Hi! My family and I moved to Evansville a little over 3 years ago. I would be happy to give you any information! It's an nice town. I'm from Louisville and my husband is from a very small town, and Evansville has been a good compromise for us as far as size. Not too big city, but big enough to have options. Ask me any questions you have!

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I guess most of my questions are the normal "moving to a new place" type:). How are the schools (we have 5 kids!)? Is it a good place to raise a family? Are the people friendly? Hows the real estate market? Is Evansville more midwestern, being in Indiana, or more southern, being so close to KY. How cold is it in the winter, and how hot is it in the summer. Is the humidity a killer? We've been out in the dry west so long, we may have forgotton our roots!

As far as gardening, what are the soils like in the area? Is there a long growing season? What are your greatest challenges? Is there alot of locally grown produce available? Are there many farmers markets or roadside stands? Are there some good nurseries in town? How about public gardens, arboretums, etc.

Whew, thats a lot of questions! Don't feel like you have to take them all on. Its just that moving a family is a daunting undertaking, even more so when you've never been to the area. Any help from locals would go a long way to letting us know what to expect.

Thanks again,

Dan

Whew! That is alot of questions! Let's see. The people are very friendly. Evansville is a very big on family. And there are lots of big families! I have 4 kids, and almost every family I know has at least 3 kids. I know this is not the norm everywhere, but here your large family will fit right in! There are two sides of town, and they are actually quite different. The west side, which is where we live is very Catholic, with lots of large families and small local family-owned businesses. The east side has many more national chains (although we do have many of the basics, Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, Logan's, O'Charley's, etc. on the west side) and is a little less Catholic. (The whole town is very German Catholic though.) For schools, there are good private Catholic schools, if you are interested in that I would suggest Westside Catholic or Holy Redeemer. For Public schools, of course they vary, but Cynthia Heights is the only 4-star school in the city. It is on the west side and leads into Helfrinch Park Middle and Reitz High. (This is where my kids are.) On the north side Highland Elementary (leads to Central High) is very good and Scott Elementary (leads to North High) is good. I don't know anyone in the schools on the east side, so I can't help much there. The real estate market is pretty good. I know that the prices are lower than in big cities. There are also alot of great old houses, which we love. And people here don't move alot. For instance, we are the 2nd family to live in our house, which was built in the early 1920's.
There are lots of activites here for the kids too. The local pools all have swim teams in the summer which are pretty cheap and loads of fun, plus the kids learn to swim very well! Baseball, Football, wrestling, soccer and cheerleading are all popular activities for kids.
Our temps vary. Our first winter here we had 8 significant snowfalls, but last winter we had 1. Summer's get to the 90's, and if you aren't used to the humidity it will be hard the first year, but you get used to it, I think. I've never lived anywhere without it, so I'm not a good judge. It's not as bad as Little Rock!
Now, for gardening... Our soil is clay, pretty dense and requires amendment. But by adding compost every time you mess with the garden, it's not too bad. This year we tilled up our yard and are in the process of creating new gardens and we just added bags of manure and compost and everything is growing really well! My yard was overgrown with weeds, so that has been my biggest challenge, but that won't be true in every yard! Our zoo is also a botanical garden, that's a nice place to go with the family. They have an annual plant sale (I went yesterday and got some beautiful purple shamrocks that I'm totally in love with!) There are a couple of good large nurseries and some smaller local ones. Our favorite place for produce had a fire over the winter and is rebuilding, but they are still selling produce and should be full-service by the end of summer. In addition to selling produce they sell divine baked goods, and we take the kids every fall to pick pumpkins and play through the corn maze.
Hey, feel free to email me at standbyq13@hotmail.com if you have questions or want help with anything. I would be happy to help you with anything you need!

Thank you so much for all the info! I appreciate your taking the time to answer all those questions. My wife and I will be planning a trip in the near future to check it out. Do you know anything about the Signature school? It's a charter school we found online from your area.

Hopefully, you'll see more posts from me in the next few months as a resident of the area!

Thanks again,

Dan

I know a little about Sig. My kids are young, my oldest in 3rd grade, so I haven't done extensive research. I have one friend who's kids go there. They were home schooled until high school and then went to Sig. They love it! Other people I know who are more traditional about education tried it because their daughter wanted more arts and they hated it. They felt it had become a misfit school. It is where kids tend to go when they are not thriving in public schools. High school sports are huge here, so I think it's hard for a school with no football team or cheerleading squad to really blossom in this community.