Signs of the Times

Somehow I have become middle-aged and find myself blessed with a semi-retired lifestyle that allows me--sometimes with my husband and often on my own--to travel by car throughout Canada. (It would be perilously close to perfect if I could convince said husband to rent an RV trailer so we wouldn't have to stay in quasi-identical, antibacterial-scented motel rooms, scrambling for the free breakfast of squashed Danish and Fruit Loops at the end. But that is another blog.)

What is striking in my recent travels is the proliferation of expensive, creatively designed signage announcing whatever city, town or region I am passing through. Clearly they are meant to beckon us off the major thoroughfare--not so much to eat and sleep--but to invest in their dream for an economically viable downtown core. Browse through the antique boutiques, love the new waterfront, maybe buy a condo...

I think "$30,000" every time I pass another gorgeous edifice: Bracebridge The Heart of Muskoka; Huntsville Touch the Past, Embrace the Future; Gravenhurst wins for the most gorgeous sign to say nothing.

I pulled the $30,000 figure out of thin air as what it cost taxpayers to erect the thing. This is just a guess. It could easily be more what with excavation costs in the Canadian Shield and the propensity of government projects to go above average in cost.

As I drifted around Hwys. 11 and 400 and 401, I assumed it was an Ontario endeavour. However an excursion to the east cost revealed it is a more widespread phenomenon so perhaps it is a federal initiative. No matter, the result seems to be universal.

Our small town of 3200 is the perfect example. It has received provincial government grants in recent years that allowed it to hire an economic development officer for one year. There may be a small budget attached for programs to help us develop economically or the municipal taxpayer may foot the bill. I don't know.

There's no doubt that we need to revitalize our downtown but I can't help think that our governors are looking in all the wrong places. Instead of looking to the highways and bi-ways, hoping to attract new businesses and investment, maybe we should all be encouraging new, young innovators and entrepreneurs in our midst to set up shop instead of heading to the Oil Sands of Alberta. I'm just saying.

Our little downtown is no different than the cores of "Beautiful Barrie", Orillia, Kingston, Windsor and on and on. Sadly, our downtown retailers have been steamrolled by the Wal-marts and Costcos. Few and far between are the Mom-and-Pops where you can get a shoe resoled, a watch repaired or eat a homemade soup and muffin. Most technicians and tradesmen work out of their homes with a cell phone. No need for retail space because who can compete with Home Depot on plumbing or electrical supplies?

For years and years and years we were known as Powassan, The Friendly Town. Then we got an economic development officer and it was apparently glaringly obvious that we needed a new logo and new signage out on the highway. After significant expense our new logo is an anemic pale blue on white "Powassan, The Heart of Good Living". Unmemorable in the extreme. And, as someone in North Bay asked me recently, "Aren't you friendly any more?"

And I think North Bay got ripped off as bad as we did--only at more expense. Its new sign says, wait for it, "North Bay". Not "Welcome" or "Enjoy Your Stay" or "Come On In". For $30,000--or whatever the number is--you would think they would get some more words or flowers or waving grass. Nothing. The city that used to be "The Gateway to the North" is now a seeming non-entity; neither a destination nor jumping off point for the great expanse of Northern Ontario.

Which begs the question, Did the gateway move? Has an economic development professional deemed Severn River perhaps the gateway to the north? Or Cookstown? I'll keep my eyes peeled on my next trip.