It was around 1971 that I discovered small towns, after having been born and raised in suburbs of large cities. Since then we have lived in several small towns over the years and raised our family in small towns.

In every small town where we lived I always made it a point to support the local businesses as much as I could. I could not say that I purchased everything in the town where I lived, but I think I came dang close.

That includes groceries, hardware items, drug store items and even automobiles.

The first town Pam and I lived in as a married couple was Enderlin, North Dakota, which was population of around 1,500 back in 1973.

The name Enderlin might ring a bell for you right now, as it was in the news last weekend because there was a tornado there and three people were killed.

The name Enderlin was created by a railroad agent who named it End-O’-Line because the SOO Railroad only went that far when it was first built.

Enderlin back in the 1970s was a remarkable town for its size, with two banks, two grocery stores (SuperValu and Red Owl), a drugstore, two hardware stores, two clothing stores, two variety stores, several cafes, dentists, clinic, farm implement dealer, lumberyard, new car dealership, and well, you get the idea. Oh yeah, it also had a newspaper, the Enderlin Independent.

But Enderlin has few of those businesses these days.

The same is true of another town where we lived, Tyler, Minnesota, also around 1,500 population back when we moved there in 1985. It had two grocery stores, two variety stores, two car dealers, clothing store, big furniture store, big lumberyard, concrete plant and a whole lot more. It too, doesn’t have near those businesses like it once did.

I know, our readers in Blue Earth are going to tell me about all the many businesses in Blue Earth, “back in the day.” And I am aware of that. The main street was packed full of buildings and everyone of them had a business operating out of them. You can see them in old photos.

The smaller towns in Faribault County also had similar stories. Winnebago, Wells, Easton, Delavan, Kiester, Bricelyn, Minnesota Lake and Frost all had a lot more businesses back in the old days as compared to today.

Then there is Elmore. I have had some folks from that town not only tell me about all the businesses, but show me photos as well. They are right, there were lots and lots of businesses in Elmore at one time long ago. In fact, it was an amazing number of businesses for that little town.

And now there are very, very few. Although, as a story in this week’s Register reveals, the closed Elmore Municipal Liquor Store has been resurrected as a convenience store, and the small town folks are grateful for that.

There are some other new businesses that are popping up in the county and that is a good thing. Some of those will be featured in future issues of the Register.

There are several reasons why many small towns just don’t have the number of businesses which they once did. But, people not supporting them is probably the biggest reason.

Many folks travel to larger towns to get their groceries and other items. That has been going on for years, I guess. Now, with fewer stores in our towns, that trip to the bigger city can become a necessity.

Online shopping has now become so prevalent that it is the way a lot of folks are shopping for, well, shopping for virtually everything.

A quick search and a credit card and shazam, the item will be on your porch in a day or two. It is hard to compete with that.

Yet, I still like to go to my neighborhood store and say hi to the folks working there and buy the things I want, whether it is groceries, hardware, flowers and plants, carpet, gas or whatever.

Some people say they believe that they will pay more money shopping in a small town. Maybe, maybe not. I think there are bargains shopping locally, and besides, it is worth a little bit extra to keep our businesses here.

I have always felt that if you live in a town, you should do what you can to keep that town going. That includes shopping locally as much as you can, joining local clubs and groups, volunteering for organizations and committees and giving your time and extra money where it is needed.

That is all part of supporting your community. So, the message here is do what you can to keep your town a place where you – and others – want to live.