Everyone should lace up their running shoes because it is that time of year when the calendar pages just keep turning faster and there is so much going on that we meet ourselves coming and going.
Of course, first and foremost, this week is the 48th annual Cheese Festival, but this year it has the added attraction of the Plains Collective including Indigenous art, food and fashion. Discussion panels will cover the complicated relationship between we late comers and those who were here to meet us.
The organizers of the festival have said the vendor spaces are full, the parade is close and there are food trucks galore set to descend on us for the weekend.
Not to mention it is Homecoming at Watonga. There will of course be a parade for that, and a demonstration of Native dance at halftime.
Things for the long term are speeding up, too. The candidates are starting to pile up for various political races coming next year as well as the reopening of the Diamondback Correctional Facility which is expected to need 400 employees.
No matter how you feel about detaining migrants, those employees are going to need places to live (if they move here) as well as places to eat. They are going to have to purchase fuel if they commute. At least some of their income will remain in our community.
Let’s not forget the facility will be purchasing more electricity from the city. That added income can further our town’s work on aging infrastructure. It could translate into lower power costs for residents. When the municipal sewage plant comes online, anticipated about the same time as the facility is expected to be populated, that will provide another income source for the town.
And it isn’t just the town. The county will benefit from increased property taxes. Both will see the income from sales and use taxes levied on everything used at the facility whether it comes from local shops or is brought in by the semi load from other sources.
Is the area going to be rolling in the dough, with more money than it can spend? I doubt it. But there may be enough new income to help spur interest in development. Perhaps our roads can get a facelift. What about a new fast-food restaurant? A housing developer who is willing to consider a subdivision here?
I don’t believe any community wants to be known for a prison facility or detention center. No one really wants to benefit from someone else’s heartbreak, to prosper for all the wrong reasons.
But something has to give, to go our way in Watonga and Blaine County if we expect to hold the 50th annual Watonga Cheese Festival.