“It’s so cool I kinda forget I’m still in Elkhart”
It’s kind of a hidden place, upstairs in the newly-reopened movie theater in Elkhart, Kansas. It’s a little bar, almost a little speakeasy, tucked above the ticket booth and concession stand, with exposed brick walls and uncovered rafters, and a view out the little windows that overlook the whole downtown. It’s a small space, a pleasurable place to hang out for drinks before the movie.
When a small group of us sat enjoying a drink together at the tall tables, Angela (one of the locals) said, “It’s such a cool place that I have to keep reminding myself that I’m still in Elkhart.”
That’s it! That’s your goal. Create more little spaces that make you feel like you’re in a new place, the future Elkhart, the future Your Town. Create more moments where magic happens and crowds fill the streets, if just for an hour. Create more art that no one can quite believe actually exists in a little town like yours.
And then, when you want to get someone on board for your vision of the future, you take them to that place at that time, and you talk to them about it when they can see it all around them, even if just for a moment.
When Vienna and Angela in Elkhart want to talk to the officials about more upstairs downtown projects, they need to take them to the little speakeasy over the theater. The discussion will go so much better from that point of view than it would in city hall.
These places where you can imagine the future are just one kind of “love note” to your town profiled in the article ‘Love Notes’ for your City, at the Realtors Association Spaces to Places blog.
You don’t have to create something big, as long as you create something small for your town and do it with love.
Keep shaping the future of your town,
Becky
PS – What’s one place like this in your town? Is there a place that, when you’re there, you can feel the magic or see the future? What’s one place that is so cool, you have to remind yourself you’re still in your small town? I’d love to see it. Hit reply and send me a pic, or just tell me about it.