Nothing—and I mean nothing—is more important to a traveler coming through your town than a warm, welcoming, and open restaurant.
This truth was brought home pointedly last week to our small city of Spur, which just like the big cities has had its share of trouble hiring dependable help in lines of work that include the hospitality industry.
Last Friday night our nonprofit Palace Theater was kicking off its delayed 2022 movie season with a feel-good football flick and refreshments. The offerings just happened to include a five-dollar dinner with a hot dog and fixin’s, a deliberate strategy to lure families on tight entertainment budgets and also to fill the gap left by the gradual closure of all the town’s eateries, going on a year ago.
A stranger happened by. Well, a stranger to a few, but familiar enough with Spur to have remembered his mouthwatering meal at the Dixie Dog a few years back, when he was here with a crew filming a television episode on tiny houses.
“I was so disappointed to find the Dixie Dog had closed!” said Brian Hawkins, producer of the well-known TV travelogue “Texas Country Reporter” with Bob and Kelli Phillips. But more than that, Hawkins was astounded to find all the restaurants shut down. There’d be no meal other than an Allsup’s burrito closer than Abilene for him.
The five-buck hot dog came as manna from heaven for the hungry Hawkins, who had been headed homeward from
A stranger happened by. a stint filming segments for the Phillipses in the Lubbock area.
It was the sparkling lights of the Palace sign and an obviously busy Burlington Avenue that lured Hawkins off Highway 70 to see what was going on. Following hunches in small towns is, of course, what “Texas Country Reporter” has traded in for fifty years and counting, and the volunteers at the Palace didn’t disappoint. Kristy and Michael Price regaled him with stories of the Palace past. Jerry Bilberry took a break from projectionist duties to show him around the 1929 movie house.
“We’ll definitely be back,” said Hawkins, hinting that a future segment featuring the Palace and its renaissance might be pitched to the TCR team.
But let’s return to the restaurant question. That chance encounter might not have happened if not for a hot dog; how many other influential visitors and well-heeled investors might our rural-Texas towns miss out on if we can’t feed them when they drive through?
Not to mention that no offerings of charming lodging, or interesting shopping, or restful, scenic parks, or terrific events will compensate for a lack of that one basic attraction: food.
Eric and Linda Swenson are among the community leaders who recently bemoaned to me the lost revenue Spur is losing while dozens, soon to be several dozens, of temporary workers on the new solar farm are instead choosing Post or Snyder for their fuel and food. Spur and Jayton, both of which could house these guys thirty miles closer, don’t have places to sit down and eat, they told the Swensons.
Those hundreds of folks connected with recent television projects filming in Guthrie? Many commuted from Lubbock, we’re told—though we hope a few took advantage of food and beverage that’s handily situated in Dickens. We could rope in a few more.
Spur is hungry for completion of three eatery projects in the works. As of this week, the new owners of the Turnaround and also Karen Marvel of Marvel Bucks Coffee & Deli, both located in repurposed structures at the foot of Burlington, reported admirable progress. Work is also moving forward at the Rutledges’ café farther up our main street.
There is room, to our mind, for even more seats and tables in Spur.
Same goes for Jayton, where it’s rumored the recently shuttered Boots & Spurs Café may have found a new owner.
Matador, where Billie Dean’s does a booming business but another main street mainstay closed down a couple of years ago.
Paducah, where work has reportedly resumed on the Covid-delayed Crossroads Café.
Guthrie, where it’s all the Four Sixes Supply House and the new coffee shop can do to provide a bite to take away.
Floydada, where folks still reminisce about the closeddown Neilson’s Restaurant.
And even Turkey, home of the flourishing Hotel (and restaurant par excellence) Turkey, where the town’s gearing up to serve thousands during the 50th anniversary Bob Wills Day in a few weeks.
Let’s help our fellow entrepreneurs figure out solutions for adaptive—and affordable— reuse of historic buildings; sources for ready funding; and a pool of willing workers. Let’s strategize with city and county leadership, economic development, Chamber of Commerce, and regional resources such as the Texas Midwest Community Network, the Texas Plains Trail Region and its parent the Texas Historical Commission, the Texas Film Commission, and the South Plains Association of Governments, and not just wait for chance.
It’s a menu for success, to our minds.
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