MAIN STREET ATWOOD

WhenI first moved to Atwood and started my dream for my store the first thing I wanted to do was make the Main Street of Atwood a much more pleasant view. There was the derelict store invested with rats, the vacant lot that never had the grass cut, the sidewalks that were never swepted and the road where the sand from winter was never cleaned up. The sidewalks that were never shovelled in the winter. There were no flowers no banners and the town looked deserted, even my store had looked deserted. So we started to clean up our property. Many loads to the dump some to recycling. A new lawn and flower beds and a beautiful urn with flowers out front of the store with a bench. A bench for the people of town to sit and take back their town and sit to watch the traffic go by. We seemed to be the only people that sat out front but slowly so did others. And slowly the Main Street started to change. I got the Municipality to cut the grass in the vacant lot. They came in and cleaned out the derelict store of all the rats but that is as far as that went and it is still the eye sore of the town. We finally got flower boxes on the Main and garbage cans to get rid of the litter and although not as nice as Listowel we did not mind their hand me downs. We finally got the sidewalks shovelled on one side of the street and then last year the snow was cleared on both sides of the street and I no longer had to watch the children walking down the highway to deliver the papers. We still got the ugly flower boxes and small Canadian flags for July 1st celebrations but it was a start. The sidewalks are now swept by the Municipality and the Ministry of Transportation (great guys) clean the street every spring, which kepts the dust down and makes the town so much cleaner.
Which brings me to the biggest change made so far.
Today I watched town employees hanging flower baskets on the hydro poles, just like in Listowel. The Lions Club has hung large Canadian Flags banners and slowly the Main Street of Atwood is looking like someone finally gets it. The Main Street of your town shows people what your town is about. The run down buildings and uncut grass and dirty sidewalks and sidewalks not shovelled makes it appear that no one cares. The Main Street is cleaner,people have urns with flowers , the benches are out and the look of the Main Street is improving and it makes it a much more pleasant view. And all it takes is people to care ............ and make an effort. It takes but one voice............