I was the only guy for a bit, got a friend into it, and within about 3 years we had something like 20-30 guys riding. We got a skatepark at a church, then another free one in our town and suddenly there were like 100 skaters and like 50 BMXers, a few rollerbladers and a handful of scooter kids (before scooters were huge) and we all had a good time. People got into and out of the sports a lot, many grew up and left town, and many quit. The church skatepark shut down like 5 years into it due to a lack of funds to maintain it, and the scene died a bit-but the free park was always popping. Then I moved, and I head kids are still out there shredding each day, but that park is trashed now.
Out of my core group I rode with back then, I am the only one who still rides (as far as I know). It's the nature of things.
Many people not far from me (60ish miles) have "graduated" to bigger bikes more often than BMX.
I know there are tons of new kids riding, but like everyone said, scooters are the in thing right now-the learning curve and injury factors are a tad lower when learning most of the basics.
"Hey anybody ever make that mistake like right when you wake up in the morning and you believe in yourself?" -Kyle Kinane
"BIKES!" -Tom Segura