Hometown heroine

You already know that my daughters call me "Alley Cat Mom". That is because they never know from whence they may receive a phone call from me. I explained this in an earlier column.

Anyway, recently I was on one of my alley cat'n drives around our little town when once again, I realized how fortunate we are. So many towns our size have gone by the wayside and are not pretty or even still have a downtown area, much less such a neat one such as ours. This is true even for many larger towns.

Do we have all the things that a large metropolitan area has? No. Do we have a river that runs through? No. Do we receive lots of media attention? No. Do we do everything right? No. But if we just stop and take inventory, for a small town, we have a lot to offer.

While most towns' downtown areas are almost non-existent, we have what I consider to be a lovely downtown area.

We have many small, very neat specialty and variety shops, a new furniture store, a used furniture store, a very unique little cafe, florists, a five and dime, realtors, business offices, jewelers, a Mediterranean style restaurant, a pizza parlor, a gas station, and a convenience store. Our local newspaper is downtown, two real estate offices, three florists, a nice dress shop, several beauty salons, a great fitness center, and a marshal arts center. We have a wonderful place where gowns for pageant contenders, proms, weddings etc. can be found. We have a shoe repair shop and an alterations shop. I don't mean to leave anyone out, I just can't list everything. Just be assured, this certainly is not every business we have to offer. When you get to looking and thinking about it, we really do have a very distinct downtown.

There is a very soothing sitting area next to the newspaper office. Our city is working diligently to create a nice atmosphere around our 'old depot' area.

We have hard-working merchants working together who are always trying to come up with ideas to better us. We still have our fall parade downtown while many towns no longer even have parades. We have a very successful fall fest each year.

Again, not perfect, but if you really take a good look, I believe you also will be a proud Dexterite.

While this column is about our lovely downtown, I don't want to exclude our town as a whole. We have mainstream businesses, franchise restaurants, locally owned restaurants all over our city. We have many entrepreneurs up and down our business highway. We have three pharmacies, one home-owned and independent. We have a shop that specializes in beautiful home-made-to-order furniture.

How many towns our size do you know that have a hospital? Again, perfect? No. But it has saved many lives since its beginnings, in 1968 I believe -- my husband's life for one. You can go into the Statesman archives and read the column I wrote sometime ago about our hospital

I had three ladies in my little shop from another state, Michigan, several weeks back. They were going back to their hometown and show their city's administration pictures of our downtown. You know how it is when someone is giving you so many compliments you almost get embarrassed? That's sort of the way I was with them talking about my hometown. Of course, I was telling them more about our fair town than they could see in their short visit. When they left, my head was a little higher in the clouds.

I believe you will agree with me that we are truly blessed, since we indeed do live in a small town that happens to be Dexter, Missouri. While it is always fun to visit the larger towns and cities for those activities we don't have, it is always nice to come back home.

I'm sure by now you have already figured out who my hero/heroine is this column. None other than my hometown, Dexter, Missouri.

See ya next time somewhere in a "korner". Remember, you never know when you may show up as my hero or heroine.

kdover28@gmail.com - www.dailystatesman.com - 573-820-2404 or friend me on facebook.