derekl_1963

Some of these have grown up in the thirty odd years since I left, or I didn't run in those circles, but an awful lot are very familiar...

You know you're from Winston-Salem if.....

- you know Texas Pete comes from WS not from Texas

- you know Mayberry's makes the best Ice Cream

- you get excited seeing Krispy Kreme boxes in movies or 'faraway places' like L.A. because you know they're 'from Winston'

Yep, and I still sometimes get homesick when I go into a Krispy Kreme. As much as love the Pac NW, Winston will always be the home of my heart.

- you go to the festival of lights weeks after, or weeks before Christmas, to avoid the crowd

- The Dixie Classic Fair beats the (expletive) out of the state fair

- You remember when Trade street was more Hookers then Art Galleries (THAT REALLY WASNT VERY LONG AGO ... AND LIBERTY STILL IS ISNT IT?)-ditto!

Indeed. When I was in high school, Liberty and Trade was the 'bad' area of downtown.

- You roll your eyes when people from out of town get excited by Old Salem or the Reynolda House

Yep. It was sometimes hard not be amused when Bremerton was celebrating it's centennial - I've lived in houses older than that.)

- You've been to a love feast at like 5 am

Or if you even know what a Love Feast is in the first place.

- You don't really care about Wake basketball, there's just not that much to do in the Winter

- You've been to Dewey's bakery

- You've hung out at Borders and stared at the weird emo kids from School of the Arts

- You own at least one North Face (or did in High School)

- You played soccer when you where 5

- Now that you're older, you thank god for Burke Street

I don't know the derivation of this - but looking at a map, Burke seems to be one of the several sooper sekrit short cuts for getting across town.

- Your parents have dragged you to The Nut Cracker at the Stevens center every year since time out of mind

- You had Dinner at Twin City Chop House before prom

- You routinely had to drive 45 miles or more to a high school house party

- you have been in at least one store with a skip Prosser bobble head

- You remember the Warthogs back when they were the Spirits and you participated in the Winston Salem Journal poll to pick the name

- Senator Richard Burr once coached your soccer team

- Now that you're older, you think it was somewhat wrong that you took a 4th grade field trip to the RJR Tobacco factory

RJR built Winston-Salem in the same way the shipyard built Bremerton... I.E. the town as we know it simply wouldn't exist otherwise. They don't offer tours anymore however...

- You become completely lost and disorientated if you get to far from I-40

I think this was written before 'new' 40 was built... For those 'not from around here', 40 bisects Winston in the same way 5 does Seattle or Tacoma. 'New' 40 loops around South of town.

- You've ever waited outside for Hanes Mall to open- and you still refer to everything west of J.C. Penny's as the 'new mall'

- You have ever had a 10 minute fight about how to say Buena Vista or Reynolda

Winston has many foreign loan words as street names - all pronounced in a uniquely local way.

- You go to waffle house to smoke because there are to many people who happen to be related to you around, so you have to hide

- You know that after Monterey's and La Careta, Mexican food is all down hill from there

Mexican food pretty much meant Taco Hell when I was growing up. There's been a large Hispanic influx since then.

- You get real excited when you run in to Cameron Kent at Fresh Market

Fresh Market didn't even exist then...

- You've been asked if that's where witches live

Yep.

- Moravian sugar cake and/or Moravian buns are part of your holiday tradition (Yummy!!!)

- Childhood memory involved Zach's yogurt (again, Yummy!!)

- You're somehow prejudiced against people from the'big cities' of Greensboro or Raleigh, but still make fun of people from small towns like K-vegas or Rural Hall.

- You know what K-vegas means...

It was K-ville back then, but still an subject of derision.

- You lived in the West End and you really had to walk up hill both ways to get to school.