A Nice Little Downtown

Significant Other and I try to take a half-hour walk each day. Weather good, almost 60 degrees and sunny. We simultaneously decide to drive to Taunton and walk around the downtown, which someone had recently told us was "a nice little downtown."

Yes and no. Drove there. Parked a ways away, and started walking. Went by a handsome courthouse and headed for the stores. The first thing we noticed was that we were the ONLY pedestrians. Kids, it is 1:30 on a Saturday afternoon. Where are the shoppers? Then we noticed the closed stores. Lots of vacant storefronts. The big industry seemed to be prom dresses and tuxedos. We walked and walked and made it to the Unitarian Church (another handsome building) and started back down the other side of the street. Same story. Stores closed. Lots of insurance agencies and chiropractors--the town is full of chiropractors. Made my neck stiff to look at all of them. Still no pedestrians. Hardly any parking places. Most mysterious. Lots of cars going by with big loud bass booming from the stereo. No shoppers. No strollers. WTF?

Felt sad. Taunton was founded in 1637. Way back when. Seemed like a nice town. On the way out, we went by a couple strip malls and a "real" mall. Obviously where the action is/was. It's always disturbing when a nice downtown dies.

Later on we were in Canton, where the downtown seems stable and few store windows were empty. Such a change from my childhood, when everyone came into town to shop on Saturday.

Times have changed.

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