That Vision Thing

 

I was in Park City this last weekend and was thinking how small that town is to host fifty thousand film people. [The locals told me it is horrible during Sundance.] That may be why hundreds of condos have spouted up in the hills just within the two years since last I visited, even in this economic climate. There's money to be made hosting visitors, even if only for a couple weeks a year.

My baby sister was with me and she and I agreed on an observation: when you look at Park City you realize it really is just a redone mining town in a narrow hollow. Admittedly it’s a mining town with 8,000 ft peaks surrounding it, all subject to “the greatest snow on earth”.  But except for the well tended houses painted in fashionable colors, it could be any old mining town in western PA. My sister's comment was interesting.  She noted that while Elrama, Elizabeth or Monesson [and we hale from that part of the world so I'm not picking on those towns] are not going to sprout 5-star resorts any time soon, maybe a "little vision" is what some of these places need.

Ya, that vision thing.  You have to imagine it, dream it, before you can make it into reality.  Many small towns in the South and Texas [two different places and perspectives for those who don’t know] seemingly overreach when it comes to Chamber of Commerce boasting.  On many drives through the South you will note billboards advertising “charming shops and restaurants” or “antiquing galore”, when the reality is a local diner and some used furniture or second hand stores.  But that’s OK; they're trying.

And sometimes they succeed, even mightily.  For example, glossy upscale travel journals have touted places like Fredericksburg and Salado, Texas.  These towns really are nice places to spend a long day or a weekend.  They have both developed points of historical interest, very good restaurants, charming B&B’s and “boutique” [sort of] inns.  A main street with one or two dozen shops for the well heeled can provide jobs and enough cash flow to fix up the overall look. And that's often enough to make the most hardened factory or field worker come to expect a great cup of coffee in the morning or a decent restaurant meal on the weekend.  It raises everyone’s standards and expectations, even if it doesn’t and is not meant to, change their overall lifestyle.  It’s hard work to grow income organically [that’s what big city ecosystems are for].  It’s a lot easier to attract and capture income that’s been generated somewhere else.

But ya gotta have the vision first.  You have to have the desire to bring others into your world.  I hope it’s coming for many places in western PA.