Community events bring life to downtown PI

Community events bring life to downtown PI

To the editor:
    This letter is to say “thank you and a job well done” to the Presque Isle Elks for putting on such a wonderful event on Main Street for the Balloon Festival. As a business owner and a resident of Presque Isle I was so excited to see the businesses come together and residents of Presque Isle as well as neighboring communities come out and enjoy the festivities. I was very pleased to see they shut down all of Main Street to include the businesses on the lower end of town. 

    As I watched people come into my shop throughout the evening and heard some of the conversations I started jotting little notes down to what people were saying. Conversations were as such, “My goodness I haven’t seen you in 10 years”, “What a great evening, I’ve seen people here tonight I haven’t seen in years”, “Wow did you see the cars” and one older gentleman told a story of getting tangled up in the potato barrel hoist as a young fellow. Those around him laughed.
    When I could step out of the shop to look around I saw our police chief getting dunked several times in the dunking booth, which drew a very good size crowd. I am not quite sure what this means Chief Naldo but thanks for being such a good sport.
    I was later able to leave my shop for a short while to walk Main Street with my 21-month-old grandson. We visited the band and young and old alike were out there enjoying the music. Some were singing along while others were giving a little wiggle every now then, while others were tapping they feet. As we walked a little farther more people were gathering talking and laughing, some shaking hands, others hugging as again not seeing one another for long periods of time. Children were walking with their parents some with ice cream floats while others had some very bright red lips from slush puppies/snow cones.
    For my little guy the fire trucks were the big hit of the evening. He touched the tires, and all the knobs and checked out the lights. He was a very happy little boy and Grammy even got an extra smooch out of the deal.
    For myself I was able to visit with my first grade teacher, introduce her to my family and show her pictures of my grandchildren. I was glad to show her the little tyrant she had in her class many, many years ago didn’t turn out so bad. And Mrs. Doak, if you read this, you’re as beautiful now as you were then. The food was great as many were walking with both hands full.
    Many times I’ve been into the town hall looking at the old pictures of Main Street years ago. In so many of the pictures Main Street had life as it did on this evening.
    Personally I believe more of these events should take place and if an extra pair of hands is needed count me in. We are very fortunate we have a beautiful Main Street, with beautiful old buildings that have so much history and personality to them. These buildings are not to be discarded, they need to be utilized and brought back to life with retail businesses. I love my shop and the building that I occupy and I would not want to be anywhere else but Main Street.
    Many of the people I had in my shop on this evening shared they didn’t even know I was here or the parking makes it hard to get in. So to everyone out there please visit with all the businesses on Main Street, just come in and browse and say “hello”. Let us know what your interests are and what you would like to have for merchandise on Main Street. That way we can share this with potential retailers.
    Parking can be and is an issue. I encourage all of you to call our City Manager and let him know your thoughts on the parking. I appreciate the time and work that went into this event and again “thank you”. It reminded me of the Good Ole Days.