Summertime in Laramie is hard to beat. The crowds of students diminish, the seemingly endless winter subsides and we get to enjoy green grass and blue skies for a couple of glorious months. But Laramie is hardly a typical paradise.
There are no sandy beaches, tiki-bars or beachside-bungalows. The winters are famously chilly and seemingly endless. In fact, the town only ever reaches 90 degrees an average of twice a year, which is why the town’s increasingly popular nickname is difficult to pin down.
Nadia Kaliszewski, owner and designer at Big Hollow Designs, sells “Laradise” hats printed over palm trees and sunset-skies.
“It’s still a mystery where the term ‘Laradise’ originated,” Kaliszewski said.
Despite the lack of an origin story, the term “Laradise” has become a part of the local lexicon in the past few years. The origins of the term, a mix of “Laramie” and “Paradise,” are unknown, but can be traced back to at least four years ago. The Urban Dictionary, a crowdsourced online resource for local slang, provides an off-color definition for the term dating back to 2011.
A quick search on Instagram turns out over 5,000 photos tagged with the term. Many of the photos are nature scenes that depict the natural beauty of Laramie, the Snowy Range and Vedauwoo. Other photos depict people at University events, concerts, sporting events and restaurants.
Along with posts depicting the beautiful parts of Laramie, the term is also ironically attached to the doldrums and hardships Laramie can bring. A photo tagged with the term “Laradise” on Tumblr from last January shows the continual subzero weather forecast for the upcoming week in Laramie. Other photos depicting the piles of snow or trees bending in the wind depict the ironic side of the term.
“Laradise” accompanies more than hashtags on social media posts, as it has been used as the name for local businesses and the Laradise Extra Pale Ale is offered at Coal Creek TAP. The term has shown up on sweatshirts, hats and T-shirts.
Lindsay Olsen and Jeff Hubell, owners and designers at 105 Degrees West, a local screen-printing collective, created T-shirts that depict the term “Laradise” over a uniquely Wyoming landscape.
“We wanted to include pine trees, big sky and sunshine, because that’s what Laramie is all about,” Olsen said.
While “Laradise” is occasionally used as an ironic jab at Laramie’s less than posh milieu and environment, it is an endearing and loving term for a little city on the plains called Laramie.
To Kaliszewski , “Laradise” is representative of the residents that inhabit it, “all the interesting, unique and kind-hearted people that call this place home—that is what I think ‘Laradise’ really represents.”
