Think of all the small towns you’ve passed through in your life and all the forces large and small that shaped them into that town that you either linger in or speed through, depending on the kindness of time. Any small town is the sum of many decisions, often just everyday decisions, and this is the sound that culture makes. But sometimes it’s important for the people of a town to sit back and take a look at the direction their town is taking — and think about what kind of town they really want.
To take just one example, let’s look at Hoquiam, Washington. This town started life as a logging town, making its money from the Northwestern forests surrounding it. Now it maintains that identity in a kind of nostalgic way, through an internationally known event called Loggers’ Playday, annual logging competitions, parades. This has worked well for the town, but now it may be time for a change.
There has been discussion in Hoquiam of developing the waterfront, a piece of downtown that runs along the Hoquiam River. Development has been proposed, but the future of the area is not yet clear. Now is the time for the community to decide what it wants to see when it visits its city center. A developed waterfront did wonders for big cities such as Baltimore and San Antonio, but could Hoquiam have as much success bringing dining, shopping and entertainment to its riverside real estate?
The last time the waterfront was popular was in the 1980s, and since then the town itself has of course grown up a bit. But still the question remains: Should something be brought to the waterfront? Is it worth the tax expenditure? Are there people with the right vision and organization to carry it out? The possibilities are there, at least.
Another consideration worth a moment is Hoquiam’s relationship to Aberdeen, the larger city to the east. This relationship, like probably all neighboring towns, is one of friendly rivalry. And rivalry often does good things for innovation. Hoquiam is at the mouth of the river, right on Grays Harbor, so it has opportunities no other town in the area does.
But it’s all a balancing act. Hoquiam can’t change too much or it risks losing its heritage. On the other hand, if it gets stuck in the past, it risks fading away, like so many other small towns do. Whatever changes get made will be made as a community, so the people of Hoquiam need to make sure they surround themselves with the right people.
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