The Girl on Main: Claremore

downtown” I love Main Streets, whether they’re called Main Street, Broadway, Fourth Street, Fifth Street, or Central Ave. We all know what Main Street is, after all, despite any variations of its name. It’s that quaint little street that runs through the center of town, lined with businesses built circa early 1900s, that for decades was the hub of activity in its town or city.”

Sadly, with urban sprawl, businesses started to move away from our Main Streets and into shopping malls or centers, where, with numerous modes of transportation, customers were taking their business. And as the local business owners followed their customers, these beautiful tributes to a bygone era were shut up and left to molder.

Fortunately, in the past twenty-five years, our Main Streets have begun to be reborn and to take on new life. Small business owners have taken to restoring these buildings and putting in restaurants, antique shops, and boutiques on their ground levels, while turning their upper levels into either storage or trendy apartments that young and old alike are clamoring to rent.

It makes me happy to see these old buildings yawn and come back to life, because I have always found something exciting and Norman Rockwell-esque about strolling down Main with shopping bags on my arms, looking in windows and popping in and out of stores to see what treasures may await me.

And because I love Main Streets so much, I want to commemorate them. I want to ensure that they continue to breathe and grow and evolve. I want other people to find the magic in them that I do.

I hope that  you’ll in turn go visit these shops and restaurants and consider spending your money in them. After all, our Main Streets won’t continue to thrive if we don’t shop them.

-by Rebekah Askew
The Girl on Main
rebekah

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