So I've run off with my wife since we've got a week of kidlessness and weren't able to celebrate our anniversary last month with everything going on. We choose a town not much bigger than our own to visit. Yes, we go to Austin, Dallas, New Orleans, Houston and San Antonio sometimes, but when we want to get away, we generally pick some place small to visit.
This time wasn't far, and it wasn't new to us either. We went to visit our friends Skip and Kate at 2 Wee Cottages up in Fredericksburg. If you ever want a fantastic get away then I would recommend going to visit them. Along with all the privacy you can mustard up, you're blocks from the center of town. You have your own cottage, with a hot tub I might add. But it's not just that, it's the food fairy that visits often. You leave to take a stroll downtown and some succulent delight could be awaiting you when you return. Then at night time your morning breakfast is scurried over to awake you. If you can wait till breakfast to eat the steaming hot delights your taste buds will never quite be the same. We only make it about 1/2 the time till morning to eat breakfast. If you call to make reservations mention my name and Skip and Kate will take care of you (she will anyway, but she generally has a something extra waiting for you when you are referred)
But I digress.
So we run over to Fredericksburg, a town that is less that 2000 larger than we are. My suspicions are that during the months between summer and the start of hunting season this place is less than Gonzales in size. Another words, without transient residence they are no bigger than we are.
As we drove the streets this weekend, and even this Monday, they are packed. There are no parking spaces downtown, and the stores are all hustling and bustling with business. So I asked myself, why can't we become the next Fredericksburg.
You know the place people want to come, and visit and shop around. To come stay at the B & Bs and spend 2, 3, 4 or even more nights in our city.
So I looked long and hard at downtown where most of the action is. Here's what I saw.
1) I see restaurants. Yes there are the obligatory German restaurants, but there are many others. You want a good, and I mean good steak, it's here! I can think of at least 2 restaurants that you could get a good steak at The Navajo Grill or the Cabernet Grill will fill that bill for you. You want a good home cooked meal. No problem, how about Wheelers or Andys? You want sandwiches? Guess what, they are here too. It's not all one type of restaurant that makes this place tick. And yet somehow they play upon their ethnicity to make the place thrive. Don't we have a huge Czech and Spanish background in our city? And for the record they have liquor by the drink available at the nicer establishments.
2) I see businesses that are open, and supporting the community. But they don't stop there. There isn't many of the places we went to that didn't have a huge internet presence. Chocolat ships around the world. They don't rely purely on local business. The Olive Shop is no different. Their store front is small, but they don't care. What the store provides is an outlet to their internet business. Amish furniture, toys, jewelry, Christmas ornaments and everything else here is for sale on the internet. So the business comes to town without ever leaving the comfort of their home. Now I've spoken to at least one business owner in town that would like to have a web presence, but thinks his brother in law can do it. That's small town thinking! You're competing against the world now, so you have to think that way. Yes, it will cost you, but your ROI has unlimited possibilities if you find that niche.
3) I see a Chamber that is pushing the town in a manner which draws people near. They have billed it as a quaint little town to come visit. It's something the entire town has gotten behind and built. Now we could go multiple ways with our backgrounds. A great Czech town or the best Hacienda you'll ever visit. Either way works, but we have to pick one and go with it. And not just for this year, it will take time to get the word out, but it will.
4) I see a city where the roads are maintained in town, trash is picked up, and overall there is an air of inviting anyone that would like to visit.
So my questions is why can't we? Why is it that Gonzales couldn't have the social economic environment that Fredericksburg has brought to the county? Are we just so small in our thinking that we can't realize that the stagnation that is occurring will only kill our little town? You can not stand still like so many have told me they want. You are either moving forward or you're moving backwards. It's just the facts.
So am I just missing all the town hall meetings asking why are we not moving forward? Why have so many businesses in downtown closed down? Why we can't seem to get a real and consistent flow of outsiders to our quaint little town? We're not talking about spending $5,000,000 in tax payers money, we're talking about encouraging business to thrive in our community. We're talking about showing them how to make a living selling the specialties they have to the rest of the world. We have so many great ideas in Gonzales, and it seems like we just can't get them going.
So my question is why can't we? Why can't we build up to have the same pull as so many others have before us?
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
So how long did you stay to be able to find out that many things about Fredricksburg? Sounds nice, how much did you spend total in the town of Fredricksburg including the cottage and restuarants, etc. so the readers can compare and see what Gonzales is missing out on in revenue for businesses and our own local bed and breakfast's.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that compering Gonzales to other towns is a good thing. Fritztown is very unique and very different than Gonzales. I think we can learn some things from other towns (dont reinvent the wheel). However we still need to have out own identity that would seperate us from other places. Thats why people go to fritztown.
ReplyDeleteWhat we, as a city, are doing now is NOT working. We have more vacant buildings down town than ever and I have lived here my whole life. Its evident that we do not have an clue or idea of how to "step it up" around here, so we have to get ideas from somewhere. And to do that we have to compile a list of similar towns and how they attract visitors. We are not trying to copy, immulate or mirror another town, just trying to make this city grow. I want to live here the rest of my life and would like my children to come back here as well, but unless something changes significantly, they will not be able to make a living here.
ReplyDeletewell first off, the business's need to spend some money to make the outside of their buildings look appealing. Signs are so faded you don't know if the business is open or signs left from now closed business's. The downtown at least ( maybe all of town) need to learn to get along and decide what they want to promote and form a plan that they're unified in and go for it. If we had a "plan" that everyone knew about decisions could be made based on that plan instead of just made willy-nilly as the wind blows. Reviving the downtown won't happen overnight, but slow and steady would be a start in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteYou can paint all the downtown as pretty as it can be, but until the entrances to Gonzales are cleaned up, junk yards forced out, and the grass mowed no one will be interested in going to such an ugly town. But that will never happen, Gonzales is afraid to change. Always been ugly , will always stay ugly.
ReplyDeleteSorry, been catching up since we've been back.
ReplyDeleteFirst don't get me wrong, we should not become the next Fredericksburg. We need to become the next Gonzales! But someone is right, we can't reinvent the wheel. There are some basics that ever little community that invites tourism has in common.
They have a nice downtown. Doesn't matter the size of the town. Look at San Antonio and their river walk area. Fredericksburg and their 8 blocks of shopping. New Orleans and The French Quarters. Corpus and their beach. I could go on and on. But every community that does the tourism has a section that is inviting to others.
We already have a great section of town for that. Our 2 squares are unique and if properly filled would be a mecca for Gonzales. But we have no real focus.
Our GEDC and GADC (I hope I got those 2 right) are looking to bring business to town and are probably the closest things we have to a focus group. But we need someone to take the current business, and future business and work this out.
We need a community to step up and make a difference. And as one of you said, this is NOT going to happen over night. But the sooner we start the sooner we will get there.
As for how long we stayed, we went Friday through Tuesday. How much? Our entire summer vacation money.
But again, almost everything we found we found through internet. My wife would go online and Google whatever it was she heard about, saw, or wanted and presto we were on our way. I'd say it's the way of the future, but it's the way of the right now, and we're behind!
God Bless,
Dennis
I live in the country but I have worked in town for the last 8 years. I disagree that Gonzales is an ugly town. I love driving into Gonzales every morning over the river bridge. The JBWells arena is so nice. Circle G and Docs are much nicer than what was there before. The baseball parks, soccer field and golf coarse are much better than when we first moved here 15 years ago... The main problem that I see happens once you enter the city limits. The roadsides need to be cleaned up and some the of shacks torn down. The squares are taken care of but the businesses surrounding the squares have no consistancy. Storey Jewelers has a great storefront, but look across the street and there is an empty business with awning fabric torn away and flapping in the breeze. The block where Ara Brothers and Morrou are is so unapealing...Greg's is at least trying to better the block.
ReplyDeleteI think we have a potentially fabulous town! We have the buildings here to make it a great little town. And you're right, compared to 15 years ago (I got here about the same time) the south side has improved.
ReplyDeleteIt's the little things that matter though. Those awnings that are torn. The buildings that need a washing. The ones that need a paint job or some repairs. The streets, let's not get me started on the streets.
You know it's like the other day I told my son to clean the bathroom. He swept and mopped and 'was done'. When I went in there all I saw were the 4-5 pieces of trash that were around the toilet. For the most part the bathroom really was cleaned, but we by nature see those things out of place. So it's not the 10 nice houses the visitors see, it's the one trashy one in the middle of them. etc etc etc.
I can't think of another town in 50 miles that has any more potential than Gonzales in hospitality, growth, and opportunities, but we have to start paying attention to the details and helping each other out.
God Bless,
Dennis