Some good news, and some more good news

Seldom is there even the appearance of unanimity when a town is considering backing an investment of $700,000 — even when the initiative is a very worthy one. But this is exactly what is happening in Salisbury, and for good reason. (See story, page A1.) In Salisbury, the Salisbury Winter Sports Association (SWSA) has sponsored the annual Jumpfest for 84 years, and the event brings the entire community together. There is now a chance to rebuild the ski jump and bring the Junior Olympics for ski jumpers and cross-country skiers into the town for their next competition in 2011.

It’s clear the ski jump itself has to be refurbished, even if it doesn’t have to be done in time to host the 2011 Junior Olympics. So this is a good investment in the future of Salisbury. At the time of the meeting last Friday, $300,000 in pledges had already been promised. The annual ski jump weekend brings the region to life in February, in the middle of the slowest time of the year. Spectators who come to take part in the activities are welcomed by area businesses and by all the area’s winter sports enthusiasts alike. It is to SWSA’s great credit that its volunteers are willing to step up to make this monumental improvement happen. Positive effects will radiate throughout the Tri-state area.

Voters in Salisbury should vote in favor of supporting SWSA at the town meeting this Friday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, or the Congregational Church if the crowd is large.

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And speaking of positive change: It is with a collective sigh of relief that residents of the Northwest Corner heard the landlords for the space at the Sharon shopping plaza, which formerly was home to Trotta’s market, have found a new tenant. The empty space, which had been vacant for more than a year, was having a negative effect on business for others in the shopping center, and surely elsewhere in Sharon. Without an anchor food market in the largest space in the plaza, there was less reason for area residents to visit Sharon and spend some money there.

Now, with a new, family management group, Chris and Annie Choe, coming into Sharon to revitalize the dormant space, there is new hope for a better economic picture for Sharon and its neighbors. No town exists in a vacuum in the Northwest Corner, and when a town has large empty spaces such as the market, it affects the entire region in a negative way. More residents have been pulled during the course of the past year not only outside the town, but outside the state, to shop for food, since markets in both New York state and Massachusetts are quite close to the Connecticut state line.

There had at one time been a campaign to try to convince Trader Joe’s to bring a market into Sharon, and there were circulating and recirculating rumors over the year that one of the excellent groceries from the region, LaBonne’s or Guido’s, would expand to have another branch store in Sharon. Only the landlords, the Donovans, know for sure who the other possible tenants were that may have negotiated with them to rent the space. However, the new tenants, the Choes, are a family who currently own just two grocery stores and a restaurant in Long Island, making them well-matched to the scale of a small-town store such as this space in Sharon.

The fact that the new store is called the Sharon Farm Market fits right in with the regional (and national) trend for consumers to want a year-round supply of fresh, and when possible local, produce, meats, fish, fresh-baked goods and other products. If the Choes can effectively clean up the space and create a welcoming and well-stocked store with such fresh products available, they should be assured of having a successful venture in Sharon.