My love/hate relationship with growing up in Grove City

Sometimes it’s okay, and other times you’re running into an ex in the grocery store dressed in your pajamas

About 10 miles south of Columbus sits the former farming town of Grove City where I grew up—and sometimes unfortunately still live at 22. After nearly twenty years of living here my feelings for the town fluctuate up and down like the hills on a roller coaster. Here are all of the things I love and hate about growing up in Grove City.

Everybody knows everybody

Your family can either trace their ancestry back to the founders of Grove City or your parents moved here from another town—which somehow makes you much less cool. Not to mention you can’t even go to the grocery store without running into someone you know.

Grove City royalty is a real thing for kids like me whose parents moved to the town because of the good schools and quaint neighborhoods. Grove City royalty are classified as the handful of families who have lived in Grove City for generations that seem to exclusively breed star athletes and queen bees. It seems like the entire town acts like the sun shines out of these family’s asses.

Half-price pizza at Plank’s

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Plank’s at less than full capacity on a Tuesday for half-price pizza. The restaurant resides in a building from the 1850’s that used to be a hotel, and it has that picture perfect small town look. There’s nothing better than getting home from a rough day at school and going to Plank’s for all of the half-price pizza you can eat.

Photo Credit: visitgrovecityoh.com

It’s home to the “World’s Largest Alumni Tournament”

If you grew up in or near Grove City then you know about the alumni softball tournament. Every summer during the last weekend in July, alumni from Grove City High School put together teams and play against each other for the championship title.

Photo Credit: This Week Community News

In 2016, 88 teams represented over six decades of alumni. It’s basically an excuse for everyone to get drunk and re-live their high school glory days, but it makes for prime entertainment.

The coolest thing as a kid was getting dropped off at Star Cinemas

As a teenager nothing made you feel cooler than having your parents drop you off at the movie theater so you could see a movie with your friends. Going to see a movie was the most exciting thing to do in Grove City until you could drive—then you realized how lame it was. To this day I swear this theater is what gave me lice in elementary school.

The town center goes all out for the holidays

One of the redeeming qualities of Grove City is that the town center always looks magical at Christmas time. There are nutcracker statues outside of city hall, wreaths on every light post, and a huge tree complete with decorations in the middle of town. Every year we have a parade and the shops in town offer cookies and hot chocolate.

No matter what, outsiders will always call it “Grovetucky”

Despite the fact that Grove City isn’t a farm town anymore, outsiders will always lovingly refer to it as Grovetucky. Sure, we had a group of guys in high school who wore cowboy boots and cutoff flannels even though they grew up in the suburbs, but we don’t have southern accents or drive our tractors to school. If I have to hear one more person use the name “Grovetucky” I’m going to punch them in the throat.

There’s a piece of history everywhere

Just a few blocks away from my house stands the oldest residence in Grove City nearly perfectly preserved. The town center itself is historic, with multiple buildings having been preserved and re-purposed for businesses. We’re probably best known for the Gantz Homestead and Century Village, a turn of the century park with a one-room schoolhouse, log cabin, barn, and working blacksmith forge.

The oldest house in Grove City.

Going to school at the Big Red Barn

My nephew just started preschool and he’s going to the same place I did—the Big Red Barn. Everyone goes to preschool there, and the same teachers I had about 15 years ago are still teaching in the same little classroom.

The GCHS Marching Band makes up for our subpar football program

Grove City High School hasn’t had a decent football team since before I started high school, but the band has always been kick ass. They’ve marched in the Fiesta Bowl parade and even performed across the pond in London, winning numerous titles in competition. Script DAWGS is the highlight of every halftime show.

Grove City has its ups and downs just like any other small town, but it wasn’t a bad place to grow up. There’s always some sort of festival going on in the middle of town and for me it will always be home.

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