I would assume one's age has a lot to do with this. As a younger person, the history of things is just not very high up on the list of things interested in. Especially if the community is perceived as "small town", where all the kids can't wait to leave. However, as one gets older, the history of something becomes much more appreciable. People then realize the "small town" is where they'd rather raise kids, and the cycle repeats.

Do people commonly move to tiny towns to raise kids? I'm drawn to them but always figure they would not be a good place for kids. Nothing to do, limited schools, little opportunity.

It's for sure due to my different perspective.

I still have almost no interest in history, but after living in a bunch of different places I appreciate how Stratford is very clean and well maintained, has no visible homelessness, it is pedestrian and bicycle friendly, and has lots of interesting shops and restaurants. The people that live and work there are shockingly friendly, even by Canadian standards. When I lived there I had nothing to compare it to. I had to leave to find out how nice it really is.

>>I grew up in an area that had a lot of tourism (Stratford, ON). I always thought it was strange that people would travel so far to visit.

Just in case people don't know, the Stratford Festival[1] is pretty famous in Ontario, if not all across Canada, as a rather prominant Canadian arts event[2]. It's certainly the main reason our school raised funds on occasion to visit during the festival. It was a big deal for us and we were only 2hrs away by bus.

[1] https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratford_Festival

Also (not sure how much tourism this attracts) it's the hometown of Justin Bieber (sorry)