THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR - CHANGE IS OCCURRING - LIKE IT OR LOATHE IT, THERE'S NO STOPPING IT -

No matter how big the shortfall of optimism in this town, about business improvements on the main street, the reality is that new interest is flourishing, and just because it doesn't play-out, or get front page exposure in the local press, isn't the grand determination of its existence. The renewal of Gravenhurst's main street is coming, and as with all change, as profound as this will be, it will come at a weighty price, and it will claim a goodly number of casualties during the transition. That's just life and the evolution of daily business enterprise, successive decades, half-century milestones, and ongoing centennials, bicentennials etc. etc. Despite what may seem nothing more than a dim twinkle at the end of the tunnel, is closer and more explosive than it appears…….and investors are seeing something much brighter down the pike.

This isn't grand expectation, or the manifestation of an over-active imagination. It's what experience in urban re-development tells us. We are at an age of architecture, on our main street, that demands either serious refurbishing of all the buildings, or hardcore, aggressive renewal. It's certainly not something confined to our little burg. It is a world-wide situation. We need not sacrifice the character of our historic town, to modernize and facilitate the rigors of the future market-place in Muskoka. The biggest failure of all, is to have our leadership, miss opportunities to improve, because of short-sightedness, and stubborn adherence to old tired standards, that have lost their dynamic, to make money…..and of this I mean "profit."