That Podcast in Hutch - Christopher Wietrick

How the worlds of Superman, mental health, and community collided to create "Smallville," Kansas

Dec 02, 2021

Note - This episode discusses sensitive topics, including mental illness and suicide.

Christopher Wietrick has had a long-standing fascination with superheroes, particularly Superman, and a love of the television show Smallville.

In 2013, after gathering evidence to show the similarities between Hutchinson, Kansas, and the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas - home to Clark Kent - Christopher decided to make his case to the Hutchinson City Council.

In June of that year, the council issued a proclamation officially declaring that Hutchinson was indeed known as Smallville. It’s a tradition that’s been carried out every year since - and has grown to include a multi-day citywide festival, as well as a dynamic Comic-Con that draws people from the area to Hutchinson.

Yet just a year earlier, Christopher Wietrick had settled back in his hometown of Hutchinson after spending years bouncing around from city to city.

A series of events had knocked his ideas and plans for life off the track. He was struggling with a host of mental health issues - including depression, PTSD, and anxiety. He had attempted suicide, and had resigned himself to an uncertain future.

But here he found people - some of whom he describes as real-life superheroes - who validates his “nerdiness,” who encouraged him to meet with other people in the community, and who ultimately supported his idea to make Hutchinson the official home of Superman and Clark Kent.