Dear Du Quoin
My wife Linda and I recently spent an enjoyable evening at Ye Olde Country Shoppe in Downtown Du Quoin. It was the Saturday evening of the Nubability Camp, and campers and their families were taking in the town. The father of one camper, who was enjoying an ice cream cone like us, came up to me and began complimenting me on our town - how neat and attractive the downtown is, and how hospitable and friendly everyone had been to him and his family.
His praise of our community was effusive and sincere. I told him what an incredible job the Kuhnert family and an army of volunteers had done in planning, launching, and conducting such an inspirational program. Likewise, all of southern Illinois has been inspired by the monumental courage and ingenuity the Nubability campers and their families.
We had spent one last Tuesday evening listening to the Swamp Tigers and their rockabilly music at the concluding Summer Concert in the Park at Keyes City Park. There must have been 400 people in attendance, all enjoying a beautiful evening in the park. One enthusiast said to me "This is what living in a small town is all about!" How blessed we have been that Dane Mason has planned and organized these wonderful concerts for two summers!
With the Du Quoin State Fair just around the corner, we have another chance to enjoy all that our community has to offer, as well as to fulfill our shared obligation to further extend true Du Quoin hospitality to fair visitors. That sense of hospitality and warmth should be ingrained in us by now, as much a part of the Du Quoin DNA as red and black on a Friday night.
The opportunities abound year round here. The horse shows, Street Machines, Nubability Camp, the Summer Concert Series, the Du Quoin State Fair, and the Holiday Lights all attract visitors to our community. During those events, I always - always! - hear others compliment and thank Du Quoin.
It's a bit ironic because we who call Du Quoin home sometimes have a more undeservedly negative perception. We can be our own worst critics. Perhaps it's true that familiarity might breed some contempt. I'm hopeful that I am able to convey to you the impressions those from out of town share with me. I guarantee you the naysayers would change their tune if they could hear what I hear.
I'm guilty of this myself on occasion. I'll get weighed down with problems around town, and even get a little down in the dumps. I feel a bit like Charlie Brown in a recent Peanuts cartoon. Having lost another baseball game, Charlie Brown retreated to his room and sat alone with the lights off, pondering his misfortunes in the dark. Finally, he observes that you can't see anything when the lights are out.
Charlie Brown is right, and I, too, have to turn on the lights and remember all that our town has to offer. We in Du Quoin are blessed with wonderful, productive, hard-working citizens, dozens of whom contribute their valuable time and talents to add to the quality of life here. It's those citizens who make Du Quoin such an exceptional place.
I don't know of another community of our size in the nation that has a facility like the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds next to it. The areas surrounding town are a mecca for those who love the outdoors. New schools, a nearly new hospital, a growth-oriented industrial park - well, I could go on and on, but you get the picture. We have a lot to brag about and to appreciate. Sometimes we just need to be reminded - to have the lights turned on for us.
As the summer wraps up with the Du Quoin State Fair, I ask each of you to make sure our guests in town are welcomed, their needs met, questions answered, and thanked for their visits. Tourism is such an important industry for Du Quoin. Those external dollars spent locally are what keep many of our small businesses operating and their employees paid. Hospitality - even if it is in the form of a simple smile and warm welcome - goes a long way toward ensuring that our guests choose to return year after year.