The Meager Town Of Hoquiam Takes Stock In The Past Where We Started
Small towns sort of have minds of their own. The way a town grows and develops through the years is certainly the result of many conscious actions by its members, but also the result of many, many small decisions made everyday by its population. The town may well end up far from where it started, and hopefully it is always becoming what its community wants. But sometimes, real decisions must be made, and that’s never easy.
Up in the Pacific Northwest is a town called Hoquiam, Washington. Hoquiam was born and raised a logging and exporting town. It has maintained this identity through annual events like parades and logging competitions and an internationally popular event called Loggers’ Playday. All of which has served it well enough, but what will it do when faced with the possibility for growth?
Possibilities for Downtown Development
Some big changes are proposed for Hoquiam’s waterfront area. The Hoquiam River runs through the city’s downtown before emptying into Grays Harbor, making the area ripe with potential as a place to visit, for locals and tourists alike. A gem of a waterfront had profound positive effects on the economies of both San Antonio and Baltimore. Done right, a waterfront of dining and shopping and entertainment quickly becomes the heart of a community.
The waterfront has been mostly out of use since its big days in the 1980s, but now the new interest in developing the area means Hoquiam has some decisions to make about what kind of Hoquiam it wants to become. Questions not easily answered, especially when tax money is involved.
A Question of Size
One of the perhaps important factors to consider is Hoquiam’s neighbor to the west, the larger city of Aberdeen. These two towns have had a friendly sort of rivalry, as neighboring towns will. But it bears consideration to think about how bigger towns often benefit at the expense of their smaller siblings — tax money and tourism being just two ways bigger towns get ahead. Hoquiam’s decision to grow might bear upon its rival in interesting ways.
But Hoquiam must proceed cautiously. It is interested in preserving its past, as is evident in the 2009 revitalization of its train depot. So it knows how to preserve and honor its past; now it must seriously consider how it wants to carry that history forward, what kind of city it wants to become.
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