ABSTRACT
In many rural communities there is uneasiness about local population changes. One theme picked up in many interviews is a communal perception that suddenly, quickly, and inexorably the community is undergoing major changes in its composition. New people are moving in, and they are bringing change to the community. Local attitudes about the speed arid sweep of population changes can be picked up in many settings, and the county fair served as a good barometer of local perceptions. In Delaware County the substantial influx of vacationers and retirees from the metropolitan area has been linked conceptually, even more than in fact, with the farm crisis. The contrast between "city people" and "farm people" is a leitmotif in local perception of population changes. Even more troubling to local people is that the wealth of "outsiders" and "newcomers" drives up the price of local land and housing to a point where their own grown children cannot afford to live in their hometown.
