With just four days to go until Valentine’s Day, love is in the air in Clark County.
What, all you see is rain? Well, if love isn’t actually in the air, it must be at the post office and in the stores. In one of those “Best city for (you name it)” surveys, Vancouver was recently named the fifth most-romantic city in the United States. We were the only Pacific Northwest city to finish in the Top 10.
So, you ask with skepticism after reading today’s marriage dissolutions column, who decided this? What were the criteria?
The survey was sponsored by online retailer Amazon.com, which surveyed its customer database to see which cities are the biggest buyers per capita of romance novels, romantic comedy DVDs, music by “romantic” singers such as Barry White or Luther Vandross, and, blushing here, sexual wellness products.
Yep, that’s right, we’re fifth. Nope, it’s not a fluke. In a previous Amazon love survey, we finished fourth.
OK, how to explain? Mayor Tim Leavitt thinks it’s because Vancouver is such a great place to be in love. Of course, the mayor, a confirmed bachelor, is right. Take your beloved for a walk along the waterfront. Visit one of downtown’s cozy cafes. Enjoy a bottle of local wine by the fire.
Or maybe because it’s such a Grey area: The steamy “50 Shades of Grey” trilogy involves a WSU Vancouver student. The movie opens all over the country this week.
Or, maybe it’s because we like to order online. Our city is Web-savvy, and, since Amazon.com is headquartered in Washington, we are long familiar with it.
Maybe it’s just our demographic. More than many communities, we’re in the market for love. The latest American Community Survey, from the U.S. Census Bureau, says 48.7 percent of Vancouver men and 43.7 percent of Vancouver women are married and not separated from their spouse. That compares with 52 percent for men and 50.2 percent for women statewide.
Looking at the census numbers another way, in 2010, 60.7 percent of Vancouver residents were part of a family household, including 42.9 percent of us who were married. We believe in love here, even though, apparently, some of us are still looking.
Could some of our ranking be credited to the women? Stereotypically, at least, women would be prime consumers of romance movies and novels. The 2010 census found 51.2 percent of Vancouver residents were female, greater than the 50.2 percent statewide. Maybe it’s because more of us speak English, so we can understand the novels and the movies. Only 17.8 percent of Vancouver residents older than age 5 reported speaking some other language at home.
Or surprisingly, we tend to spend more. The 2010 census found retail sales per capita were $16,408 in 2007 for Vancouver residents, compared with $14,380 statewide. That extra $2,100 would be enough to buy more than 200 copies of “Sleepless in Seattle,” or all of the nearly 100 novels written by Vancouver’s very own best-selling author Lisa Jackson, who has made a career of romance thrillers.
But we’re overanalyzing. In the past, Vancouver has also been recognized as Amazon’s 14th most well-read city and “America’s sixth gayest” by The Advocate, an online magazine that chronicles gay and lesbian political and cultural affairs. We take these “best-city” lists at face value.
This Valentine’s Day, we love Vancouver, and, apparently, Vancouver is very loving in return.
