Celebrate those who bring new life to communities

Star News

Editorials

You can tell the approximate date someone moved into a community by the name by which they call their local tavern.

The same holds true for private residences or the identity of the commercial building. It is in human nature to seek some permanence and to assume that institutions like family homes and long-established businesses remain the same regardless of the passage of time.

All things change with time. Mountains are worn down. Rivers change their course. Homes and commercial buildings are bought and sold. Just as one chapter of a long novel ends, when the page turns there is a new beginning.

The downtowns in Medford and Gilman are witnessing new beginnings in the next few weeks.

A building in Gilman that spent most of its existence as a financial institution is getting a new lease on life as Gifts on Main, a gift shop and business center. After 35 years as an anchor for the arts in the Medford area, Black River Art Gallery has new owners and is undergoing renovation to add the Yucca Club performance space to the building and the community.

Just down the street, Lake 11 Brewing will be opening very soon as a brew pub in the space that Dave Slachetka ran a successful furniture and flooring store for many decades. At the other end of the block, crews with Huotari Construction have been hard at work restoring the former Brucker Building to its former glory with the plan for it to have a new life as a wine and book shop.

These are just a handful of examples of the process that occurs every day.

There are those who see a vacant space as an eyesore, and if not kept up can quickly become just that. To someone with a dream, as well as the vision and drive to make that dream a reality, a vacant space is the chance for a new beginning and the starting point of what could become something that outlasts generations of residents and helps define the future of the community.

Communities are shaped by visionaries who grab hold of an idea and run with it, whether it is the desire to elevate the quality and choices in shelf-stable cheeses, provide families with high quality, affordable windows and doors, or making frozen pizzas a staple of busy family households. Each of these local institutions started as an idea and someone willing to take a chance on making that dream a reality.

As a community we must celebrate those who bring their dreams to reality and in doing so breathe new life into vacant spaces. It is important to support these enterprises as they begin to write the next chapter of community history and to clear obstacles preventing others from pursuing those same dreams.