Nowhere in NJ made list of most fun U.S. cities and that’s a crime (Opinion)

I learned two things reading the wallethub.com story on the most fun cities in the United States. One, if the average American spends $3,500 per year on entertainment, I’m not having any fun at all and could use some nights out.

Two, that New Jersey is once again overlooked, under-appreciated and disrespected as usual.

First of all, the way they arrived at their conclusions was by studying dozens of metrics from over 180 cities and pouring over categories such as nightlife, entertainment, recreation, even down to the minutiae like cost of movies and open hours of breweries.

Then they ranked. Boy did they rank.

If you scroll you’ll find the top 50 most fun cities in the U.S. and it’s ridiculous, disgraceful, practically criminal that no New Jersey city made the top 50. Heck we didn’t even make the top 100.

You know who made it at 100? Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Why? Because they have Sculpture Walk and a water park? Hello, have you heard of NJ’s Grounds for Sculpture? Ever think about just how many water parks in how many NJ cities are here?

Number 99 was Huntington, West Virginia. I’ve been there. It’s a snooze fest. The number one thing to do there is look at boring old time log cabins at Heritage Farm Museum & Village. If the couple in the classic painting American Gothic look like they’re having a good time then you’ll fit right in in Huntington. Keansburg, New Jersey is a better time than Huntington, West Virginia.

So the top 50? Put it this way. Louisville, Kentucky was ranked 41. A city I spent a long weekend in and was dying of boredom halfway through. Yet vibrant Jersey City with the science center, a killer restaurant and bar scene, the open-air marketplace at Grove Street in summers, and so much more going for it was ranked at 127.

Are you kidding me?

What a stupid list. They lose all credibility in ignoring so much New Jersey has to offer.

Atlantic City with gambling, entertainment, and a richer history than Las Vegas but also with an ocean and beach thrown in. Hell, all the Jersey Shore areas are more fun than half of what you’ll see in the list below.

Then there’s Six Flags Great Adventure, a major amusement park. There's American Dream. There are the concert venues that draw the biggest artists and if their world tours want to be taken seriously they all stop and play here. So many great, fun things about New Jersey and they're completely left out of this top 50 list.

Think about it as you scroll through and ask yourself with each one if they’re more fun than New Jersey. I’m not saying we should have had a Jersey town at number one or even in the top ten, but we definitely deserved a place or two on this list. And you won't believe what made number 11.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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