In my wife's home town of about 2k people, the road side produce stand guy is in a feud with a new SECOND produce stand that just opened. The original produce guy trained the new guy for a while apparently then fired him, now the fired guy opened his own spite produce stand.

They got in a fist fight and now the whole town has taken produce stand sides. The mayor and the only police officer in town are also involved and their wives are fighting. It is truly the dumbest version of Hatfield's and McCoys, but no less redneck. -delux561

In our small English village, someone has managed to knock over one of the speed limit signs at one end of the road. It's a mystery, everyone is trying to guess who did it/what happened.

Was it intentional? Except it's not a mystery in our house. It was my sister and she hit it when she swerved out of the way of an oncoming car (narrow country road). We'll keep acting like we are as clueless as everyone else though. -OHDFoxy

They just built a new Verizon in town, but someone started a rumor that it was also going to be a Panera Bread. Someone went as far as to mark it on Google Maps as a Panera, even though the building is clearly a single store with Verizon signage. -KelsieK09876

The eccentric millionaire that owned every building in down town and used them to house his extensive rock collection died like 15 years ago and they still haven't figured out what to do with all the rocks. -Woktosha3

So this one has been ongoing for a while, but... The Nutcrackers. My hometown (where I no longer live, but still have family so I keep apprised of local matters) has decided, in a bizarre bid to increase tourism, to become The Nutcracker Town. The reason? An older woman donated her nutcracker collection to the historical society. Something like 2,500 nutcrackers. I think because her kids told her flat out they would dispose of them after she died if she did not make alternate arrangements.

So, the town decided, well, they had all these nutcrackers on display. This could be good for tourism. We could be known for something. People were bewildered and predictably upset. A lot of townsfolk don't want to be the nutcracker town. All the local businesses have been pressured to buy these giant expensive cardboard nutcrackers from the local print shop. They are terrifying.

There's been general outcry. Facebook groups, the whole nine yards. And still the town persists. Still there are these hollow-eyed giant cartoonish cardboard nutcrackers everywhere you look. -sleepyhollow_101

Small town with 3000 inhabitants. Everyone knows each other, everyone knows where everyone works, who is related to whom, and so on. Still, my cousin doesn't know who is the father of her child. -mulberstedp

Town of about 1,800. The girl's volleyball coach got a DWI. The school's principal went to pick her up from jail, and was arrested for DWI himself. Somehow it got out that these two (both married) were having an affair. -stickshaker73

The high school's big sports star got drunk and went mailbox bashing on NYE. No, that's not the controversy. Somebody was sick of it and after getting his mailbox completely destroyed at halloween he put up a big metal mailbox...around a smaller plastic mailbox...with 3 inches of concrete and rebar in between.

The kid hit it with a metal baseball bat while driving like 20mph, and his athletic career is probably over. People are pissed at the guy with the sturdy mailbox. -joffery2

About a year ago my hometown's favorite eating establishment burnt down. A lot of people pooled money to get him a new spot. A failing car salesman converted his place to a restaurant and partnered with the beloved restaurant owner. Business was thriving, food was fantastic and it was THE place to get food.

The failing car salesman was talking to (and then some) a local woman behind his wife's back and was giving her free drinks. The two would stay at the place way beyond closing time. One of her kids went on her phone and was scrolling and found nudes of the car salesman. The kid sent it to his friends and the friends sent it to even more people.

Now basically the entire town has seen this red-headed man nude wearing cowboy boots. Beloved restaurant owner quit and business is no longer booming because he has no cook. Car salesman is getting a divorce and closing the restaurant. -_Username-Invalid_

So our controversy has been resolved…But the town I grew up in had a Beefalo (cow Buffalo cross breed) escape from a slaughter house. It spent months running wild in the wooded areas around town living off whatever it could find to eat.

I had friends who were out for drives sending me pictures of their beefalo encounters like it was Sasquatch. This went on for months. The story got picked up by a big YouTube channel and went viral. -SectorZed

Delilah from the love song request radio show that's been on for like 30 years lives here and has been trying to convince all the downtown business owners to paint their store fronts pastel. It's a real kerfuffle. -UnfairMicrowave

A couple lost their cat so they went knocking door to door in our town, and came across their cat crying in a random home's front window. They call the police who arrive and find 50+ missing cats, along with a f**king graveyard of cats in the garden. Some that had been missing for up to 7 years. It culminated in the catnapper, a 50+ year old woman, stuffing as many cats as she could in a car and going on a police chase through our little town.

Most of the cats were identified and taken home, a very small few went to rescue centers, and the catnapper is currently going under mental health treatment. Apparently she just took home any cat she saw while on a walk for the last 7 years. -Creditive

A woman on the city council constantly spouts about cleaning up the admittedly horrible drug problem in town and goes on sanctimonious rants on social media about it.

Her son is the main dealer in town. He lives in her house. It's not a secret at all and he gets arrested for shit all the time and she gets him off the hook every time. -SailoLee92

My family thought that the term “Karen” being used on Facebook specifically meant the woman named Karen that works at the gas station near me. I had mentioned her once at home and my mom was like “Oh everyone hates her on Facebook right now! They all think she’s a snitch! -royhawek

About 2 years ago the mayor of the town I live in got caught with drunk driving his lawnmower down main street at around 2 AM about 6 weeks after being elected. -ThatDude8129

Two places make dill dip. One accused the other of stealing the recipe. -duckswithbanjos

Two years ago there were horrible fires in the valley I live in. Three people burned to death, tons of houses, and businesses lost. We are still recovering. The city decided this statue would be the best way to honor the victims. The back lights up to look like fire. Yup a statue showing three people on fire is how they wanted to honor the victims. -Chaela

The 102-year-old pillar of the community died and two pastors were fighting over who got to preside over the service. Neither could achieve a victory so they just. Recited the same prayers after each other. It was weird. -Briggsnotmyers

Local pizza place fired all its staff mysteriously last summer and closed for a few weeks. Naturally, rumors fly right away. Turns out the Mormon owner (who liked to parade his family as the paragon of small town virtue) was having affairs with multiple staff members. The wife kicked him out, fired anyone who knew, and then rehired and trained a bunch of new staff.

One of the fired staff members (a mistress) then opens her own pizza place to rave reviews in the nearest town over. OG pizza place announces it will close at the end of the year - right after they run a promo for gift cards. People are pissed they only have a few weeks to use the gift cards they just bought (and were planning to give as Christmas presents) After weeks of record sales, OG pizza place announces they're staying open after all and now people are pissed they used up the cards they'd intended to give as gifts. -la_riojaa

LoL The Mayor has a personal feud with this one guy that has an emotional support pig while living in the village. Housing farm animals are illegal within the village. -Far-Resource-819