one particular reason and then, years later, finds it needs to learn a new trick in order to stay viable, which is inevitable. How this town goes about remaking itself says a lot about how industrious the town itself is, but it also serves as a reflection on us and our modern times.
Hoquiam, Washington is an interesting example of these changes. Hoquiam was to begin with a logging metropolitan, a bygone it recalls with an annual event — Loggers’ Playday. On top of that, there’s a logging rivalry and accompanying parade every fall. Although where some traditions are dateless, basic to the framework of a metropolitan’s culture, others have to be created anew.
Consider the Hoquiam waterfront. This stretch of city in the Hoquiam downtown has been underused since its previous heyday in the 1980s. Now that some development has taken an interest in it, there’s a possibility for it to become a much more colorful and vital part of the local community. It can’t be all logging contests and lumber festivals, after all.
There’s ample area on the Hoquiam waterfront for new amenities such as shopping and entertainment, features that make a town a good place to visit. Waterfront development has been a major boon for cities such as Baltimore and San Antonio. For those towns, like Hoquiam, this area becomes a natural place to congregate, to put in shops and dining opportunities. The river itself becomes a major draw, a natural feature that lends the downtown its own special beauty while giving people a place to have a drink.
There’s another reason for Hoquiam to develop its waterfront. There’s a kind of long-running rivalry with its bigger neighbor to the east, the town of Aberdeen. These bigger towns often get more development opportunities, more tax money, than its smaller sister. Like the older sibling who gets all the new stuff while the little sister has to play with old toys. So it’s in Hoquiam’s interest to develop that downtown waterfront into a place friendly to locals and tourists alike, if for no other reason than it could give Aberdeen something to thing about.
That equipoise between custom and invention is an eminent one. But it’s needed to think about devising change to deflect stagnancy in a community. And as minor towns such as Hoquiam find this chance for development, they have to take a chance or two and rise.
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