Street Talk

Thanks To All Who Made The Town Shine

By Alexe van Beuren

The Watermelon Carnival is the Chamber’s event, but from the W.V.M.S.A.’s viewpoint, it sure looked like a success. The food was good, the music even better, and the rock-climbing wall was – at least in my husband’s eyes –inspired. Thanks to the Chamber for hosting such a fun weekend for us all.

My farmers at the Farmers’ Market also enjoyed the weekend. For one thing, Wilbur Herring sold his wife’s fried pie prices for $2 a piece and felt pretty pleased with himself until someone came by and reported that a vendor at the Carnival was charging $4!

Let’s hope that the weekend’s visitors swelled the coffers of our Main Street merchants as well. All of y’all did such a great job with your window displays; they were truly enjoyable and very welcoming.

Wasn’t it great to see the new front of the Water Valley Dance Company’s building? Despite a shipping delay, owners Mickey Howley and Annette Trefzer managed to get their building’s front up in time for the Carnival. It looks magnificent.

But perhaps the biggest news on Main Street last week was the opening of a new store, Lilly Bell’s.

This very fun boutique stocks a great selection of antiques, jewelry, clothes, and one of the most beautiful antique doors I’ve ever seen.

Karen van Winkle is the shop’s owner. Having run Sue’s Rummage in Oxford for quite a time, she is experienced at the retail trade, and our downtown is lucky to have her.

Since we at the W.V.M.S.A. are always trying to figure out what Water Vallians want and need, we are conducting weekly polls on our website. Last week’s asked site visitors about what new features they’d like to see on Main Street: a movie theater, another sit-down restaurant, streetscape improvements like trees, benches, and water fountains, or all of the above.

The majority voted for all of the above– myself included! It’d be great to leave the baby with a sitter and stroll downtown for dinner and a movie. (After all, it’s happened in downtown Water Valley before.)

If you’re cruising the web, make sure to stop by watervalleymainstreet.com and vote in this week’s poll. We post a new one every Friday.

I hope everyone has a restful and rejuvenating week. Thanks to all who worked so hard to make our town shine.