Hartford Named City in America With Most Christmas Spirit

The Grinch is a mean one.

Get our free mobile app

The Grinch has been described as, cuddly as a cactus. The Grinch has been called vile bad banana and a seasick crocodile. It's been said, he has garlic in his soul and his brain is filled with spiders.

So, to be "Grinchy" is a bad thing. To be the least Grinchy means you have a spirit and a celebratory love for the holiday. So, when I heard that Finance Buzz had named Hartford CT the least Grinchy city in America, I was surprised. I was not alone in my astonishment. After mentioning this distinction on my radio show, we got a lot of reaction. My favorite comment came from Rich who wrote:

"I call BS on Hartford being non Grinchy. I live there, and the only way that place can be festive is if the guy breaking into my truck was wearing a Santa hat and putting my stuff in a sack as he took off." 

In cases like this, I like to chip away at the study methodology. How did Finance Buzz decide that Hartford has so much Christmas spirit? They wrote the following:

"Our team analyzed 50 of the biggest U.S. cities and evaluated them across nearly two dozen metrics that help measure the spirit of the season." 

The categories and their value (weight) are listed below:

Communal celebrations and decor:

• The number of holiday events and festivals per 100,000 people. Source: Weight: 1.00
• The number of ice skating rinks per 100,000 people. Weight: 1.00
• The number of holiday decoration shops per 100,000 people. Weight: 1.00
• The number of Christmas tree farms/lots/shops per 100,000 people. Weight: 1.00

Holiday shopping:

• The number of holiday markets per 100,000 people. Weight: 0.80
• The number of toy stores per 100,000 people. Weight: 0.80
• The number of gift shops per 100,000 people. Weight: 0.80
• The number of department stores per 100,000 people. Weight: 0.80
• The number of shopping centers and malls per 100,000 people. Weight: 0.80

Holiday season of giving:

• The number of food banks per 100,000 people. Weight: 1.00
• The number of homeless shelters per 100,000 people. Weight: 1.00
• The percentage of the population that volunteers annually. Weight: 1.00
• The percentage of the population that donates at least $25 to charity annually. Weight: 1.00

Holiday cheer:

• Google Trends score for "Christmas Party" over the last five years. Weight: 0.67
• Google Trends score for "Christmas Lights" over the last five years. Weight: 0.67
• Google Trends score for "Christmas Concert" over the last five years. Weight: 0.67
• Google Trends score for "Christmas Festival" over the last five years. Weight: 0.67
• Google Trends score for "Christmas Market" over the last five years. Weight: 0.67
• Google Trends score for "Christmas Dinner" over the last five years. Weight: 0.67

Holiday jeer:

• Google Trends score for "bah humbug" over the last five years. Weight: 1.00
• Google Trends score for "I hate Christmas" over the last five years. Weight: 1.00
• Google Trends score for "Christmas sucks" over the last five years. Weight: 1.00
• Google Trends score for "the Grinch" over the last five years. Weight: 1.00

The holiday jeer category is pretty good actually. However, it should have carried more weight. What people are saying about Christmas is more important than the communal celebrations. If you have more Christmas events, it does not mean people love or attend them. What are we doing here? You know a study is faulty when it claims Hartford is good at anything.

Wait, let me back up, I'm just being intentionally inflammatory, you could feel it, right? I'm getting outside my actual feelings, just to be controversial. I do believe Hartford is good at things. Here are some of the things Hartford is good at:

Graffiti: Hartford has more cryptic graffiti than any other city I've been to.

Insurance: Hartford is also the insurance capital of the world.

Losing Pro-Sports Franchises: Their NHL team (The Whalers) and a chance at bringing the NFL's Patriots franchise here. Thanks a lot John Rowland!

Newspapers: The Hartford Courant is the oldest, continuously publishes newspaper in America.

Mark Twain: Hartford is good at Mark Twain. Twain lived here from 1874 to 1891 and wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, just to name a few.

Hartford does have the capacity to be the best at something, as long as that something isn't Christmas.

P.S. We're just having a bit of fun at Hartford's expense. In all seriousness, the city's charitable donations figures are impressive. At the end of the day, that giving nature is precisely what the holidays should be about.

Do you like hearing/talking about Connecticut? If so, check out the Ethan, Lou & Large Dave Podcast on Apple and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the same show we do on the radio but with limited commercials and no music. Or, listen live by streaming the show on the I-95 Rock Mobile app, or tune into I-95 (95.1FM).