If You Don't Use it, You'll Lose it!

If you ask most Maynard residents why they like living here in Maynard, in their top-three list they'll probably say, "It has an amazing little downtown." Like me, you're probably one of those people. But the unfortunate thing is that as much as people believe in having a vibrant downtown, they fail to realize how important they are to it. It's like the old adage, If you don't use it, you'll lose it. Indeed many of us have been around long enough to have seen businesses come and go, and we always feel badly when it happens, probably because we realize that we failed to show up.

The people of this community—residents, business owners, and people who work here—are so essential to the downtown. Their/your/our presence is what truly makes the downtown, not the buildings.

I'm going to ask you to do something. When you're home, and you're about to make an online purchase, ask yourself whether or not what you're about to buy is something that's available in our community. If you're not sure, it's time to find out. Go be in Maynard's downtown, a place you love so much. Walk around and get to know your merchant neighbors—they'll be so glad that you did. And I'm sure that if you do, you'll find out that there's a lot more here than you ever realized, whether it's that item you didn't know you could get, or meeting someone that you never would have met.

Recently the Revitalize Maynard Collaborative made up some mini posters for shops to hang in their stores. Maybe you've noticed them. I wonder which of these resonates most with you.

See you downtown!