The Excellent Logging Town Of Hoquiam Recognizes The Past And Heads For The Water

Small towns sort of have minds of their own. The way a town grows and develops through the years is certainly the result of many conscious actions by its members, but also the result of many, many small decisions made everyday by its population. The town may well end up far from where it started, and hopefully it is always becoming what its community wants. But sometimes, real decisions must be made, and that's never easy.

A small town with a lot on its mind is Hoquiam, Washington. The Pacific Northwest town in Grays Harbor was born a lumber town, its economy growing from the forests all around it. Today it keeps an eye on its past with a variety of events — such as the internationally recognized Loggers' Playday as well as annual fall logging competitions and parades. Where it goes from here is the big question, though.

What to Do with All That Water

Some big changes are proposed for Hoquiam's waterfront area. The Hoquiam River runs through the city's downtown before emptying into Grays Harbor, making the area ripe with potential as a place to visit, for locals and tourists alike. A gem of a waterfront had profound positive effects on the economies of both San Antonio and Baltimore. Done right, a waterfront of dining and shopping and entertainment quickly becomes the heart of a community.

The Hoquiam waterfront hasn't seen much action since its heyday in the 1980s, but now there is development interest, and so the community has to think seriously about what kind of town it may want to become. Development is obviously no guarantee of success, nor will it necessarily turn Hoquiam into a metropolis, but decisions need to be made collectively, because of course growth isn't free — tax money is the ruche fertilizer for civic growth.

Past, Present and Future

Another consideration worth a moment is Hoquiam's relationship to Aberdeen, the larger city to the east. This relationship, like probably all neighboring towns, is one of friendly rivalry. And rivalry often does good things for innovation. Hoquiam is at the mouth of the river, right on Grays Harbor, so it has opportunities no other town in the area does.

But Hoquiam must proceed cautiously. It is interested in preserving its past, as is evident in the 2009 revitalization of its train depot. So it knows how to preserve and honor its past; now it must seriously consider how it wants to carry that history forward, what kind of city it wants to become.

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