Where are the locals? 

I’ve been a member of the Port Townsend community for 18 years, not only living here but also watching my parents grow their business. And for the first time in 18 years I am scared; scared for our town and the challenges so many business owners face, scared for the livelihoods of families and scared the businesses that make up our charming town will no longer be here. 

Our town’s small business economy depend on tourism and at a time when we don’t want tourists coming to our town we need to be able to depend on locals. The locals who support the small business economy for much of the year are not coming out. Every business owner is doing their best to make their storefront sustainable. Every business owner has had to turn their business plan upside down to meet the new standards of normal. 

But all that work is for naught if no one is supporting them.

The harsh reality is the majority of mom-and-pop shops, which are the backbone of this city, are not surviving. They are hoping for a miracle now that Paycheck Protection Program  money has run out. The only miracle that will save them is for the locals to return to downtown. 

In our new normal remember that downtown Port Townsend is waiting for you. Pick up the phone and call any business for curbside delivery; go online to look at menus for coffee, breakfast, lunch or dinner. 

From all the business owners and families downtown: We miss our locals! It is up to the locals of this town to shape what Port Townsend is going to look like in the future. The businesses you support will survive, the ones you don’t will not.

Teslin LeMaster
PORT TOWNSEND