Editorial

Let's not hibernate for the winter

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Momentum is a marvelous thing.

It can be as difficult to stop as a cement truck rumbling down Water Works Hill. After all, it has the whole mass times velocity thing going for it.

Ask your favorite football coach what momentum means. Check turnover rates and how momentum like that affects the outcome on the gridiron. Momentum usually yields victory.

Now here we are, beginning the 10th month of the year, heading into late fall, then the holidays and the dead of winter. For a lot of creatures, humans included, we're heading into a time to hibernate. Sit in front of the glowing TV hearth and wait until it's warmer. Time to regroup until the spring thaws and the flowers bloom.

But the City of Greencastle cannot afford to do that.

It has momentum now. The buzz. Exciting things keep happening.

People have been enjoying the downtown with the Farmers' Market. Music at The Swizzle Stick, Chief's and Moore's. Concerts on the square. Activities at Starbucks. The renovations all around.

And especially the ever-growing First Friday event.

The calendar suggests this Friday could well be the last First Friday until May. If that's the case, it's been a great run. It's picked up momentum every month.

Gail Smith advanced an idea and a number of people have run with it. Tami Van Rensselaer has been a one-woman dynamo, organizing weekly activities. Amy and Tad Robinson fostered the Apostrophe' Art Space idea with rotating shows in their building, and now that notion moves on to The Carriage House on Vine Street for this week's First Friday as Tim and Kim Shinn get to show off another exceptional restoration effort.

So let's not let all this momentum go to waste. Let's not sit around waiting for spring to resume interesting and fun activity.

Organizers hope to keep the First Friday feel alive inside downtown businesses even during the coming cold months.

While that might be a challenge, it's worth the effort.

Business owners need to be creative. Gail, Tami and the rest need reinforcements. And the whole idea needs your support.

Momentum has us on a roll. Let's not throw up any roadblocks.