Winter is over!

Spring is here!

It’s time to get out and…

Springtime is a time to establish some new habits. Most of us are longing to be in the warmth of the sun and inhale fresh air.

Here in Wilmington, we are in the middle of the annual North Carolina Azalea Festival. This long-standing tradition, since 1948, has blossomed into a city-wide event but the early roots probably has some similarities to its original debut 71 years ago!

In this tech-centric society most seem to be spending more and more time indoors. Many of us do our shopping online. And although convenient, it does cause one to be a bit more introverted than perhaps one should be. Many communities plan events to attract tourism but it also is a time to bring people out of their homes and into the streets, literally! I wrote about this in a prior blog, Going Local, if you feel like reading it.

Many events revolve around long held traditions like the NC Azalea Festival and some events have a totally new spin like the recent Coffee Crawl here in Wilmington. The extra traffic might be a bit annoying, but if you embrace it as a means of promoting your home-town, you’ll likely feel a sense of pride and community that perhaps wasn’t there before.

My cousin in Norway has a fun blog and she recently wrote about a knitting shop in her hometown of Kristiansand, Norway. There she is able to see, touch and feel yarn and imagine what she will create. As she mentioned in mybohemianlife.co, if the local shops are gone, so are the towns.

During my recent trip to Petaluma, California, I was speaking with a women in a shop about retail, the cost of rent and such, and she mentioned that the only places that seem to do well is food, beer and wine establishments. If you think about it, other than groceries, that is about the only “thing” that can’t be duplicated online! We go out to eat to enjoy and meal and a beverage and people. Although many are cooking at home, which is great fun, the only thing that can’t be replicated online is gathering! But if our towns are just restaurants and bars, how fun will that be?

I encourage you to get out and shop locally. Even if it costs a bit more. It really makes a difference and I want our cities and towns to be more than just food and alcohol establishments, not that there is anything wrong with that. ;)

So, as spring has sprung and communities are planning events to lure tourists and locals out of the woodwork and into the streets, put on your walking shoes or your Easter bonnet and stroll to the event and participate with your community. I don’t doubt you’ll feel a certain sense of pride and you’ll enjoy the people watching along the way.

So get out and celebrate the season of rebirth through events in your community and local houses of worship!