Yesterday was a nice, blue-sky Saturday in June and we walked over to the new Wild Duck Bar & Grill for a late lunch before strolling down a few blocks to the even newer Brownwood Events Center to tour the facilities and check out the outdoor performance areas. None of this was possible just a few years ago when we moved downtown. Downtown was pretty dead on the weekends, especially in the summer.

Now, today, Downtown is bustling. We see people walking everywhere.

It was warm and humid out, but not nearly as stifling hot as it can be in June. We remember, and we’re happy that it is nice – lower 90s – and there is a breeze as we cross Carnegie. It’ll be fun watching all of this area change over the next year or so as they implement the Downtown Masterplan in stages. All of this, including this intersection, will be more walkable in the years to come.

It is easy for the modern Wall-E potato people to scoff at a walkable downtown. “I don’t need no fancy schmancy yuppie downtown! I can sit on my sofa on the weekends and if I need somethin’ I can drive to Burger King, then drive to Walmart, then order everything else on Amazon! On date night, it’s Chilis! I’ll go to Fredericksburg once a year if I want to walk around and pay too much for a vacation. I got a cruise comin’ up this fall. Talk about walkable! That’s a floating walkable downtown! Just $3k and all I can eat, and I paid for the alcohol add-on package, and I can walk everywhere, and the buffet is great! Nothin’ like a little food poisoning and cholera on the high seas! Until then, it’s Walmart and Amazon for me!”

Meanwhile, for the non potato people, it sure is fun what’s going on around here. Pioneer Taphouse just expanded into their next door space, and it is very cool to watch their continued success. They’ve built out their menu and they are a full-on restaurant now. We can hear live music on weekends if we step outside, and that’s great too. We’ve enjoyed the new businesses in town. And on Thursday we walked down to 10 Mile beer and wine tasting room and they had what they call a “Vinyl Night.” I love vinyl records, and I have a sizable collection thanks to all the thrift stores in town, and the awesome Bonneville store in Coleman. On Vinyl Night you bring a few Vinyl records with you to 10 Mile, and while you sip your beer or wine and eat a fantastic smash burger (with homemade onion rings from onions they grew themselves!) they play a whole side of a vinyl album at a time. I brought Fats Waller, Sonny Rollins, and Artie Shaw. Old-time swing and jazz. A friend brought The Pointer Sisters, and that’s fun, too.

We head back home from the new Events Center and again we see so many people walking around downtown. We see couples going into the new Providencia Restaurant, and it is fantastic to see that building back in action after so many years of sitting empty. We see weekend strollers getting ice cream at Over the Rainbow, Visiting Matt’s Mantiques store, and walking over to Center Avenue to visit the shops. There are a lot of families walking around, and that’s fun too. You don’t need a vacation, or a food poisoning cruise, or thousands of dollars, or to pay extravagantly for a nice walkable day with food and shops and a fun day among your neighbors.

Things are developing nicely, and I know it has been a lot of hard work. Congratulations to Brownwood.

Later… last night, we could hear the music drift over downtown. It’s pleasant and satisfying. I hope y’all will come to visit soon.

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Michael Bunker is a local columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose columns appear on Wednesdays and Sundays on the website.