by Derek Frey Williams
Shopping local is wonderful, but what about the rest of the time?
Don’t get me wrong. Shopping local is a beneficial concept, it’s just not the only one, and few of us have enough money to shop all the time. What if we broadened our local scope of influence? What if, in addition to shopping local and eating local and etc. local, we filled in the remaining gaps local?
Has there been a time when you thought “I’m really in the mood for…” or “I’d love to do… but I can’t around here. Bummer. Off I go.”? I’ve thought it and there’s nothing wrong with leaving town to do something. In fact, it’s a good thing to get out and explore. In further fact, outside of town can still be local. Imagine, however, simply having more options available locally. We can have this. Some options may already be here and simply need to be discovered. Others just need to be created.
Our area has a wealth of opportunities to enjoy. These opportunities expand well beyond the basics (places for food, living, working…), too. They include cultural opportunities, recreational opportunities, and social opportunities. All great stuff—stuff that expands into the territory of events. To find out about these events we should “discover local”. To do this: check message boards, look out for flyers, read newspapers or twitter twits, search the Interweb, and talk to people. The process doesn’t have to be as trying as an Indiana Jones adventure, but what you discover might be just as exciting.
Now what if an opportunity cannot be found, even when getting outside of the 184xx zip code and venturing into 183xx and 185xx? Then it’s time to “create local”. There is plenty of potential here, particularly in the 18431. Since Honesdale is a small town, there are bound to be things we don’t have that we’d like to. Herein rests our vast supply of potential. Any time there is something lacking, there is potential to create something. Any time there seems like nothing to do, there is potential to do something. Any time there is something worth changing, there is potential to affect change.
I’ve often heard that there is nothing to do in Honesdale. I’ve never bought into this, but I consider going for a walk and thinking about things “something to do,” so I could be biased because I always have plans. In any case, I think the true nature of the situation is that while Dyberry Forks may not be quite what you want it to be, it’s nearly always what you think it can’t be. There is ample room here for people and their ideas. All that’s needed is for people with ideas to pursue them and share them.
The local discovery and creation process and the “nothing to do” claim were summarized nicely in a song Pandora Radio played for me soon after I started typing. The lyrics are from The Grateful Dead song “Shakedown Street.” “Don’t tell me this town ain’t got no heart – You just gotta poke around. Don’t tell me this town ain’t got no heart – When I can hear it beat out loud.” Shakedown Street, in this case, is Honesdale. We’ve just got to do what we can, when we can, local, to make our town come alive and stay that way.
Discover and create local. Let’s put it on a button!
Derek Frey Williams lives and works in Honesdale, but prefers using the original nomenclature of Dyberry Forks, Pennsylvania. Mr. Williams works as a cartographer and county planner during the workweek and enjoys getting involved in many other things as time allows. D. Williams can be often found biking and walking around town for one reason or another or just for fun.
