Mayberry on McKay Street
The recent news about the CBS Morning Show’s upcoming visit to our little community has caused more than a little excitement. From McKay Street Coffeehouse to the school, the entire town is buzzing with the gossip, as it should be. It is always an honor to have a large media outlet notice the efforts put into a project, especially a project as amazing as our new library and museum.
As a journalist of the lowest level, you can imagine how excited I was. I love Frontenac like those mega fans love the NFL. I am shocked I have not had Raider shaped foam fingers printed. Add on a chance to maybe catch a glimpse of real big dog videographers, not to mention getting to see how professionals at that level document my town. I am all in for how cool this is.
Yet, the one thing that never came to mind was, “Why Frontenac?” I may be a low level journalist whose work was done so long ago that most of it is not even online anymore. Yet, I still know a story when I see one. I see that sparkle that CBS has noticed, and Frontenac friends, I want you to see it too.
Dearests, we should not exist. Not as we are. With a multimillion dollar school that is winning awards every year. Sports teams that constantly bring home titles, supported by hundreds of fans at a stadium that looks like it belongs at a college. We have a multimillion dollar library. Heck folks, we have the kind of town support that requires the school to break up Christmas programs because so many people will show up to support second graders, for heaven’s sake. Our streets are patrolled by beloved officers. Our firefighters are dedicated volunteers. We have our own coffee shop that looks like it belongs in Gilmore Girls.
For a town of 4,000 people, this is Mayberry, folks, straight out of Hollywood casting, and it has been for decades on decades.
If you ran all the numbers, all the odds, and all the predictions, based on any scale you would like to run, Frontenac is an oddity.
In a country built on “getting your own,” Frontenac is completely different. We are not bound together by religion, or financial levels, or any other of the usual social sorting. Someone taking a quick glance might simply say, “Oh well, they are just a clan built by borders. That’s all.” Yet, if it was that simple, why do so many areas who are very proud of their towns falter?
No. The secret of Frontenac is the one that Seth has put on display at Heritage Hall, if you look closely. It is also the one you unknowingly carry. A song you have heard played so often that you consider it no different than the wind.
For generation after generation after generation, Frontenac has made the choice to care about each other as much as they care about themselves. We have done so by tirelessly donating and supporting the things that truly matter to our community, and never forgetting where we came from. Teaching new people that history and encouraging them to join it. Forever Frontenac. Once a Raider, always a Raider. Those are our mottos.
We care about each other, and always have. Our great great parents got together and held one of the first labor marches in the Amazon Army, not just for their own safety, but for the safety of their neighbors. The mining companies feared them, and Frontenac got its first taste of being national news. We never looked back, only to each other.
When things got hard during prohibition, we got harder, and smarter, and perhaps a bit more ornery than we should have. Yet, our Italian grandmas chucked those guys from Chicago under the chin and fed them homemade pasta. Those “families” never forgot that hospitality, and we made it through.
Through wars and hard times. Through joyful things like the expansion of our school to make it one of the best in the state, to moments of great loss and grief. We have always looked to each other.
Most importantly, we have remembered where we came from and why.
We have remembered and given back. Whether it is people donating to a kids fundraiser, a lawyer bringing his skills back to serve his hometown, or even a beautiful new library, Frontenac people remember their town.
They remember it in big ways, like donating to the new football stadium, or even buying a cafe two towns over and still holding those Raider values of giving back. But we remember.
We always remember that we did not get where we are on our own, and in order for the next generation to climb, we must build the ladder that was built for us.
The generations before us built roads, a swimming pool, and senior housing. So we could have Festa Italiana and raise money every year for college scholarships. We have Mining Days every summer so that everyone, regardless of financial status, gets a fun summer event, and to celebrate our town. Our kids will remember that yearly party and give back themselves.
Every generation has built on the gifts of the prior one. Every generation takes its time as volunteers and caretakers, and then, when it is time, gently hands it off to the next.
Frontenac is unique because we have never broken that chain. Generation after generation, we have pulled each other up by our bootstraps.
We each give what we are best at, and are happy to do so. We care. We want the best not only for ourselves, but for the future generations of Raiders.
The soul of our town’s secret is that you do not have to be individually amazing to create something extraordinary. You have to be dedicated to shining your light together with your neighbors until the entire town is bright. To show up when things are hard, and know that they will show up for you.
Frontenac is a beautiful example of what can happen when a community decides to care about each other like a family, for generations, through it all. To invest their time and donations in a future bigger than themselves, without fail, for over a hundred years.
In this day and age, my friends, that is a very special and unique thing indeed. - Keesh
