{"id":1767,"date":"2011-11-11T07:30:18","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T14:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=1767"},"modified":"2013-05-13T13:02:15","modified_gmt":"2013-05-13T19:02:15","slug":"in-rural-idaho-the-recession-changes-one-towns-fate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2011\/11\/11\/in-rural-idaho-the-recession-changes-one-towns-fate\/","title":{"rendered":"In Rural Idaho, The Recession Changes One Town’s Fate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Before the recession, rural Fairfield, Idaho was planning for growth. Now, it's a different story.<\/p><\/div>\n

Idaho is one of a handful of states where the unemployment rate has gone up since the national recession ended more than two years ago.\u00a0 Numbers have soared to their highest levels in rural places, among them Camas County in central Idaho.\u00a0 This summer, local unemployment approached 17 percent.\u00a0 That’s a number that has left Fairfield, population 416 and the only town in Camas County, struggling for survival.<\/p>\n

<\/object>In Rural Idaho, The Recession Changes One Town\u2019s Fate<\/a><\/p>\n

To really understand the kind of change that\u2019s gone on in Fairfield since the start of the recession, you have to look back a little further \u2013 about a decade.\u00a0 That\u2019s when the town got some gumption, and decided it wanted to grow.\u00a0 A key part of the plan was a business park just east of the town’s main street.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Not far from Fairfield's downtown, long stacks of hay bales cover an area that was to have been a business park.<\/p><\/div>\n

On a recent visit to the site, the town’s former mayor, David Hanks, pointed out the piping that’s in place, allowing for water and sewer access.\u00a0 But the park isn’t populated by buildings and retail businesses.\u00a0 Instead, there are long, broad rows of hay bales, covered in plastic tarpaulin, tied tight to keep out the moisture.\u00a0 Local farmers are putting the open space to use.\u00a0 “You know, it\u2019s really a great place, actually, if you\u2019re going to store hay,” Hanks said.\u00a0 “This is a fantastic area, nice and level and right near the highway.”<\/p>\n

It\u2019d a tidy example of how Fairfield\u2019s fortunes have shifted since the start of the downturn.\u00a0 The town\u2019s potential for growth hinged on the nearby Wood River Valley, with its tourists and wealthy part-time residents.\u00a0 Now, instead of watching Fairfield prosper, many in this town are concerned for its survival, and their own.<\/p>\n

On a Friday afternoon, Kelli Fox is at the park with her four-year-old son, Micah.\u00a0 Like many people in this small community, she wears a lot of hats.\u00a0 She was elected to the city council two years ago, runs a small florist shop downtown, and works for the Forest Service in the summertime.\u00a0 Her ties to Fairfield run deep.\u00a0 In spite of all that, she and her husband have found themselves wondering whether they\u2019ll be able to stay. “I\u2019ve never really considered leaving Fairfield until just recently, and that\u2019s \u2013 that\u2019s kind of disheartening to me,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Former Fairfield Mayor David Hanks stepped down earlier this year when his business, which employs more than 30 local people, hit a rough patch.<\/p><\/div>\n

Fox says if they do go, it won\u2019t be a matter of choice.\u00a0 Her husband, Aaron, is a builder and woodworker. \u00a0Last year he was out of work for two months.\u00a0 “For us right now, we\u2019re job-by-job,” she said.\u00a0 “He\u2019s working on one house right now, and as soon as that\u2019s done, it\u2019s done.\u00a0 We have to find the next job.\u00a0 So, there\u2019s that lack of consistency.”<\/p>\n

Fox says that, looking around her town, she knows she\u2019s not alone.\u00a0 Unemployment is different in a place like this.\u00a0 It\u2019s personal.\u00a0 It\u2019s a count of jobless friends and neighbors.\u00a0 “It\u2019s kind of funny, because okay, I could tell you everybody on my block who doesn\u2019t have jobs, but actually most of the houses on my block are vacant.\u00a0 Because those people lost their houses.\u00a0 And that\u2019s terrifying to me.\u00a0 We\u2019re hoping we don\u2019t ever get to that point.”<\/p>\n

<\/em>Here is the troubling state of things for Fairfield: jobs have dried up, and people have left.\u00a0 School enrollment has dropped, and there\u2019s a daunting pile-up of home foreclosures.\u00a0 For longtime residents, who love this town, it\u2019s heartbreaking.\u00a0 One of them is Fred Marolf, who has watched his town’s troubles unfold from his perch as a local real estate agent.\u00a0 “You get to be friends with a lot of folks,” he said.\u00a0 “Really close friends.\u00a0 And to see them getting in a bind and being hurt, it affects you big time.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Local real estate agent Fred Marolf says Fairfield has had a slow and steady stream of foreclosures in recent years.<\/p><\/div>\n

Marolf says people ask him, sometimes, what\u2019s so special about Fairfield, and he tells them to visit a spot just outside of town.\u00a0 Then, maybe they\u2019ll understand.\u00a0 “If you go up here on Johnson Hill and look over this prairie, about any time of the day but especially early in the mornings or late in the evenings and just sit up there and look at it \u2013 it\u2019ll get to you, too,” he said.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

He describes a broad view of open land, bordered by the south edge of the Sawtooth Mountains.\u00a0 There\u2019s a river running toward Magic Reservoir, and \u2013 in the spring \u2013 so many Camas lilies in bloom that they look like a rolling ocean.\u00a0 Since the recession started, one of Marolf\u2019s sons and a grandson have had to leave Fairfield to find work.\u00a0 But Fred Marolf says he\u2019s here for good.\u00a0 “It\u2019s been our home for 45 years now, ” he said.\u00a0 “Raised all our kids here.\u00a0 And we just love it here.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll never leave.”\u00a0 He’s near tears.\u00a0 “Now I’m getting like David!” he says, laughing.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Related<\/h4>
Posts<\/h5>