The Quiet Township Of Hoquiam Recognizes The Past And Its Riverfront
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.
A fine example of this evolution is seen in the Washington town of Hoquiam. It was originally a logging town, a history it recalls with an annual event -- Loggers' Playday. And in the fall there is a logging competition and a parade to further remind the people how they got here. While maintaining these traditions is important, sometimes it's necessary to invent something new.
The waterfront is a likely candidate for change. The stretch of river 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. The town's got to have something beyond just logging and lumber, you know.
There's space on the 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.
The town 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.
That balance between tradition and innovation is an important one. But it's necessary to think about making change to avoid stagnation in a community. And when small towns such as Hoquiam find this opportunity for evolution, they should take a chance or two and grow.
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