Bathing suits, sunglasses and summer-ready students all begin to make an appearance around this time of year. School is finally winding down and each minute of class seems to tick by all too slow.
In some places, the coming of summer means the beaches fill up. In Chico, it is hot and dry and for many people the town feels like a different place without crowds of bustling college students.
“I think of Bear Hole, floating, Bidwell and summer school,” said Jessica Hofmann, a Chico State senior who has spent two summers in Chico.
The town is very different during summer, she said. It feels less like a college town and more like a smaller, family-oriented town.
“It’s especially interesting how the downtown scene changes over summer,” Hofmann said. “It seems to be more young families with little kids walking around.”
The student social scene also changes drastically, she said. With a much smaller student population, people from different social groups who may not have had a chance to meet previously get to know each other during the summer.
“It becomes a really close-knit group,” Hofmann said. “It’s easier to get to know people because there are only so many of us.”
A Facebook group was even created with more than 1,400 members who post about road trips, day trips and pictures from previous summers spent in Chico.
However, for Hofmann, summers in Chico were not always the fun, easygoing months she hoped for, she said.
“The only times my house was ever broken into or I was scared for my life were during summers in Chico,” Hofmann said.
After someone tried to break down her solid maple door and had a glass window shatter while she was asleep in her room, she decided to move to a new location for her last year.
Though Hofmann had several encounters with crime over summers in Chico, Sgt. Andy Houghton of the University Police Department has seen crime drop drastically during summer, he said.
“It’s like a ghost town,” he said.
Since most of the students are gone, there are less people in general causing less crime, Houghton said.
The most common citations given at any given time of the year are traffic citations, he said. Though there are still a decent amount of minor in possession of alcohol citations and drunk in public citations during the summer, there are many more during the school year.
The families are definitely easier to notice around town without so many students, Houghton said. The community looks forward to a break from the students during summer, but they do not dislike having them around when they come back in the fall.
However, for Anne Polk, the human resources manager at Sheraton Real Estate Management, Chico State students bring something to the town that can sometimes disappear come summertime.
Polk has been a resident of Chico for 15 years and has had two of her own children graduate from Chico State, she said. Aside from the energy the students bring, the university brings arts and entertainment to the Chico community, as well as a lot of business.
Still, there are a few minor advantages to having students leave on vacation for the summer, Polk said.
“You don’t hear the parties all of the time and the pools and beer pong tables aren’t out front,” she said. “But I really do like the youthful atmosphere.”
There are many advantages to living in a town with a lively community, she said.
“The traffic is definitely lighter, but there’s a real change in the atmosphere,” Polk said. “Having the youthful element really adds a dynamic to the community.”
Meghan Brown can be reached at
mbrown@theorion.com
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