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Letter To The Editor
Author: Bill Garwood

Letter to the Editor:

Our town, Townsend, MT, is trying to survive and grow. At the same time, we are shooting ourselves in the foot, weekly! How you say? I’m glad you asked.

With the summer months in full swing, we have many tourists and folks locally from surrounding areas coming to visit our great city. Our biggest problem? Businesses are short on people who actually want to work!

Everyone who works and needs to make a living, especially those who are trying to keep their businesses open, is having a rough time finding reliable folks to show up and do a day’s work. Take a walk / drive downtown on a Monday morning. No Restaurants are open! I have talked with local people who are just looking to get a cup of coffee or a mid-morning snack. If they don’t wish to go into a Bar, they are out of luck.

Even Tuesdays, there are few places that are open “regularly” that can be relied on to be open most days. One local restaurant has closed, soon to be replaced. Broadway on Mondays is a ghost town, and not the fun kind. As the week goes on, you can see many people walking around looking for places to shop. They really like our special town, but are having a hard time trying to guess when businesses will be open. When they do find a place to eat, are there people to wait on them?

When all our places of business ARE open, they are short-staffed. WHY? There are plenty of jobs available, many folks “don’t like working in food service.” Tough! Do they like eating, themselves? Do they like having a roof over their heads? Over many years, I have seen small towns fade away; they don’t provide services that people want to use. Local and tourists. Empty storefronts are the death of small towns!

We loved retiring here, 14 years ago. Still do, PLEASE find workers to keep your businesses open. People without a job- make yourself not only available, but able to be relied upon to do the work. Towns can grow too much, become “citified,” and drive locals away!

Townsend, MT has great festivals, parades, etc. These are wonderful, but our day-to-day businesses need to be welcoming. Please find ways to hire and be open for visitors to our great town. Don’t make me call in the Military.

Great talking with you all again. Stay well.

Bill Garwood

Townsend