MAIN-taining

Main Street a few blocks north and south of Broadway has evolved into a hub of hipness so mainstream it has lost some of its hard-earned edginess - and has inevitably acquired the flash flood of corporate chain and condo development dredging...
And yet on a sunny fall weekend during another one of its frequent street festivals - SHIFT? SHRIFT? SIFT?? - the essence of the Main of yore faded in and out of my consciousness, like an old movie that hasn't quite finished unreeling...

[note the new incongruous TIM HORTONS (in the above window's reflection) now ensconced in the cool old marble and glass bank building on the southwest corner of Broadway and Main]

[glue-splotch pattern left after the sign was taken down when the store had to close from damages of a fire next door and a few over]

[during the street festival, the resident of this apartment posted this heartfelt note that was barely visible from the street below - no one paid any attention by turning the music down!]

[where the fire had started and razed, now waiting for a new configuration of commerce]

[but gracious living still goes on around the corner...*]

*more images of the WENONAH in my next post...