Defying my own expectation, I got out of the house yesterday. On his way out of town, Big E dropped me off on a major bus route so I could get downtown without griping about our Saturday bus schedule.
I cruised through the Farmer's Market buying carbs (and the occasional bit of produce). Oh glorious food!
Then I moved across downtown to the Saturday Market. The Saturday Market is a huge (HUGE!) outdoor marketplace. I visited my friend Tonya briefly, but Oh My! it was crowded.
So, this is the thing about our little/big town:
both of the temporary markets I visited were bustling in an overloaded capacity, but the brick and mortar businesses in downtown were empty. Echoingly empty. This is great for our independent people, but so much of our city's economy depends on big time retail.. it's worrying.
So in a purely economically stimulating capacity, I stopped in the art supply store downtown and put some cash into the system.
Ahem. It was virtuous... sort of.