This week I am taking over the Instagram feed of @withthelocals. It’s a feed that get’s taken over by different individuals every week and showcases different cities all over the world. Most of the photos are hot spots to make the list when you visit or cool urban eateries or espresso stops! When Brianna got in touch, I was super excited to take part of this project and show the world that you don’t need to live in a hopping metropolis to be successful as a creative and that just because you live in a tiny little town, your opportunities aren’t limited. Johnson Creek is by a landslide the smallest town ever featured on their account… they usually visit places like LA, Portland, Seattle… you know, the captivating places with the cool bars and the perfect coffee shops! It’s funny to think of how we ended up here… truth be told, I had never even heard of Johnson Creek four years ago. (You probably still have never heard of it!) It’s not even a city or a town, it’s population of 2,851 makes it a village and I guess that makes me part of the village people. We often laugh at the fact that we ended up here and that we absolutely love it. After living in Madison for a year post-college and commuting an hour to and from my corporate job, we decided to split the difference and got married and lived in a condo in this sweet little farm town (ahem, I mean village.)
Three years later we are still here… only we have bought a house, made friends, started a business, and fallen in love. Most people know this place because of the premium outlet mall right off of the highway (trust me, it is a perk to live two minutes from a plethora of outlet stores) but I am excited to show some of the pieces of the Johnson Creek puzzle that might be missed if you blink when you drive through here. While we don’t have a coffee shop or any crazy farm to table restaurants with cool ambiances, we have neighbors who will borrow you sugar, fish fry’s on Friday nights, a new school on the way, and a growing community that continues to break out in spontaneous front yard parties. We are super happy to call this place home and although I had never, ever planned on being here, God’s plans are pretty rad and it turns out we were meant to spend some time in this small little community. I am super excited to share more about where we live, why we love it, and why we have stayed here longer than we ever thought we would. ‘Gramming for With the Locals is a cool opportunity to share what makes Johnson Creek unique (and other small Wisconsin towns) and why we don’t plan to leave any time soon. I am excited to snatch up this opportunity to show off small town living and slower life and how you make your own opportunities when they aren’t openly presented to you.
If you want to follow along, hop onto instagram and follow me: @jennakutcher and @withthelocals
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