An Ever-Changing World

As we all know in life, things never stay the same. Physical changes are constant and the landscape is always changing. I was thinking back on a lot of things that have changed within the area where I live. Old buildings and structures coming down and new ones replacing them. New projects beautifying an area - enhancing the look of the community and making it look better than it already is. New residential properties and developments - bringing in more people in a particular area to live. Like I said, there is always something that changes and more often than not, it's for the better.

And yet, there are some negative changes that occur within a community; things that go away and are never to return. ShopKo stores built a retail store in the Marquette community in the 1970's and with it a full service gas station along Washington Street in front of the store. Back then, ShopKo wasn't the only entity that provided a full service fuel station in the community. But gradually through the years, full service stations have been fading away. Eventually, ShopKo became the only fuel station to provide full service the entire duration that the station was opened. That officially ended this fall when ShopKo abruptly shut down its gas station due to deteriorating underground fuel tanks.

According to a story released by one of the local news stations, ShopKo stores felt it was not economically feasible to replace the tanks and continue operating the gas station which is why it was shut down. Apparently the station had been experiencing problems with its tanks for a few years. But it got to a point where the tanks needed to be replaced and it's an extremely costly operation to replace underground fuel tanks. More often than not, gas station owners prefer going out of business rather than having to replace fuel tanks. But they were the original tanks that ShopKo opened with in the 1970's; so they got a lot of life out of those tanks. And that ShopKo store was the only store in its chain to has a gas station situated on its property. So the Marquette store was rather unique in its own way. That all came to an end earlier this year.

But then you look at other businesses or changes the occurs in a community through the years. The Bunny Bread bakery had a significant presence in the Marquette community for quite awhile. During the night time hours, the iconic Bunny Bread sign could easily be seen as you traveled along the US-41 bypass between central and south Marquette. The lights on the bunnies ears would flash slowly, as if the bunny was moving its ears. It was a really unique sign and I was just a young kid up until it last operated. Soon after, it was removed and a part of Marquette's night time landscape was changed. I am happy to say, however, that the sign is still intact just inside of the entrance to the U.P. Children's Museum in downtown Marquette. Even though you cannot see it from the highway, that particular piece of Marquette's past is still alive and well.

For good and for bad reasons, change is always happening within a community. Even the historic Delft theater marquee in downtown Marquette is no longer lit up at night due to the freak mid-summer hail storm from three years ago caused significant damage to a number of the lights. Hopefully that is one change that won't be a permanent one. More often than not, we adjust to the changes and life goes on. Obviously things like losing the last every-hour full service fuel station and historic signage will be missed, but we'll get by and move forward. And more often than not, new things come along to replace some of those things that change. It's an ever revolving world that we live in and at least in that sense, it's never boring.

Second picture is of the Bunny Bread sign located inside the main entrance of the U.P. Children's Museum in Marquette, MI.