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Here’s a very curated list of places you can go for a Millennial pink experience of Sauble. Why even come at all if this is what you’re coming for?
Frankly, I’m surprised the Tobermory Brewery even lives up to the standards set by this crew. #thread https://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2021/05/08/the-chic-moteliers-guide-to-where-to-dine-drink-and-shop-in-sauble-beach.html">https://www.thestar.com/life/trav...
Frankly, I’m surprised the Tobermory Brewery even lives up to the standards set by this crew. #thread https://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2021/05/08/the-chic-moteliers-guide-to-where-to-dine-drink-and-shop-in-sauble-beach.html">https://www.thestar.com/life/trav...
I now realize why when I provided a list to @Chatelaine back in the day of my fav spots in Grey Bruce it was so problematic. But also, even then I knew the importance of shouting out to places that have been institutions and are integral to the community.
But when you’re new and don’t attempt to get to know the wider community, you can’t know this. The Garage Clothing, Jack & Jill’s, Sola’s Grill (Lobby’s) - those are the places that have endured. Businesses like that are cornerstones in rural towns.
I didn’t write the book on how to move to a rural town & start a business. I’m sure we’re making many mistakes. But there’s some things that make me so mad with these stories.
1) this idea that these places are now worth visiting because these people from away have opened businesses that look like those in the city. This has always been a place with worth & value. We moved back here because it’s the only place that is “home” to me.
And there’s awesome businesses already here. You just have to take the time to get to know them & yah, maybe you have to travel outside your town now & then. But that’s also part of the charm and why we’re all a little invested in each other’s success.
2) there never seems to be a community connection. You can add to community AND be part of it. The people here are amazing and they want you to succeed but not if you ignore them or talk like they’re less than.
When we opened up, we shouted out to many of the fellow business owners who had helped us or had paved the way before us. We had a social media platform and decided to share a little of it.
3) this brand and type of business only furthers the gap in understanding between rural & urban people. Visitors to The June aren’t likely to interact with many “locals” or get a real sense of what living in the Bruce today is really like.
They will spend a weekend next to the pool or beach, shopping for expensive sarongs & soap brought in from PEC, eating lobster flown in from the coast.
They will never experience our amazing local beef, buying produce from an Amish farm stand, or a Legion fish fry or melt-in-your mouth peameal on a bun in an old jail cell, next to a couple tradespeople grabbing their morning coffee. (I see I think food when I think Bruce County)
They will see or hear none of what makes this such a wonderful place to live and call home. That may be what irks me the most. And yet maybe it doesn’t matter. Since real estate is getting snapped up so quick, clearly there’s people who do think it’s wonderful.
I hope they appreciate what makes these places so wonderful is the people and how they come together to form the community. There’s a lot of things we do in these communities as volunteers that urbanites probably don’t realize.
And that’s it. That’s my thread.. I’ve kinda lost my steam but I’m happy to get this out. It’s been building up inside me for weeks I feel. /end
