1. Everyone In Ann Arbor Knows It’s Great To Be A Wolverine
Students from Michigan State, Eastern Michigan and every other Michigan university have one thing in common: They all probably applied to the University of Michigan and got rejected. Michigan’s brand gives the illusion that it's accessible to all, but the reality is that it’s the country's only public university with an elite ranking.
This results in not a small amount of bitterness toward U of M students from all the surrounding second-tier universities. But one of the great things about being at the top of the heap is that you don’t have to waste time making excuses for your success.
2. Ann Arborites Still Believe In Fairies
When you get over your disappointment that the little doorways on buildings around Ann Arbor don’t belong to Smurfs, you’ll get to participate in one of the most unique sightseeing experiences anywhere. While no one has actually claimed to have seen a fairy near these diminutive doors, children regularly leave tiny gifts for the fairies.
While this fairy phenomenon has created a rather unique tourist activity, the real winner in all of this is the Tooth Fairy, who no longer has to exchange money for teeth since children now bring her free gifts with no effort required on her part.
3. People In Ann Arbor Know Their Food Blows Everyone Else's Away
Ann Arbor isn’t the kind of town that has “a coffee place” or “a burger place.” There are far too many great restaurants to list here, but Blimpy Burger, Mani Osteria, Comet Coffee, Good Time Charley’s, Fleetwood Diner, Jolly Pumpkin and Zingerman’s all needed to be mentioned, or I’d lose total credibility with the Ann Arbor community.
Of course, if you’re a simpler diner, and you took advantage of those Cottage Inn Pizza coupons when it came time to eat late-night shame meals in your East Quad dorm room, I’d be the last person to judge you. Trust me.
4. The City Really Should Be Called The People’s Republic of Ann Arbor
When Ann Arbor is referred to as “The People’s Republic of Ann Arbor,” it doesn’t really elicit laughter—because it isn’t much of a joke. Ann Arbor is arguably the most left-leaning city in a state that's leaning further and further to the left on a more consistent basis.
These liberal political views, birthed in and reinforced by the university atmosphere, somehow take root in a city where the average income is above average and families are legitimately wealthy. But the people don't care that they're a contradiction—they're blazing a liberal path and that's just the way they like it.
5. Everyone In Ann Arbor Knows Michigan Will Sadly Never Have A Mascot
The only thing Ann Arborites understand about this is the fact that they don’t understand it. When I play the mascot challenge in any of the NCAA Football video games, how come my alma mater is the only one without a mascot? Who decided U of M was too good to have a mascot, and why did they get to make that decision?
Everyone in Ann Arbor is sick of watching Sparty dress up like Paul Bunyan and roam the Big House sidelines unchallenged. Who doesn’t want to see a muscle-bound wolverine beating up Brutus on the sidelines when Michigan plays Ohio State, or pounding on Bucky, the Wisconsin Badger?
6. Ann Arborites Will Never Forget The Naked Mile
Yes, the Naked Mile is gone. No one is happy about it. I neither participated in the Naked Mile nor did I watch it. I simply find it annoying that a beloved Ann Arbor tradition was done away with because of a slum-clearing argument (i.e, “I don’t like the idea that people do something I would never do, so I want to ban them from doing it.”)
In the end, that was the beauty of the Naked Mile in Ann Arbor. It was evidence that not everything that’s illegal needs to be illegal, at least not all the time. Law enforcers were flexible enough to recognize the difference between harmless nudity and perversion, and Ann Arbor deserved better than to have this tradition simply stripped away—no pun intended.
7. Everyone In Ann Arbor Knows It’s Not A Bash Without The Hash
If you ban something for which there is an existing market, people will get it eventually through a black market. Folks in Ann Arbor figured this out pretty quick and reduced the penalty for public marijuana use to a small fine in the early 1970s. Since then Ann Arbor has been on the forefront of the movement to legalize marijuana.
Of course, Ann Arbor is the yearly host of Hash Bash, probably the first weed-themed festival of its kind that brings thousands of participants each year. If you walk through the crowd you'll find many attendees wearing University of Michigan apparel for the sake of blending in. You know the ones I’m talking about.
8. It’s Always Been Hip To Be A Punk In Ann Arbor
If you’re a music Nazi, you’ll slice punk rock up into a thirteen different forms. Well, I don’t have time for that, so I’ll just simplify this and say that punk rock was pretty much born in Ann Arbor. Before the Sex Pistols and the Clash (punk), or even Television (post punk), MC5 and Iggy Pop and the Stooges kicked out the jams and emitted raw power during the proto punk era they spawned in Ann Arbor.
While most chapters of Michigan’s musical history are devoted to Motown Records, and with good reason, Ann Arbor’s rock music subculture has had a worldwide influence in its own right, and deserves more recognition.
9. Ann Arborites Shut The Town Down For Art
The concurrent Ann Arbor Art Fairs attract more than half a million art enthusiasts to Ann Arbor each year, although plenty of the people in this crowd come for the adjacent family friendly events, and also for the food.
All of this sounds great, but success comes with a price. Ann Arborites end up being held hostage for four days while invaders roam their streets.
10. People In Ann Arbor Know They Live In The Best City Ever
Ann Arborites are used to their city showing up on “best of” lists. Ann Arbor has been ranked as Michigan’s most exciting city, along with the title of the fifth best place to live in Michigan and the fourth best college town in the country.
Obviously, Ann Arbor is the best college town in the country, so sometimes relying on statistics alone doesn’t tell the entire tale. That one nitpick aside, if Ann Arbor’s residents seem excited to live in Ann Arbor, they can pick to any number of rankings to explain away their pride.
Did we miss anything? Tell us what you think is unique about Ann Arbor in the comments below! 
