Well, summer is here and we thankfully are getting more and more tourists, friends and family coming to visit.
I have spoken to more than a few of these people, and they represent a varied background. We have folks from the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia and even Canada that come through town while they tour the North Thompson Valley.
Those that stop in Barriere for more than just gas, have good things to say about how friendly our residents are, as well as how busy and growing our town is.
Kudos to those of you that have made this happen. I am not just talking about those of us that are in the business of serving the public, but to people like the five-year-old boy that I saw struggling to hold open the door for the elderly couple behind him at the gas station.
I thought they were his grandparents, but they told me they didn’t know him. They did think it was nice though that he bothered to help. The gentleman told me “You just don’t see much of that anymore.”
This is what our town is all about. This is a nice place to live. By working at showing that off to new people, we will all benefit by having our community grow and be sustainable.
There are many things happening here that some of us do not notice. We get busy going to work and caring for our families to stop and see what is new.
Things like the new Subway and site improvements down at the Esso station. The new Irly Bird store being built on the highway. The new addition to the IDA. The commercial lots being created along the highway. The new vehicle repair facility being built on Hall Road.
We may even fail to notice the new houses that are being built all over town.
None of these projects are free. All of these projects required large financial outlay, and a good amount of faith by the owners and builders that their efforts will bear fruit.
As a community we need to do all we can to provide an environment that will insure success for our small businesses and a lifestyle that is welcoming to all that come here.
Too many communities fall into the trap of the “woe is me” syndrome. The residents say there is nothing here that is any good, the town is dead and work hard to make it that way.
Sadly, they are successful more times than not.
Unfortunately we do have residents here that say they hate it here and want to move. They go around putting everything down and telling everyone their views on how bad things are. They go on and on about all the stupid things council has done, and lament that Barriere was ever incorporated. They do this while walking around the Fadear Park oval that was only made possible because we did incorporate.
They go on and on about how they cannot sell their house because the town is such a mess, yet they never even take the time to properly mow their own grass or care for the boulevard.
When asked about this, they rant that the town should care for the boulevard since they pay taxes.
Did they not pay taxes to the TNRD in the past? Was the boulevard taken care of by anyone then? No, is the answer to that.
These people are their own worst enemies. The problem is that their bitter negativity causes grief for others. If you were looking for a home here in Barriere would you want to live next to someone that never has a good word about anything, and is willing to make sure nothing improves?
It is these nay sayers that kill towns just with their negative attitude. They do a better job of destroying things than a lack of jobs, bad infrastructure and major fires.
We can work together to fix our water lines, build more houses, repair things that need it and draw people here. All that and more is easily done if we work together.
There is no fixing stupid. We need to eliminate it.