SMALL TOWNS SOMETIMES present images of time standing still.
History lingers.
The past writes in to the future.
Long-time grassroots businesses maintain a presence, some strong, others struggling against the consumer pull to regional shopping centers, to discount and chain stores.
Watering holes still lure in the locals with icy beer and plenty of BS, enough to crank up the town rumor mill.
Signs of change creep in. An aging populace. Technology. New needs.
But always the community webs together, lines interconnecting those who call this place, this small town, home.
#
(All of these images were taken recently along two side streets and an alley off Main Street in Waterville, Minnesota.)
FYI: Please click here to read my first post from Waterville. And check back for more photos from this southern Minnesota community.
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
A positive comment regarding power lines; I like it (last photo). I typically despise them as they muck up most every image composition when present.
You and I agree on that mucking, Dan.
But you see the same thing I did in this image, where the power lines tell a story. Therefore, we’re OK with them in this pic.
I like the power lines! In a small town — this or any other — it reminds me of how lives in a small town seem to criss-cross, overlap and intersect. Very nice photo essay, thank you!
Thank you. That’s exactly what those power lines showed me, how lives interconnect in small towns.