This Saturday the Southtown Business Association unfurls its first-ever Family Fun Festival. There’ll be giveaways and activities for the kids. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’ll all be good, we’re sure.
Stepping back, though, we’re just glad to see the positive changes underway in this sometimes overlooked shopping strip along South Oak Park Avenue from Lexington to Van Buren.
The festival represents the comeback of the local business association, a group which has spiked and flat-lined multiple times over challenging recent decades. The current incarnation feels like an organic flowering among some genuine entrepreneurs who see the value of a shared identity.
This newspaper, our readers and the village government sometimes seem obsessed with developments in the downtown area. That’s understandable given the stakes involved. But it shouldn’t keep us from noting successes and challenges elsewhere.
In the past couple of years, stalwarts on the street — Westgate Flowers, Starvin’ Artists, Kuba Jewelers, Green Home Experts, Avenue Ale House, Oak Park Women’s Exchange, Tan Travel, Hole in the Wall, Alt-Care, Russo’s Auto, and, of course, Pan’s Foods — have been joined by interesting upstarts, which have added a destination feeling to the area. Kinderhook Tap, Sen Sushi, and the Yova coffee shop give reason for considerable optimism that Southtown is rebounding.