Look to the past for village's future

When I spied the very well written article on the apparent demise of Long Grove on Wednesday's Opinion page I thought: "Aha! At last someone besides me is wondering what happened to it! Maybe now some answers."

But as I read it through to the very end, I realized that, although the article lamented greatly the public's general loss of interest and speculated on several ways to bring the town back to being something of a beacon to shoppers, it did not at any point address the scarcity of what I perceive to be the initial underlying draw of the town in the first place.

I will try to correct that; a final nail in the coffin so to speak.

In its early days, the town was known, and advertised, as "Long Grove - the town that time forgot." The reason for that title was because of the predominance of antique stores. It was a perfect place for anyone inclined toward things old, but very family friendly besides.

While the wife and kids contented themselves in a gift or sweet shop, the guys could, in a shop adjoining, regain some semblance of masculinity by browsing through musty old books, find an old 78 rpm record, or come away with perhaps a sundial or an old hand-made wooden birdhouse. Neat stuff, and always something of an adventure.

In concocting what to do for the town in the future, I believe that care must be taken to avoid even more of the "Bourbon St. Carnival" atmosphere they seem to be moving toward, and just consider why things worked before.

The several antique stores touting serious, authentic old things were able to neutralize the (even then) overly sweet "country giftee shopee" places, making for a nice even balance worthy of a Sunday family trip.

Something to think about.

Marshall Philyaw

Round Lake Beach