As a resident of Penticton since 2006, a year or so prior to the economic downturn, I have sadly been witness to many small businesses closing their doors, with no intention of reopening again.
During one particularly hard winter, I must have seen a cluster of five or six storefronts, within a radius of one city block, close up shop and leave the area to resemble that of ghost village.
Most of these spaces are now inhabited again, but for how long?
Let’s face it, we are all affected by the residual after shocks of events like these. Whether we were in business to supply these failed operations with goods and services, or we were at one time loyal patrons. The fact of the matter is, we cannot sit back and expect our local business community can survive without the support of us, the residents and beneficiaries of these establishments.
I, for one, can only look in the mirror and ask myself this one question:
Apart from the occasional trip the local fast food outfit (some of these are good and I’m not knocking them) when was the last time I took my family out to dinner at a local restaurant?
Understandably, it is often too expensive and inconvenient to pack up and attempt to sit through a meal in a restaurant with rambunctious children. However, many of the dining facilities in the city not only are very good, but also well equipped to handle noisy families like ours.
They are professionals in every aspect of their service, and are well worth the time and money invested in an experience at their operations.
So, that’s it. As a resolution for the new year, we have decided as a family to start a “dinning out fund”, consisting of a jar on the kitchen table, where each one of us can participate and throw in a few shekels here and there, whenever we can.
At the end of each month, the kids can count up the “booty”, and we’ll use it to go out for dinner at a different restaurant or café that month.
Sure, some months we’ll have accumulated enough for a full dinner and dessert, and other months maybe just dessert, but what better way to support our local restaurant community — spend one less day per month in front of the TV and get mom away from the stove for one night. What if other families did the same?
Imagine the impact it would make on our local economy, if 15 to 20 families dined out each month, at a restaurant within our city limits. That would help the owner/operator hang on to their part-time staff through the winter months, so that in the days leading up to the busy season, finding staff is one less thing they have to worry about.
I think this is one of the most beautiful places to live anywhere, with some of the most talented people in the world working just down the street from us, and I would like to see these people stay and flourish here for a long time. After all isn’t Penticton “A place to live forever”?
So now, it’s my turn to do my part and offer my own “economic stimulus package”, and at the same time, experience some of the best dining that Penticton has to offer. I’ll see you in the dining rooms and cafés of this great city. Table for five please.
Simon P. Kelly
Penticton