A Tour of Changes

It's been quite a while since I have written about the changes that are happening in the town where I live. 

Smiths Grove is about as small as town can get. It has 719 residents. 

But for such a small town it's a pretty busy place. It's not so much a destination but rather a stop off. The access to I-65 main reason. We get a lot of "stop & go" visitors. On a weekend or holiday, when I go to our one convenience store, I see cars from several different states at the gas pumps and in the store. 

Another thing that happens quite often is change. A few years ago I wrote a post that included the renovation of the McDonald's, the building of a quick stop grocery store, a new vet's office, and the expansion of a church.

As I walked down the main street last week I realized that there are a few other changes that have happened over the last few years that I need to show you.  Here are some of them. 

First is a change that helped me discover a bit of town history. The building that used to house our vet's office is empty again. 

It's last occupant was a gun shop. Now it looks as though it's going through some type of improvement or renovation. It's been stripped down. 

In it's current state it helped me discover something I never knew. The building at one point was the home of the town's government. 

Across the street is a Limestone building that's over 150 years old It used to be a bank. 

For the last 18 months it's been the home of Samgha Cafe which has been open since 2015. 

The business offers an interesting combination of a vegan restaurant (accessed through a side entrance on the left) and a yoga studio in the very front of the building. 

Just to the right of the Cafe is the building that used to be the home of the Paw Spa, where I sometimes take my dog to be bathed and groomed.

It is now the residence of another relatively new Smiths Grove business. Ivory Grace Events is a franchised business that specializes in wedding planning.  

If you look to your left while standing in front of these two buildings you'll see some of the shops on Main Street. 

Currently, these three properties house a pair of second hand stores and a fabric store where you can get some tailor services. This store (only half of it can be seen on the right side of the picture) is called "Psycho Granny's.

The owner is a very nice lady and she does good work. "The Foxhole" and "Weird Stuff Retro" have opened only within the last year. 

While they are all open for business now; this row is among the group of buildings here in the grove that seem to have a revolving door in regard to tenants. All of them at one time or another have been vacant for a period of time. 

In addition to this row that group includes: the building which used to be the local library, another building on the same street as the cafe and one on Main Street that I will write about later in this post. 

Across the railroad tracks, which bisects Main Street, there are other places that are new, have changed, or are changing. 

New, at least since my last post about my town, is a branch of The Bank of Edmonson County.

This is the only bank in town. Although I don't have an account there, I go to this bank a lot. I turn in my wrapped change, use the ATM or exchange large bills for smaller ones. The staff is very friendly. 

Across Main Street from the bank is a Mexican restaurant. We have gotten "take out" from there quite often since it opened. I've sung Karaoke there a few times recently. 

Up until a couple months ago it was called "Sol Azteca" but in early May it changed it's name. 

I have no idea why the name changed. I haven't been able to find out. But it is one of the changes I wanted to include. 

Since I'm writing about restaurants let's move on to the remodeling that's currently being done to one of the three of fast food restaurants here in town. 

The Wendy's restaurant is being given a makeover. The work has been going on for about a month. I will post a picture when it's finished. 

The last thing I want to write about has to do with something that happens in most places about this time of year. 

With Independence Day coming around in a week or so, it is the prime time for the purchase and use of fireworks. 

For such a small town, quite a bit of fireworks are seen and heard near my house during the two weekends before and after the 4th of July. It's safe to say that my neighbors buy a lot of them. 

Then it comes as no surprise that on June 10, in one of those often empty buildings, I mentioned earlier, someone opened a fireworks store. 

  This can't this being anything but a seasonal thing. The aspect of it being in a store front is unique; but it's not the first time fireworks have been sold here in Smiths Grove.

Last year, the Cooke family, who we have known for years, set up a tent just across the street from the Smiths Grove truck stop last year. This year they are set up again in the same spot. 

 Don't be fooled by the relatively compact size of their table and tent set up. 

 Their trailer has plenty of all the things you may want to light up, shoot into the sky, and make your family and friends "ooo" and "ahh". 

I know that this is a blatant plug but I have a couple of reasons for it. If you live, in the Bowling Green/Warren County but not in Smiths Grove, please, please, please, come buy some of the Cooke's fireworks. 

First, they are a great family and deserve to have success. Second, any of their products that are bought and used outside of Smiths Grove, out of earshot of my house, will make sleeping at night for us a lot easier. Thank you. 

So there you have a brief tour of our little town and some of the changes since the last time I "showed" you around. Hope you enjoyed it.