Passion for Monticello is contagious

     Passion is contagious, especially passion about one’s own town.

     If you read last week’s Express, you saw the front-page article about Bobby Krum and the Amber Community Club working to put Amber on the map. The addition of a Free Little Library will hopefully entice people to swing through Amber and either take or a leave a book.

     The big story in Monticello is the changing of Happy Joe’s to Diamond Pi Company. Change, for some, is hard. It’s also a good thing. Happy Joe’s could have easily closed up shop, but Diamond Pi owner Eric Green wanted to see the restaurant continue to flourish.

     Both Krum and Green want to continue to bring people to their respective towns. They don’t want to see Amber and Monticello as sleeper, drive-through towns.

     Recent Monticello history shows young people, many who originally grew up in the area, having a passion for Monticello. This passion turns into locally-owned and successful businesses: Almost Famous and Bipsy & Bopsy Boutique, La Belle, Baked., The Jitney, Fancy Fritter, and now Diamond Pi Company. These business owners could have easily left Monticello upon graduating high school or going off to college. But, they saw more in their hometown and wanted to keep Monticello going, attracting people here.

     There are lots of small towns dotting the map of Iowa with downtown storefronts sitting vacant, untouched. Not Monticello. I feel we’re breaking the mold and the rare occasion where people actually want to raise their families and continue living here.

     There’s something for everyone: childcare options, financial institutions, employment, great schools (perhaps a new middle school soon), parks, outdoor recreation, stores/shops, grocery store, restaurants, night life, not to mention the close proximity to cities like Cedar Rapids and Dubuque.

     It’s hard for anyone, let alone a young adult, to risk opening and maintaining a business in a small town these days. And these stores cannot survive without patrons.

     While these business owners put their necks out to see to it that Monticello thrives, we must also patronize and support these businesses.

     Think of how Monticello would look if you drove up and down Main and First streets with empty storefronts, no one walking about from store to store, no reason to park and shop or eat downtown. It would be a rather sad image of Monticello.

     Now see it as it is today: Families meeting for lunch after church on Sundays. Kids riding their bikes home from the pool in the summer. Childcare facilities walking groups of kids to the public library for morning or afternoon programming. The busy lunch rush at any number of restaurants in town. Kids walking to a central school district campus before and after school. People pouring into stores on Saturday mornings to check out the latest selections of clothing.

     I am proud to see Monticello thrive, and continue to thrive with passionate business owners and passionate patrons and passionate local spirit.