It was a soft fall evening Friday in downtown Kent. It was the kind of night that just invited being outside.
To those of you unacquainted with downtown Kent, I have a news flash for you:
A fall evening in downtown Kent can be a sweet thing.
Friday was the First Avenue Block Party. It was an evening of merchants, artisans and street performers taking up both street lanes of our city’s downtown corridor. Anything with an engine and four wheels was off limits.
That block party was more than just a bunch of people putting their merchandise on the street for sale. It was a town coming out for an evening of meeting old friends and making new ones. Kids ran along the open corridor, laughing and goofing off. Couples lingered over wine at tables outside. Even dogs on leashes looked like they were having a pretty good time.
I’ve lived in a lot of small towns over the course of my career. I’ve relished the friendliness and trust that comes from seeing the same people every day, and sharing pieces of our lives with them. Good times and bad times – all of these have elements that bring a town together in a common purpose. And that’s what I expected, when I lived in a small town.
When I moved to Kent, “small town” was the last descriptor I would have used for what is King County’s fourth-largest city. We have a population of more than 86,000. We have vast quantities of acreage set aside for warehouses, corporate headquarters and all the other trappings that come with the moniker of “big city.”
Yet on that Friday, you would never have known that Kent is a sprawling retail giant, home to Boeing facilities, a major Starbucks roaster and a massive railroad network. You didn’t feel the press of big-box stores, nor the million and one other things that spell major commerce for a growing, thriving city.
Downtown on Friday, Kent was a small town again. It was a town of people – not trucks, trains and traffic.
Friday was a gentle reminder of where Kent started.
We have a wonderful downtown. And just like a heart, it continues to beat, although recent economic times have been challenging for our merchants there. But it is a working community nonetheless.
On Friday, that community gave all of us here the chance to remember what a small town is like.
And how much of that small-towness Kent continues to retain.
Thank you, downtown merchants and organizers, for that reminder.
Contact Laura Pierce at lpierce@reporternewspapers.com, or by calling 253-872-6677, ext. 5050.
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