The quaint and unusual.

Pine City. Sounds like a nice place. With lots of pine trees.  But turns out that Pine City is nondescript. Too ordinary to suit my taste. Normally, I like small towns. And Pine City is small. Along Interstate 35 in Minnesota.  The Chamber of Commerce won’t like me. For not liking Pine City. Though before I left on Saturday, I was lucky. To have wandered into Sauser’s Hardware store. Located off Main Street.  Been in business for 105 years. Run by the same family all that time. Grandfather, father, son, grandson. I bought two light bulbs. And the purchase was rung up on a 105-year-old silver-plated cash register. An original. Meanwhile, I took notice that much of Main Street was lined with lawn chairs. Maybe 1,000 or so. Of all colors and shapes and designs.  Thought for a while that maybe there was a unique lawn chair festival going on. Not so. A parade in conjunction with The Pine County Fair was going to traipse through town in a few hours. And townsfolk had their personal reserved seats ready and waiting. But I didn’t stick around. Instead, my choice was to drive 20 miles to the east. Into Wisconsin. To the small town of Grantsburg. With a tiny downtown. Including a café. Where I wanted to catch lunch. Unfortunately, everything was closed. Grantsburg shuts down on weekends. Open for business only Mondays through Fridays. Makes the town a little quaint and unusual. Now I’m looking for a small town that stays open only on weekends. If you know of any, please tell me.  –Jim Broede