Local Pessimists Shocked to Learn Oil City has Real People with Jobs

Oil City is known for two forms of thinking. There are the optimists who are confident that the town will one day revive the glory of an oil boom. There are also the pessimists who paint the town as one voted not likely to succeed. We here at the Venango Republic base our humor on both extremes and work to illustrate the simple fact that a town exists and that the people passionate about their community love it because it is home for them.

Satire is always a risky game to play because the intent is not always so obvious to the reader. Jokes are made at the expense of ironies that may cause people to missunderstand the purpose of the humor. This website started with what we consider the "Southpark mentality." We just started telling whatever jokes we wanted and didn't care how people felt. It started off rough because several people took offense and this got us banned from a Venango County page. However, the hard work has helped us gain an audience our humor is appreciated by.

Fastforward to today, after reaching out to business owners for articles that highlight the must sees of Venango County, we have seen a different side of the region that sometimes is overlooked. This portion is not defined by its history or size, but by the personalities that drive the people living here.

The truth is that Venango County consists of wonderful people who are passionate about their small town lifestyles. In getting to know the business owners and the residents of the community, conversations have shown how much the identity of a community comes down to the personalities of those taking part in its existence. While there are a lot of jokes the Venango Republic has made for the sake of satire, one thing we will acknowlege is that the business owners are very gracious, hard working, and passionate for eachother.

Something you see in places like Oil City that you will not see in a more populated area is the support businesses have for eachother. Let's take the bars for instance. An interview with the owners of Cork and Screw Wines showed that they not only have great relationships with the other bar owners in town, but encourage visitors to check out the other locations as well. This is something you do not see in areas with larger populations where competition takes priority for business survival.

Businesses also colaborate with eachother for community events. An article we posted in early May involved Bella Cucina and Something Clever collaborating for a soft opening of the new Something Clever location. This is probably not the best example since Bella Cucina and Something Clever do not classify as competition, but you get the picture. This is just one example of how local business owners work together to promote their causes.

A much better example comes back to Cork and Screw Wines. The interview with this ownership showed how most business owners in Oil City colaborate to put together First Friday events in downtown Oil City. Many of these businesses were restaurants and bars which logically should be seeing eachother as competition.

We aren't saying that all businesses are this friendly with their competion. However, it is a common respect exhibited in this area. The people in the community want all businesses to thrive. They want the community to have success. With that passion they are willing to swallow the pride that often would drive business owners to see competition in a negative light. Instead of competition, we find colaboration is the driving force of the area.

We here at the Venango Republic always joke that our approach to drawing tourists here is to make Venango County sound interesting by joking about how it isn't. This style of humor is not always recieved well by people and it's understandable. People love their home. You cannot shame that sentiment. Do we think Venango County is the greatest thing since a New York City skyline? Absolutely not! Neither do we see it as the worst thing since any insensitive example that would get us banned for making the comparison (we are not getting canceled for saying the LA fires). We simply see it as an area with a mix of identities. There are people who love it, and people who don't. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. For us, the humor is not so much about a bias toward one or the other. In fact, we joke about both extremes.

You'll notice that our logo is of a city skyline. At the same time, you'll also notice jokes in our articles about city officials taking out loans for five dollars at a time. These ridiculous concepts poke fun at both extremes. We aren't a metropolis and we are not dirt poor. We are just a county with a small population. How one chooses to make the most of it is up to them.

The real man behind the Venango Republic is an example of what it means to make the most of where life has you. His goal before moving to Venango County in 2017 was to become a performer and do stand up comedy. After getting married and buying a house, he discovered that the style of performance he wanted to do was not feasible for this county. Here is where his story shows the difference between an optimistic approach and pessimistic outlook. For three years he complained constantly about how Venango has "no opportunity." His complaining was a daily habit that never helped him achieve his goals. Instead, it eventually resulted in so many losses that broke his spirit.

April of 2025, the man who would eventually start posting satire about his community finally decided he was done with his pessimism. He wanted to do comedy, and if Venango County lacked the avenues he needed to invest in his interest, he was going to create that avenue for himself. Thus, the Venango Republic was born.

Not many people got it at first. A lot of people hated it in fact because the humor did take pot shots at Venango County. Nonetheless, he stuck with it and eventually found ways to show his true purpose in the satire by writing various articles for people to appreciate. Along the way, he not only found freedom in his ability to express himself though his passion of humor, but also discovered a side of the community he did not know in his years of complaining. What did he find? That success is a matter of making the most of your time with what resources are available.

Here's the beauty about Venango County. Especially Oil City. The business owners are not only content with what they have, they appreciate everyone who does their part to make the community function. And here is where I stop using the phrase we, because it is obvious that it is only one guy who writes these articles for the Venango Republic.

To the business owners who have had enough grace to sit down with me and give me a chance to write reviews about your business, I want to give my most sincere thank you. I was a pessimist for seven years before finally deciding to do what I love. The controversy is that exercising what I love involved making jokes about the county you love. I understand that is not an easy thing for everyone to witness because it can feel like I'm devaluing something important to all of you. I'd be lying if I said that my site did not start out with some kind of penned up frustration from the years of not knowing how to exercise my interest in comedy. Nonetheless, the grace each of you have had in giving me the chance to sit down, hear about your reasons for loving where you live, and your appreciation for eachother showed me what truly makes a region is great.

The lesson I have learned along the way is that the best parts of a community are the people who are passionate for where they live. This took a long time for me to understand because where I am originally from, life is fast paced and nobody takes time to slow down. Venango County is a different story because the lack of industry has brought out those personalities that find contentment in simplicity.

My real name is Andrew, and I came from Lancaster County in 2017. Before starting the Venango Republic, my view of a great area was one with industrialized thriving businesses and highly populated cities. Moving to Venango County was the hardest adjustment I had to make because... Well, come on people!

Making the Venango Republic opened doors for me to meet some amazing people. It also showed me how ones attitude and outlook on life determines whether they will be successful or not. In my case, the success is not the following I have built, but coming to appraciate where God has me on my journey in life. I know my humor is not for everyone. I know that people are still uneasy about the jokes I make. What I would say to people in that position is that, I get it. Satire is cringe and it is not for everyone. However, hopefully this article gives the reader a better understanding of who I am as a person and why I do what I do.

I know it probably seems like an exaggeration. But to the business owners who have taken that time to speak with me and allow me the chance to write about what you do, I want you to know that it has been a huge encouragement for me. I have to be honest that the satire I write is not going away. Comedy is supposed to be controversial and sometimes uncomfortable for some people. That's why I tell my readers that my humor might not be right for them. Nonetheless, I appreciate the respect, and the grace I have been given from people who may not fully like what I do. That's a big deal to me because it coincides with the message this article centeres around. Success comes not by complaining about what you don't have, but making the most of what is available to you.

I have had to learn to make the most of my location and adapt in order to do what I love. Stepping out to write articles about businesses in the community was a step of faith for me because I wasn't sure what the business owners would say. Nonetheless, I did my best to show respect and recieved the same level of respect. This is how I was able to learn the difference between a pessimistic outlook and an optimistic one. I found that despite my humor being uncomfortable with some people, my story does not differ much from any other business owner as it pertains to finding a way to make our goals work. Each of us got to where we were not by complaining, but by making the most of our resources and being grateful for wha we had. Technically, my articles do come off as pessimistic. But everyone who knows me can tell that it is just the nature of comedy to exaggerate negatives or to poke fun at ironies. My view on Venango County is not entirely reflected in my articles. The distinction is hopefully easier to see with this piece.