Last week, two travelling farmers found themselves in a bustling downtown complete with an inordinate number of shoe stores and two lovely ladies enjoying an afternoon tea. On the hunt for ice cream, Dad and I had pulled into Washington, Iowa and discovered what seemed to be the Iowan version of Listowel.
A small town that was bucking the trend on the negative stereotype of small communities… there was no stagnation to be seen and seeds of diversity popping up everywhere. Our quest for ice cream brought us to a little Latino grocer (at the suggestion of the two lovely ladies), and a walk about the park in the downtown area told the story of an old community that has stayed resilient as the times changed around it.
A couple days later I found myself having dinner with a swine veterinarian who practices across the Midwest, but grew up in northeastern Iowa. He shared that the area we found ourselves in that day is one of the last bastions for independent hog farmers in the state. Unlike his own home area where only two families remain from his childhood, Washington County still boasts a number of independent family farms, no different than the one Jessica and I operate here in Ontario. It also happens to be an area where Anabaptist communities farm extensively – another similarity to our slice of Ontario.
As a small boy I can remember listening to Grandpa preach the importance of livestock farms for rural small towns – their ability to generate wealth beyond the farmgate and reverberate throughout the community. Those words have been proven to me over the years and was once again evident at the recent Listowel Memorial Hospital Foundation Gala. While it isn’t usually the farmers themselves shelling out high roller cash that makes sure Listowel Memorial Hospital is the best equipped small-town hospital in the province, it is the agricultural industry that has given many of the opportunities to local businesses that do write those big cheques.
There is an amazing amount of cash that passes through a livestock farm. Coming in it generates a margin for folks like barn builders and feed mills, while on the way out it makes money for transporters, processors and retailers.
I found myself thinking about our hospital gala while walking through Washington, specifically the unique poem/rap/declaration combo that Dr. Barb used to kick off the night so impactfully. Does Washington have a doctor like Dr. Barb? A person who takes serving their community to another level and helps show people who don’t understand the magic of a small rural town the pathway to discovery? Community leaders like her are in every healthy small community, so it was no surprise that when I Googled the Washington County Hospital, there is a foundation with a full suite of activities to raise money for their small-town hospital.
Healthy small communities need many things to stay healthy. We need family-run businesses whose heart is in main street, not Bay Street. We need caregivers, nurses, and educators. We need schools, sports facilities, and places of worship. Healthy communities have a lot of needs, yet they can deliver so much more than they need. A healthy small community can produce kids who dream of anything from being the creator of a massive hit television show to a PGA star, from being a farmer like those before them to the inventor of live-changing artificial intelligence.
There are Washingtons and Listowels all across North America. A road trip that featured a heavy dose of backroads (and as little interstate time as possible) found healthy small towns in every state along the way. It may only take five minutes to drive through them, but it is important to remember that it is the local champions who make it their life’s work to preserve them what make them truly great.
***
Stewart Skinner is a local business owner, former political candidate, and has worked at Queen’s Park as a Policy Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs. He can be reached at stuskinner@gmail.com or on Twitter: @modernfarmer.
