When I was younger Grand Rapids was seen as a dull place. Downtown closed at 5 pm and there wasn't much fun to be had for a young adult.
While the area is still pretty conservative that has changed mightily in the last forty years. The city now has a lively downtown and all those breweries have made the place a magnet for young people from the surrounding areas.
The 'lake effect' does mean they get a lot more snow than the eastern part of the state.
I still call it “Bland Rapids”, but I’m up there for work infrequently and it’s always enjoyable enough. Founders is almost worth the trek in and of itself.
> Aside from dining out, what fun is there to be had for young adults anywhere?
As someone who used to live in the rust belt, I found my social life to be vastly improved after moving to Chicago.
It's true you can be lonely in a big city, but the same is true in a small town. The difference is that in a big city, significantly more options exist if you are willing to step out.
After moving to a big city, I was able to connect with more people of like-mind. The diversity of people I meet now is an order of magnitude greater. The Meetup groups are significantly better (I can go to a technical meetup and talk shop with people at my level). If I wanted to hang out with friends, the scope of activities possible are also much wider. If I wanted to learn a skill, take language classes, take evening classes at a world-renowned university, etc., I can and have -- and have met interesting people through these activities. If I wanted to go on a trip with friends, flights are much cheaper out of a hub city. Job opportunities are also much more abundant -- if I decided to change jobs tomorrow, I could do that without moving away.
The intellectual and cultural climate in a dynamic, thriving city is vastly different from that of a single-industry town.
One advantage of large cities is that you're more likely to have a critical mass of people sharing a common interest to have a subculture or community. For instance, in my city there is a healthy film photography community that's large enough that there's still dedicated film labs and at least one camera shop that sells only film cameras.
Another thing that differs between cities is the nightlife varies a lot. The health of a city's nightlife isn't just a population thing though, but also zoning and licensing have a big factor in that.
For example, practically everything has to close at 3 AM in Sydney, which has had a massively detrimental effect on the nightlife. Meanwhile in Melbourne you can still party from Friday night to Monday evening without stopping if you really want to. There's not a lot of cities around these days that still have clubs with 24 hour licences. All the places I regularly go to here in Melbourne close at 6 AM at the earliest.
And suddenly I'm having flashbacks to one New Years eve party where I ended up flying from SF to Edinburgh and having a mate get me into it because he knew the bouncer, arriving just in time for the whole fucking place to be coming up at the same time coz everyone timed it for midnight and the pounding music and everyone off their tits and it was like that scene at the beginning of Blade but without the blood or the scary sword just hooj choons (it was a long time ago) and sure, no, just dining out mate. Dining out is the only fun to be had for young adults anywhere, I am so sorry, please tell me you are still young and if so get your arse to a large, culturally aware city.
When I worked in the fertilizer industry I was friends with another dealer who was in the Holland area. When crops were being planted we worked seven days a week.
I couldn't understand it why he didn't try being open on Sunday. He told me he could be open on Sunday but if he did he wouldn't have the business to stay open the other six days of the week.
While the area is still pretty conservative that has changed mightily in the last forty years. The city now has a lively downtown and all those breweries have made the place a magnet for young people from the surrounding areas.
The 'lake effect' does mean they get a lot more snow than the eastern part of the state.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake-effect_snow