Glendale, Kentucky, is the epitome of a small town. One railroad track drives straight beside Main Street, near the antique mall, Mountain Mike’s Coffee House, and the historic Whistle Stop family restaurant that I’m convinced has some of the best pie I’ve ever had (sorry, Mamaw). On a typical Saturday, you can wander under the sunshine with your family, take pictures near the flower beds behind the Mercantile store, walk down the road to the church on the corner and come back to realize you’ve visited the entire town by lunch.
However, during the Glendale Crossing Festival, more simply known as “Glendale Days,” expect every hour of the day to be filled. Annually on the third Saturday in October, more than 20,000 people visit Glendale for roughly 600 arts and crafts, antique, and food booths. W Railroad Ave gets blocked off, and New Glendale Road backs up from families pouring in so they can snag spots in makeshift parking lots created by residents.
I immensely enjoyed sitting on a wooden plank this year, eating a giant corn dog with my family. Allowing my rain boots to be squished through muddy grass as I hid from former high school classmates and gently pushed my mom away from yet another “it’s fall, y’all” sign also served as a highlight. And while I was not a fan of the large crowds, I recognized why events like “Glendale Days” are so important.
For the small businesses that run year-round in Glendale, this festival served as a vital time to keep their doors open. Last year, the festival got canceled from the COVID-19 pandemic, which took out a lot of profit families depend on to survive. The Country Gate, a home furnishing store, permanently shut its doors, as did a boutique located two doors down from the Mercantile. Having the festival in 2021 was to make up for lost money and lost time.
Our beloved city of Wilmore operates similarly. It’s a small town hosting community events with one railroad track and one central road downtown full of honest people trying to make a living. So why, as students living at a large institution a mere five-minute walk away, are we not investing more of our time and money where we know it will be more valued?
Convenience is the answer I hear most often. We live in a time where we desire everything, especially shopping, to be convenient. Buying something from a small business requires an effort to walk, an effort to interact with other human beings, an effort to spend a little more money than I would compare to Amazon. There I don’t have to leave my dorm room. There I only communicate with a computer as I type in my card information. There I can get fifty scrunchies for the price one would cost here in Wilmore. But do you even realize where your money goes in that case?
It goes to a multi-billion dollar company that focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. A company whose CEO’s wealth grew by about $70 billion during a global pandemic and whose warehouse workers suffer from doubled severe injury rates, the Washington Post reported through Occupational Health and Safety Administration data, compared to warehouses run by other companies.
Compare that to the gentleman who used to own a woodworking shop on the corner in Wilmore, who worked long hours and poured everything he had into creating unique art like Harry Potter wands only for his business to shut down. When I met him as a freshman at Asbury, exploring the town for the first time with some of my TAG friends, he never even pressured us to buy anything – though he needed the money.
“We just love having students like you from Asbury come see us,” his wife told us with a smile. I still regret not stopping by more often.
Not to mention, there is such a bigger heart in towns such as Wilmore that make you feel like the protagonist in a Hallmark movie. Business owners and citizens get to know you, and you get to know them, even if you never buy anything. Just showing your support by walking the street during the Saturday morning farmer’s market, following the businesses on social media, and not being afraid of having an actual conversation with actual people makes the city come alive.
Being at Asbury means being a part of Wilmore, too. The city supports us by hanging our signs in their windows, offering spaces for bible studies to meet, and locations to make projects and short films. Drinklings Coffee and Mugs provides great study spots and liquid gold to keep us alive during finals. The Olive Branch and Shades of Bluegrass offer us beautiful gifts to bring home for the holidays, and the Local Confectionery gives us the best sweet treats to celebrate making it this far with our closest friends.
Coming up soon, Wilmore gives us a chance to support them. Treats on Main (Oct. 30), Veterans Day Parade (Nov. 6), Window Painting on Main (Nov. 19-20), Shop Small Business Week (Nov. 26-Dec. 4), and Wilmore’s Old Fashioned Musical Christmas serve as opportunities for you and me to foster further the community that we always hear preached in Chapel. Because what hypocrites we become when we preach one thing and do another. It’s time for the words to stop being just words — support the small businesses that support you.
