Even before 2000 Flathead County was growing. Since 2001 the growth in the Flathead has really taken off. If we had 20% - 28% growth before, we certainly have had a higher percentage since 2000.
NW Montana used to be a sleepy area, out of the way, and unknown to most people. I remember back in the 1970s when the locals made fun of, and were annoyed, by the North Dakotans who moving here in large numbers. The locals even published and sold joke books about North Dakotans similar in style to Polish or Norwegian jokes. I remember being out for a bicycle ride when I met a pretty woman and struck up a conversation with her. When she learned I was from North Dakota she launched into a series of North Dakota jokes. I never saw her again.
My father even had a joke book, and he was originally a North Dakotan. North Dakotans have the ability to laugh at themselves. Today the locals have forgotten the North Dakotans as we have assimilated but the locals are annoyed by the many Californians (or as some say: Californicators) who are moving here. The difference is that there are no joke books and the Californians often get defensive.
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