Main Street Obituary Examples

Is this the Obituary of the Main Street?

Tara Gesner of the Canadian Gazette suggested that I write an Obituary for a dying Main Street, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I continue to hold out hope that some miracle will happen for our small town--I really do. Was our Main Street ever what it seemed? In reality, it has always been much more complex than it appears. As I hold the pages of the names of businesses that used to flourish on Carleton Place I wonder what happened to once was.

I try not to be nostalgic, but the town once had many features that helped define sustainable, smart growth: men’s and women’s clothing stores, shoe stores, hardware stores, a movie theater, drug stores, and the like. There was a constant flow of
No longer did professional men have their clothes made by the main street tailors like William Shaw.. Those merchants once took your measurements and their many seamstresses made your suit. Baby boomers didn't remember Shake McDiarmind offering a free pair of suspenders with a new suit- nor did they care.

Suburbia was exploding everywhere, even in a small town like Carleton Place. Why live in an older red brick home with your neighbors just a few feet away, when you could buy a nice new home on a bigger new lot near the edge of town? Now it was easier to drive to the mall rather than go into town and deal with parking and less choice. No longer were their dishes of ice cream for a nickle--but the Dairy Queen on the highway satisfied all your
Now we need to pull the reigns in before the whole downtown runs away. The town also needs good old fashioned salesmanship and marketing with some luck on the side. Carleton Place business have been up and down before due to fires, wars and economy- but nothing like this.

Can it all come back? Of some come back-but some downtowns may be just too far gone. Is it time to write the obituary for Carleton Place? An obituary can be a compelling story of a life as Carleton Place once had, and still can be. Instead, I write a short life story today as it is an alternative to writing an obituary in advance. When the obituary is needed, all the facts of the Carleton Place are already at hand-- and I hope things change so I never have to write it.

It's not time to say goodbye yet, but being very cautionary is now obviously in order. But when anyone's in trouble small towns all help each other. We are that very little community that has got that spirit to get in and do what's got to be done. That's one of the facts that make small town living so good. I know it's easier said than done, but I would like to think we can put this downtown back on the map. Let's at least