Out of the Mouths

There’s nothing like the warm honesty of children. They say things that can warm the cockles of your heart or shake you to the very core of your being. They don’t mind telling the truth as they see it. Recently, they lent that honesty to the Presque Isle Downtown Revitalization Committee.
    Last week, we received letters from a group of fifth-grade students in response to our editorial about the importance of reopening the Braden Theater. A few of these students reflected the opinions of their parents, but all clearly stated their own thoughts.
Trevor summarized the history of the Braden, writing, “The Braden Theater has a history of good times when people were together, laughing, talking, hanging out, and just having fun with friends and family. The Braden Theater was an attraction to downtown Presque Isle.”
One student looked to the future of the theater. “I could take pictures of the theater and say to my children, ‘That’s where my friends and I relaxed and had fun.’ Hopefully, years from now, the Braden Theater will still be in Presque Isle for my children to go to,” Allison continued.
Obviously, different students had different reasons for wanting the Braden to reopen. Trent stated, “I want you to reopen the Braden Theater because it will bring back great memories and make new memories.” Andrew echoed that by writing, “… adults will have old memories and I will be able to make new memories.” He continues, “I think we should have a theater on Main Street because it will bring people back to Main Street.” Carly agreed with that, continuing by writing, “People would start shopping and go to restaurants downtown again. While waiting, you can walk around town with friends and family.” Blake added that, “Families will get to have fun, quality time with each other.” And Bianca elaborated on that. “We should bring back the Braden Theater because it would be downtown. We wouldn’t have to wait for the movie to start if we get our tickets early. We could go shopping or have a pizza while we wait.”
Of course, many of our fifth-graders mentioned the economic benefits of reopening the theater. Brianna stated these benefits very nicely by writing, “It would also support our economy by not only making money for local people, but also drawing in people from other areas. They will not only buy movie tickets and various concessions, but many other things, too.” Mitchell added, “The movie theater would make money for the town, which would help to revitalize our town. Walking to the movie theater or to new businesses will be much more enjoyable … you need movie theaters to draw people to the downtown area.”
“Having the Braden back in town would bring more business to town. There would be more money from people shopping while their kids are seeing a movie. People are usually hungry after watching a movie. So they would go to downtown restaurants,” stated Danielle.
We’ll have more comments from people who write us in future articles. We want to thank the students and their teachers for sharing their opinions and ideas with us. We value these comments.
We appreciate any thoughts and comments from you, and we’re asking that you send more to us. We need your ideas, thoughts, and perhaps physical help as we work to re-energize our entire Main Street.
We have set up an e-mail account where you can write to us regarding our revitalization efforts. Our e-mail address is pidrc@yahoo.com. Or, for those who prefer, you can write to us through snail mail at: The Presque Isle Downtown Revitalization Committee, 411 Main St., Presque Isle, ME  04769.
The Presque Isle Downtown Revitalization Committee is an ad hoc committee of the Presque Isle City Council