6 Normal Towns That Became Weirdo Tourist Hotspots

The burgeoning community of strays alarmed a local photographer, so she blogged about it to band together with fellow cat-lovers. As the place gained more traction, the villagers had a change of heart about their furry cohabitants. Fancy cat-themed structures like pedestrian bridges, cafes, and even a cat information and education center were built as the feline-inclined visited in droves.

As great as it was for the Houtong economy, the kitty boom has brought its own problems. Tourists will visit the village specifically to dump their own unwanted cats, and the population is growing hefty on the abundance of available treats. In response, the local government has upped its efforts to keep the cats healthy, vaccinated, and spayed. All in all, it's a small price to pay for a real-life Aristocats.

Juzcar went from your average mild-mannered Spanish town to a fully decked-out Smurfopolis, with blue walls, Smurfs-themed murals, and giant statues of the characters. However, Juzcar found itself in a bind when their tourist population ballooned from 300 people a year to over 80,000, leading to the creation of eight new businesses. The original deal with Sony only required the town to play the role until filming and publicity for the movie wrapped up, at which point Sony would repaint things the original white and everyone could forget this ever happened. But they couldn't exactly afford to undo the transformation, what with the region's 35% unemployment rate. When the time rolled around for Sony to turn Juzcar back to its original Andalusian self, the town overwhelmingly voted "Smurf no.''

Juzcar stayed so blue for so long that they were eventually hit with a copyright claim by the original owners of the Smurfs. What the Smurfs giveth, the Smurfs taketh away. Juzcar was forced to rebrand as the "Blue Village" and stop selling Smurfs-themed merchandise, but the Smurfs-based tourism continues flooding in. It proves once more that there is nothing too stupid to lure tourists.

Places like Los Algodones and Nogales subject to the cruel tyranny of pharmacists and dentists instead of any traditional cartel. With more than 350 dentists operating within the city limits, Los Algodones has gained the nickname "Molar City," and become a favored destination for those looking to engage in a little "dental tourism." It may be hard to pick which physician to trust with your budget fillings and crowns, but the men standing outside yelling like carnival barkers will be happy to steer you in the right direction.

Meanwhile, over in Nogales, prescription drugs cost 50-70% less than their counterparts in the U.S., making it popular among Arizona's elderly, retired, and erectionally challenged. You can get your Symbicort and Lexapro at rock-bottom prices, then ride out that sweet medicinal high with a dancing cartoon doctor!

"I trust this abomination with my health." -- tons of people, apparently

The plan worked. Helen's Oktoberfest is extremely popular, and mountain homes in the area now run in the millions of dollars. It's all gables and towers now -- town squares filled with polka-dancing frauleins and dudes rocking shorts with suspenders, even though none of them are German. It would be an offensive display of cultural appropriation, but, you know, Germany has a reason to stay quiet about such matters.

The town turned into a Revolutionary-War-themed water balloon fight with 40,000 balloons and 1,000 participants. And because this is the Midwest, the fight only ended when the national anthem started playing.

They turned the steepest street in the city into a massive waterslide...

There were multiple zombie walks downtown, drawing thousands of zombies (the biggest one had over 8,000). Once, 10,000 pieces of chalk were handed out downtown, just for people to do art on the sidewalk. It all culminated in the Grand Rapids Viral Lip Dub, a nine-minute music video for "American Pie" filmed in one long shot all around the city. Currently it has 5 million views, and Roger Ebert called it "the greatest music video of all time" before he died, so it was arguably their biggest success.

Rob Bliss is one funny suit and a mental breakdown away from Wonka-ing the whole town.

E. Reid Ross has a book called BIZARRE WORLD that's on store shelves as we speak, or you could just order it now from Amazon or Barnes and Noble and leave a scathing/glowing review. A. N. Ulriksen is actually three raccoons in a trench coat who function as a single freelance writer. Steven Assarian just hopes you love the place you're at.

For more, check out The 4 Ways We Travel In The Modern World (Are About To Suck):

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