This is quite a town we've got here...

 

We’ve got quite a town, come to talk about it.

 We’ve got fish in the river, eagles in the air, and the best damn doughnuts in the Upper Midwest.

 We’ve got Shakespeare in the summer, Beethoven, too. Come Steamboat Days, we’ve got cold beer and Johnny Holm in a tent down by the river.

 We celebrate storytelling and bluegrass. Pow wow with the Indians.  Play baseball with the best.

 We ship the world nuts and bolts; cinnamon, pepper and extract of vanilla. We make fancy fiddle sticks, Kevlar canoes, and send out Super Bowl swag. We print sheet music, mill flour, stain glass, forge chain, and crank out more gadgets, gizmos, and do-hickies than anybody can keep track of.

 We’ve got docs to keep us healthy, schools to make us smart, and a bank guarded by lions to put our money in. 

 We’ve got a church fit for the pope, a bishop living on Main Street, and a cross up on Sugarloaf when the light hits it just right. 

 The river still runs from west to east, the princess still has her pelicans, and they still pour a stiff drink down at EB’s Corner. But the old town has changed a bit…

 The hookers are gone from Second Street and the steamboats are gone from the river.

 The nuns are gone from St. T’s; and they sell ice cream where there ought to be beet pickles and  batter-fried fish. 

 The candy factory’s making dog food now … the cherries don’t hump there anymore.

 We go round and round where we used to stop and go. Choate’s is just a building, Cone’s is gone from the corner, and when the snow melts, we can count on the river staying put.

 But the town’s still got a brewery and Bub’s is still in business … though they’re not the same thing any more. There’s no more knitting in the knitting mills, but there’s yarn sold on Third Street and yarns get spun in every saloon in town. “Train” is still the best excuse for being late and folks still grumble about the “new” post office. 

 Say what you like, and around here folks most always do, this is quite a town 

 Yup. Quite a town, indeed. 

 

To find out more about Jerome's campaign, to help out, or to send money (we always need money) go to jeromeatlarge.com fill out the Contact Form and we'll soon be in touch ... and - above all - remember to vote for a better future on Nov 8th.