Imagine a busy downtown core on a summer evening.
Musicians are playing, people are enjoying a beverage on an outside patio, more are milling around the stores, families are enjoying an evening walk through downtown taking in the atmosphere and maybe a stroll around the new trail network.
We're all getting a little fresh air, exercise, and meeting new friends and old instead of watching TV, playing the latest Xbox game or just trying to relax after a long day.
What will it take to make this happen? How do we as a community encourage people to come out to all the wonderful events this area has to offer?
There are a number of ideas that have been brought forward.
Well-maintained sidewalks, welcoming businesses, places to sit, public washrooms, a vehicle free zone (a.k.a. pedestrian mall), the list goes on.
Many discussions have been had and several different groups are trying very hard to organize events. What sometimes seems to be missing are attendance numbers.
Why is attendance low at some events? What needs to happen to draw more people out? There is a great deal of effort by a number of organizers to arrange wonderful local events. Great performances at Studio B, Gallery 2, the library, Relay for Life, the Moonlight Madness, music in the park, Canada Day celebrations, the list goes on and on.
Some events have great attendance, but it isn’t always the case. Take a look on pages 6 and 12 this week for just some of the amazing happenings around town.
We have a beautiful community. Why aren’t more people coming out to celebrate it?
Without participation from the community events fizzle out and die. Then we all tend to stand around complaining about how there’s nothing to do! Many are free, and most that have a cost are priced only to recoup expenses.
If attendance is constantly low then we run the very real risk of no longer having them available. Let’s get behind the hard-working organizers of local events, and simply show up.
On a different note....
The Grand Forks Gazette welcomes all open, direct, public dialogue regarding your local community newspaper.
Many sincere thanks to all the fantastic people who have called, emailed or stopped in to let us know what they think.
We’re always happy to answer questions or address concerns on any topic to the best of our abilities.
Whether it’s a question on why a story was run on a certain page, how our audited circulation number is come by, what is the difference between the Gazette and the Advertiser, history of the paper and it’s ownership, or when stories are loaded onto the web site, we love to hear from you.
Have a new idea for a column or want to see an old one return? Let us know.
Newspapers are in a constant state of evolution in today’s world. So many changes are taking place in how people receive information.
We can definitely see that in the increase in web traffic to our site. A newspaper is accountable for information that it prints or puts on the web.
Direct communication with the source takes away all the issues of miscommunication and misinformation. Our door is always open.
- J.M.