|
|
|
Most stories the Times publishes to crookstontimes.com don’t generate a lot in the way of a reaction. Well, readers might react to them internally and like what’s in the story or dislike it, but the vast majority of readers aren’t going to reach the point where they actually post an online comment in reaction to the story. The same goes for the stories that we post to the Times’ Facebook page every day. A story might get a “Like” or two, but rarely does anyone post a comment.
But when the Times published a very short story – only around four paragraphs in length – a couple weeks ago about apparent interest among more than one potential local group of people in building a new restaurant/sports bar in town, the reaction was different. Craig Hoiseth, the executive director of CHEDA, talked a little bit in the story about some groups he’d been working with who wanted to build a restaurant/sports bar, and suddenly some readers were more than willing to comment.
Why? Because they want a new restaurant/sports bar here. They want another dining option. They want another drinking option. They want another atmosphere option.
When you really think about it, Crookston has several dining options. There’s all the fast food downtown, there’s RBJ’s Restaurant, the Irishman’s Shanty, El Metate, University Station at America’s Best Value Inn. There are Domino’s, Happy Joe’s, and Mugoos at I.C. Muggs, too.
But there’s no Applebees. OK, there we said it. Now can we move on? Crookston is not going to get an Applebees, and do we really want a cookie-cutter franchise “neighborhood grill and bar” such as Applebees, anyway? Or do we want something that is Crookston’s and Crookston’s alone?
Crookston’s too small to get anything like an Applebees anyway, and the franchise fees that franchise owners must pay for an Applebees and others of the same ilk are prohibitive to a local group having the necessary financing to actually make something happen.
There will be no criticism of any of our local establishments in this editorial. They all do what they do and they have their niche. But here’s the deal: If a youth hockey team or basketball team or some other group wants to go somewhere in Crookston, and some of the adults maybe want to have a beer while the kids order their chicken strips, then they need to know before they walk in the door that all of that is going to be available to them inside. No question. If it’s not, and they have to walk back to their vehicles and leave town hungry, know that they will tell others about their less than positive experience.
Let’s see where this goes. If it goes nowhere, so be it. But let’s hope it goes somewhere. If we can be home to four auto parts stores, we can certainly handle a new restaurant/sports bar, can we not? Let’s get past the defeatist attitude that permeates Crookston sometimes and realize that we can, and deserve, to get some cool, new things sometimes.
Most stories the Times publishes to crookstontimes.com don’t generate a lot in the way of a reaction. Well, readers might react to them internally and like what’s in the story or dislike it, but the vast majority of readers aren’t going to reach the point where they actually post an online comment in reaction to the story. The same goes for the stories that we post to the Times’ Facebook page every day. A story might get a “Like” or two, but rarely does anyone post a comment.
But when the Times published a very short story – only around four paragraphs in length – a couple weeks ago about apparent interest among more than one potential local group of people in building a new restaurant/sports bar in town, the reaction was different. Craig Hoiseth, the executive director of CHEDA, talked a little bit in the story about some groups he’d been working with who wanted to build a restaurant/sports bar, and suddenly some readers were more than willing to comment.
Why? Because they want a new restaurant/sports bar here. They want another dining option. They want another drinking option. They want another atmosphere option.
When you really think about it, Crookston has several dining options. There’s all the fast food downtown, there’s RBJ’s Restaurant, the Irishman’s Shanty, El Metate, University Station at America’s Best Value Inn. There are Domino’s, Happy Joe’s, and Mugoos at I.C. Muggs, too.
But there’s no Applebees. OK, there we said it. Now can we move on? Crookston is not going to get an Applebees, and do we really want a cookie-cutter franchise “neighborhood grill and bar” such as Applebees, anyway? Or do we want something that is Crookston’s and Crookston’s alone?
Crookston’s too small to get anything like an Applebees anyway, and the franchise fees that franchise owners must pay for an Applebees and others of the same ilk are prohibitive to a local group having the necessary financing to actually make something happen.
There will be no criticism of any of our local establishments in this editorial. They all do what they do and they have their niche. But here’s the deal: If a youth hockey team or basketball team or some other group wants to go somewhere in Crookston, and some of the adults maybe want to have a beer while the kids order their chicken strips, then they need to know before they walk in the door that all of that is going to be available to them inside. No question. If it’s not, and they have to walk back to their vehicles and leave town hungry, know that they will tell others about their less than positive experience.
Let’s see where this goes. If it goes nowhere, so be it. But let’s hope it goes somewhere. If we can be home to four auto parts stores, we can certainly handle a new restaurant/sports bar, can we not? Let’s get past the defeatist attitude that permeates Crookston sometimes and realize that we can, and deserve, to get some cool, new things sometimes.
