Laura Young
Columnist
As our “exceptional” drought conditions have continued to persist, my yearning for rain has come to feel like a coat of dust on my skin that I can't shake off.
An isolated shower last Wednesday night swooped through with a breeze and a boom but left next to nothing in the rain gauge. When I headed out the next morning, dry leaves (in April?!) still crunched underfoot. More rain over the weekend was certainly welcome, but I know it didn't penetrate deep enough to alter our dire rating on the drought monitor.
I get a similar longing every day when I drive through downtown Monticello.
The business sector looks like it is drying up. Despite an isolated infusion here and there when a new store opens, more spaces are emptying out than filling in, and I long for our little town to thrive.
I'll be so happy when the weather once again brings regular showers, when the garden won't need watering every other day, when I don't have to hope for a blasted hurricane to restore the water level in the pond.
Likewise, I'll feel true joy when shopping downtown becomes a regular activity for more people, when business owners won't feel like throwing in the towel every other day, when we don't have to hang our hopes on a festival every six months to make people notice what we have to offer.
What's up?
I'm tired of waiting for a downtown downpour.
How long will a For Rent sign hang in the empty corner of Courthouse Circle? How long will the heart of North Jefferson's 100 block be boarded up? How long will the shopping center look like a ghost town? As business owners retire or give up, what will go into their spaces?
I've watched for many years as downtown merchants have tried to organize for mutual support, only to see those efforts repeatedly fume and fizzle. I'm not sure what it would take for the success of a few to spread across to all.
An isolated shower simply will not do. We need the kind of rain that regularly nourishes, seeps throughout the business landscape and builds a reservoir to support the whole community.
Could shoppers and leaders and entrepreneurs cooperate in some kind of joint initiative?
I know that drought has a purpose in nature that in the long run makes way for incredible renewal. I can picture what that will look like, and I trust the cycles of nature.
I don't know if the situation for downtown Monticello has a parallel. I'm not sure if there's a kind of natural cycle at work in that dimension as well. More likely, I think, we humans have made this town, and it's up to us to make it “rain.” Where do we start?