Winking Owl

Sitting on the patio last night with my beautiful bride Brenda (a.k.a. the “Head Stinker” at our Smelly Gourmet Coffee Bar, Gift and Sandwich Shop), and Catrina (the proprietor of the Cat & Fiddle Inn), sharing a nice bottle of Winking Owl Merlot (vintage maybe yesterday morning, $2.59 at Aldi’s), we were again discussing what makes Metamora so unique to our visitors when we don’t have the glitter and glitz of larger tourist destinations.

We know there is a significant appeal to many who return time after time to visit us, because they keep coming back and enjoying life with us. But, when trying to nail down the specific aspects that make our village a desirable destination, for use in advertising to grow our tourist traffic, we always get stuck on identifying the specifics.

Our conversation turned to the experiences and positive reactions of recent visitors to our shops.

Brenda and I had an experience yesterday when a large group of visitors came in out of the rain at the same time, all looking for lunch. They were part of a tour group numbering about 80 that came into Metamora on a chartered train, and apparently their tour organizer had not made sufficient arrangements for lunch.

So we got busy and did the best we could to feed them all our fine grilled cheese Panini sandwiches (in eleven varieties!). Those who are familiar with our shop know that we have four small tables each normally with three seats. That is a total of twelve seats, and it is unusual for us to feed more than four or six at a time. But here we had eighteen hungry tourists all at once.

So we got busy and cranked out their orders. Some sat outside under the covered portion of our patio, we found some extra chairs to have four at each table, and a couple sat on chairs next to the fireplace with no table. Brenda ran the back cooking like a wild woman, and I ran the front furiously trying to keep everyone happy and cheerful while getting their food to them as fast as she could prepare it.

So our facilities were not satisfactory for such a group, and some of these fine folks had to wait awhile to get their orders. But as I ran around out front and back and forth to the kitchen, I talked with most of the diners, apologizing for delays and joking with them about weather, trains, tour group organizers, etc.

And ultimately they were all happy! When they left, they were full of compliments and seemed all in great spirits (well, there was one lady, the last to be served, that even the “Smelly Himself” charm could not charm.) Many of them commented on coming back in to see us in the future. While maybe not happy with their tour organizer, they were happy with their experience in our place even if food was a long time in delivery.

Then Catrina recounted the time in her shop when she was very busy multi-tasking, preparing breakfast for a group of her overnight guests while getting other things ready for the day. Extremely unusual for her, she told us she burnt the biscuits for breakfast- not black, but overdone. (I know I’m going to be in trouble with her for writing this.)

She said she went out to her breakfast guests and started apologizing, frazzled as she was. And she took the time to engage in conversation with them and they made her slow down and sit down and eat with them (without biscuits, of course.) And Catrina said it was just a wonderful experience for both her and the guests, who have come back to stay at her Inn again despite the biscuits.

Our conversation moved on to one of the local B&B’s that none of us thought was particularly well appointed and could use some facility maintenance (paint, new furniture), but we were all aware (due to talking with customers in our shop who were guests in this B&B) how much these folks LOVE that business and as a result, the village. And we knew the reason for their intense pleasure is the personality of the proprietor of that establishment, whom all the guests just love so much because of the proprietor’s outgoing personality and attention she pays her guests.

So with these stories fresh in mind and with the clarity evoked through the Winking Owl, we realized how visitors don’t necessarily come for glitz and glitter, or night life or a large assortment of fancy shops, or even for fine cuisine (though you can usually get fine cuisine at both of our places), but what they most enjoy, and return for, is the experiences with the personalities.

We care about our visitors, and want them to have a wonderful time. We interact with them and try to have fun with them, tell them about ourselves, our wonderful village and Whitewater Valley, and learn about them- who they are, where they are from, what they do.

Yes, we also try to provide them with the best services and our products we can, but when you are outgoing, and engage personalities with them, most people recognize that despite how hard you work, sometimes stuff happens and things will not be perfect. They are quite willing to overlook things as long as we share ourselves with them.

So, in a sense, we realized, we are prostitutes, keeping our businesses alive by selling ourselves. People come for the experience. That experience is unique in Metamora because this is the only place you will find a Catrina, or a Smelly & Head Stinker, and those characters are real people who work to make visitors and guests have a great time and enjoy our unique surroundings.

Sure, there are some shops in Metamora whose proprietors do not understand this concept. But there is a growing number who do. And we’ll be here when you come to visit us.

Small Towns Are Like A Little Baby

Metamora in some ways is like a little baby- it needs a lot of attention from caring people in order to flourish.

I suppose big towns and cities are the same way, but there are more people to go around and do the work in a large population center- and more money too. But our little village of Metamora only has a few hundred people in residence, and many of those just sleep in their quaint little historic homes, mostly on the north side of the canal.

The number of Metamora shopkeepers or business owners that are lucky enough to live in or near the town and care about keeping the history intact, and have the time or resources to actually work at it, is pretty small. Maybe 20 or 30 people. This number includes several local people who don't operate a business in the historic district, but are just as fascinated with the village, and willing to help out.

Those are the ones that make most of the plans and arrangements for the annual Metamora events throughout the year, try to keep the business directories up to date for our visitors (the tourists), get the advertising things made up, decorations put up and taken down, etc. And of course, work their own jobs or operate their own business at the same time.

So if some things aren't always perfect, you'll have to forgive us. We'll try harder next time. If we can just figure out how to re-arrange or stretch some more hours.

But I think we all do it because we think Metamora is one of the most fascinating places in the country. We certainly don't do it for money- there isn't much of that around.

Metamora is truly beautiful and unique. You can almost taste the history of a bygone era that was so important to forming our great nation. So our "little baby" is older than the civil war, but still needs a lot of care to see it flourish.

And that is why we give it our energy- we do it for love of history and the American small town.