I thought I would start a series of posts titled “Living in Gilbert Arizona” that would chronicle our time living in the fastest growest town in the United States.

We moved here because it was a place where family lived and it was affordable. Now, however, the home prices have risen so much that I’m not sure we could afford to move here today. Nonetheless, it is a great place to live if you have small kids. It does have a bit of that suburban voodoo feel to it, where everyone’s the same and you just know that there are some Desperate Housewives’ stories going on around you.

We live in a new development called the Spectrum at Val Vista. I just came across this site (UPDATE: sorry, no longer available) detailing a new upscale retail and restaurant area called Main Street Commons. It supposed to be the centerpiece of the Spectrum master community and is described as an “open-air, mixed-use urban district” that will provide “upscale national and local retailers, dining and entertainment all within an inviting streetscape that focuses on pedestrian-friendly walkways and unique architecture.”

In the November/December issue of Gilbert Good Living Magazine, Daniel Gosnell, president of Woodbine Southwest (developer), described the Main Street Commons as “Today’s version of Yesterday” where it will “have some design elements that represent Gilbert’s agricultural history, but will be modern and sophisticated - just like our customers.”

My advice: stick with the modern and sophisticated, stay away from the history.

At times, Gilbert does feel like a small town. It has a long history of hay farming and horse farms. The Main Street Commons is supposed to support that “small town USA” feel but it reminds me of the episode of Seinfeld when Kramer attaches an old porch screen onto his front door and suddenly he’s drinking lemonade on his porch in small town USA. Its all contrived. The remnants of small town Gilbert lay in those remaining folks you see at Wal Mart; those desert folk you don’t see anywhere else because they don’t live here anymore and come into town for “necessities”. I don’t want to live in that town. Most of the people here now are from somewhere else and could care less about holding onto some old legacy.

I just want the manure smell we sometimes get at night to be gone.