Columbia is more awesome than you think. Here’s why

Columbia is pretty awesome. There’s a reason why we live here even though the roads are crumbling and summers are hotter than Hades.

As locals, we know there’s more to this city than initially meets the eye. Still, it’s nice to be validated by outside sources.

A recent study by the U.S. News & World Report ranked Columbia in the Top “50 Best Places to Live.” We barely made the list at No. 46, but hey, we were on there.

Two of our educational and cultural institutions – the Richland County Public Library and Columbia Museum of Art – were just named 2016 finalists for a national service medal from The National Medal for Museum and Library Service. California and South Carolina are the only states to have a 2016 finalist named among both museums and libraries, and Columbia is the only city with two finalists.

In September, the finance website WalletHub named Columbia one of the top ten best midsize cities for sports fans. Columbia, home of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, ranked 7th in the best midsize cities for sports fans.

And just last week, the Colonial Life Arena announced it was ranked third in the nation’s highest grossing university arenas for 2015, according to Venues Today, a nationally distributed magazine focusing on the sports and entertainment industry. Let’s not forget that the CLA has brought us Paul McCartney, Prince and Taylor Swift over the years.

Those are just a few recent examples.

What do you think makes Columbia awesome? Share your comments.

This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 3:23 PM with the headline "Columbia is more awesome than you think. Here’s why."