When a town ages, it has to change too, to avoid stalling out, fading away. Often a town has been planted in a place to satisfy some specific cultural or economic need, and if those days pass, the town has to change its game. And the way a town does this is very important, because it says as much about the times we're all living in as about the way a town makes decisions.
Hoquiam, Washington is an interesting example of these changes. Originally a logging town, it continues to celebrate its heritage with an internationally known event called Loggers' Playday. And every fall there is a logging competition and parade to remind the people of Hoquiam how their hamlet came to be. But where some traditions are timeless, fundamental to the fabric of a town's culture, others have to be created anew.
In Hoquiam, the waterfront is a likely candidate for change. The stretch of river in Hoquiam's downtown hasn't been much used since the 1980s. But now that there's talk of development in that area, there's also the possibility for it to become a defining part of the local culture. Hoquiam's got to have something beyond just logging and lumber, you know.
There's space on the Hoquiam waterfront for hotels and shops, the kind of commerce that makes a town a city -- or at least a bigger town. A good waterfront area has done much for other cities, notably San Antonio and Baltimore. It creates a kind of city center with room for dining and shopping and entertainment. And of course there's a natural feature that serves as built-in scenery, something to sit by while sipping drinks or having a bit of dinner.
Hoquiam has a good, and good-natured reason, to revitalize its waterfront. It has a bit of a rivalry with its neighbor and sister city Aberdeen, the larger town to its east. Often bigger cities get more tourism, more tax money, more opportunities, than the smaller neighbor nearby. Kind of like the older sibling who gets the new clothes and leaves the hand-me-downs for the younger kid. If Hoquiam could get organized and turn its downtown into a beautiful and usable waterfront district, it would have a good chance at showing its big brother next door what a real town is like.
It is important to hang on to heritage and history. It's also important to reach out to new opportunities. Small towns like Hoquiam should be unafraid of change -- the best cities straddle centuries, after all. - 42574
Hoquiam, Washington is an interesting example of these changes. Originally a logging town, it continues to celebrate its heritage with an internationally known event called Loggers' Playday. And every fall there is a logging competition and parade to remind the people of Hoquiam how their hamlet came to be. But where some traditions are timeless, fundamental to the fabric of a town's culture, others have to be created anew.
In Hoquiam, the waterfront is a likely candidate for change. The stretch of river in Hoquiam's downtown hasn't been much used since the 1980s. But now that there's talk of development in that area, there's also the possibility for it to become a defining part of the local culture. Hoquiam's got to have something beyond just logging and lumber, you know.
There's space on the Hoquiam waterfront for hotels and shops, the kind of commerce that makes a town a city -- or at least a bigger town. A good waterfront area has done much for other cities, notably San Antonio and Baltimore. It creates a kind of city center with room for dining and shopping and entertainment. And of course there's a natural feature that serves as built-in scenery, something to sit by while sipping drinks or having a bit of dinner.
Hoquiam has a good, and good-natured reason, to revitalize its waterfront. It has a bit of a rivalry with its neighbor and sister city Aberdeen, the larger town to its east. Often bigger cities get more tourism, more tax money, more opportunities, than the smaller neighbor nearby. Kind of like the older sibling who gets the new clothes and leaves the hand-me-downs for the younger kid. If Hoquiam could get organized and turn its downtown into a beautiful and usable waterfront district, it would have a good chance at showing its big brother next door what a real town is like.
It is important to hang on to heritage and history. It's also important to reach out to new opportunities. Small towns like Hoquiam should be unafraid of change -- the best cities straddle centuries, after all. - 42574
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