Robertsons & Duck Commander!! (DC store really is a cool place & great duck calls.)
West Monroe schools are very good, as well, & WMHS is exceptional in academics & athletics. Their football facilities are like a small university's.

Monroe's crime rate has steadily increased for years. It wasn't nearly as bad when I was younger. It's very sad to me considering I grew up going there from the time I was a very young child, and have tons of great memories. That was our "go to" place for dining, movies, concerts, clubs, shopping, pretty much everything. Many of my friends went to NLU (now ULM), which has excellent nursing & pharmacology programs. We had a blast going to our older friends' college parties while still in hs. (Thought we were hot shite. ) People from my hometown used to joke about us maybe having "dual residency" because of how much time we all spent there.

I visited Monroe/WM a few months ago, and while it's great how much West Monroe has grown, and how nice it is, it was bittersweet to be in Monroe. Some of my favorite restaurants are still there (Mohawk & Warehouse), and ULM seems to be doing ok, but a good bit of downtown looks and is very different. All of the growth (restaurants & retail stores) is east of Monroe, off of I-20 by the mall. That's where the huge, new(er) Ouachita High School is, as well. Beautiful school, btw.

Fayetteville, on the other hand, has changed & grown through the years, for the better. It has always been an extremely nice, picturesque true college town, though, even in the Dinosaur Age when I was going to school there. I'd never even think to compare it to Monroe, then or now. They're very different places. I like both cities for very different reasons & in different ways, but there is no doubt which is the the nicer of the two, even though I am completely biased toward the home of UofA & the Hogs.