This letter is in response to Karen Vachon’s lament (The Current, April 5) about the “depressing and boring” southern side of Scarborough.

I happen to live on the southern side of Scarborough and am proud of my home, neighbors and the surrounding area. There is much to offer on the southern side, or this side of the tracks. My home abuts Peterson Field. My family can walk to two ice cream shops, Bayley’s Restaurant, the Eastern Trail, and enjoy the seasonal beauty of the Scarborough Marsh. We can bike to Pine Point Beach and many of our friends’ homes.

I generally understand Karen’s point of view, but I do think that she has to come out of her corner more frequently. Scarborough, as a whole, is in transition and needs to determine in the next five to 10 years what and/or who it wants to be. Yes, we need more diversity of offerings and small businesses that bring life and interest to our town, not only for the residents but also for those who visit from away.

Yes, the Orion Center continues to be an ugly blemish dangling on the edge of our town center. Karen stated it well: “Variety will keep people living, working and shopping in Scarborough.” However, I think that she needed to travel a little bit farther and look a little bit harder in order to see and appreciate what has been developing “on the southern side of town.”

St. Nicholas Church (a more recent addition that took the place of a hot tub store) is right across from the entrance from Scarborough Downs and offers much, including Fiddlehead Arts. There is the Freaky Bean, which I frequent often, and have had a number of relaxing moments with my friends and colleagues. Not only does Freaky Bean offer piping hot cups of Joe, but also free music over the weekends. There is a new deli, Mac’s, which sells deli meats and sandwiches, and has a selection of beer, wine and other items on which to nosh. Passing through the subtle but beautiful marsh and arriving in Dunstan, we have a new child’s furniture store where Ardith Keef used to reside. A new diner is also in its later stages of construction.

It is an ugly time of the year, with the dirty snow piles sitting at the sides of the roads and muddy footprints tracking through our houses, and we all look for rebirth after the long, slumbering darkness we call winter. I like to think that Scarborough is on the edge of it’s rebirth with its 350th coming fast. With the celebration of Scarborough’s 350 years of incorporation, it is an opportunity to draw upon the past and think about what we wish to maintain in our town and utilize the present to shape the future of what our town will become.

I look forward to celebrating our town’s anniversary and joining together with our Scarborough friends and families. However, I kindly ask all to be appreciative and thoughtful of our fellow residents – no matter on which side of town they live.

Abi Ordway

Scarborough

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