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COMMENTARY: Some buildings have deep roots in P.E.I. communities

There’s a common thread connecting several events on our Island.

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The fire that destroyed the old Charlottetown Farmers Market — place that, over decades, had become far more than a market.

The construction of a Tim’s service station and convenience store, threatening the long established Ceretti’s service station and convenience store in Borden-Carleton.

The closing several years ago of the Scotiabank in Crapaud.

The upcoming closing of the Irving station in Mount Stewart.

At first glance, they’re just buildings. Businesses. Places to do your banking, buy vegetables, coffee, gas, a newspaper, or a bag of chips.

Places like these have deep, deep roots in our Island communities. Over the years, they’ve become woven into the very fabric of our lives. They nourish the soul of a community. And roots, by definition, take time to grow.

A new building can replace an old one, but it cannot immediately replace the thousands of conversations, encounters, rituals and memories that accumulated there over decades.

A building can be replaced. A gathering place must grow.

The new farmers market carries that spirit forward, and in time it will gather its own layers of memory, especially in a new building that will someday soon spring to life. The old market had something that cannot quickly be rebuilt: decades of familiarity, chance encounters, favourite corners and the feeling that........

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