When I was growing up, I saw so much potential for my hometown of Huntington, Indiana. Politicians and businessmen were eager to bring jobs and growth to town. Industry and stores bring workers. Workers buy homes. Workers like to go out to eat and play in town, and have good schools for kids. Seems like a simple, but daunting plan. I love to see Huntington fight for its future.
I have lived elsewhere for thirty years. Each time I come back to Huntington, something else has closed down or moved away (likely to Wabash, where they actually seem to support a growth plan). The south side of town has especially been hard hit. I don’t even recognize it anymore.
When my friend and brother, Ian Stallings, told me he was renovating and reopening the Silver Moon Pub on the south side of town, I was ecstatic. I visited him last summer and he showed me the progress he’d made on construction and his vision for what this pub would be. Beyond job creation and a place for friends and family to meet, drink and be merry, this building would also include apartments and artist space for his WIAR project (Wabash International Artist Residency) that has brought artists and culture to locations up and down the Wabash River Valley.
My brother Ian loves Huntington. He loves it so much, he poured his blood, sweat, tears and money into having a quality gathering space into a town that desperately needs it. Yet, as has proven out for decades now, Huntington doesn’t recognize or support businesses or business people that bring something to their town that isn’t on their terms. There is a long history of businesses that give up that fight and go elsewhere (did I mention Wabash seems to have gotten with the program?).
I was looking forward to hanging out with Ian (and “Other Ian” who was managing the space) when I was home last week. We made those plans last year, long before the opening. Once the space opened, it started to grow and thrive. Most projects and initiatives that Ian touches, do just that. I couldn’t wait to visit the Silver Moon Pub.
I had hoped that Huntington had progressed enough to support this vision and business. I guarantee you, once the pub succeeded, Ian was just getting started. Unfortunately, Huntington’s vision doesn’t see past the courthouse or into the wider world. I saw that those who claim to care about Huntington managed to drive out another business owner with excuses and deliberate roadblocks (that’s figurative, but I also heard there were physical ones, too).
If you have someone that wants to invest in your community, you make the phone calls that need to be made to keep a space open, not throw up your hands in fake concern and turn your back on someone that loves your town and wants to see it grow. BS is BS, Huntington, and we can all smell it. Shame on you. SHAME ON YOU.
The only vision Huntington has for the Silver Moon Pub is what they or someone who is like minded would do with that space and those dollar signs will not produce what they hope for and the space will not thrive like it would under Ian’s ownership. I’m not sure what the reasoning behind not helping this pub stay open, but if it’s why I think it is, they need to grow up if Huntington is to grow. Huntington, you need people like Ian Stallings to invest in your community. Do better.
I visited the Silver Moon Pub while I was in Huntington last week and saw the FOR SALE sign Ian has in the window. I know he is hurt and discouraged, but my sincere hope is that Ian reconsiders and reopens. Nobody else in Huntington will love, grow, and encourage that space like Ian has and would do so through it’s future.
Sassy Dreams Awake 