"For Rent!"

Clifton Jaeger is moving his painting studio out of the old Town Hall at 107 Main Street and taking his paintbrushes and pigments to the deconsecrated St. Patrick's Church around the corner, which he's been renovating for what seems like forever (and which wags have dubbed St. Clifton's). I always appreciated it when Clifton lit his windows at night and you could admire his artwork and get a sense of what Falls Village might feel like with a few thriving businesses on Main Street.

The Main Street property is a fantastic, loft-like space that's ideal for a visionary retailer or small business owner, someone entrepreneurial like Jason Young who opened Sweet William's bakery down the block in the back of 100 Main Street this winter. I once heard a rumor that Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller
might open a shop there. A Falls Village Antiques Center might lure visitors to town, and it would no doubt succeed if Bunny Williams (who owns Treillage in NYC) or Michael Trapp got involved. How about a Falls Village Community Thrift Shop that would raise money for all the non-profits in town all year long? How about a Falls Village Organic Grocery and Cooking School featuring local purveyors like Chubby Bunny, Whippoorwill Farm, Rustling Wind, and Adamah?

Check out the "For Rent" ad the town ran in the Lakeville Journal classifieds this week. But why isn't there a "For Rent" sign in the window of 107 Main? Our best hope of finding a tenant may be some out-of-towner who drives through the village, sees the sign, and has an epiphany (maybe one of the bikers who visit Toymaker's every Sunday?) and decides that running a business on Main Street is his or her destiny. Let's spread the word and get the space rented. The town needs the income and Main Street feels too sad when the windows of 107 Main are dark.