Mil, one year later; 9/11, eight years later

MILO — This past week was one filled with anniversaries of the sentimental sort.
The eight-year mark of September 11 came Friday without the similar fanfare that had come to mark the day in the past. There were the standard memorials that took place and there were the TV specials, but the day since dubbed as Patriots Day seemed much more subdued than it has in years past.
To a certain extent, that’s a good thing. Now before people start shouting at me that I’m not patriotic or sensitive to the nature of one of our nation’s gravest days in its 250-plus year history, I by no means am saying we should forget what happened all those years ago. Instead, our relaxed nature about the day means we may have found it in ourselves to move on to a little bit — much in the way our nation remembers Pearl Harbor.
That being said, the documentaries that were aired on the History Channel last Friday night of that fateful day — with the sights and sounds of the Twin Towers in New York City — still are hard to watch. The whole event still brought deep chills to my spine and tears to my eyes, even eight years later. I doubt that will ever really change.
Another anniversary was marked, one that hit closer to home on Monday. The Piscataquis County Economic Development Council hosted its annual fall quarterly meeting on Monday, Sept. 14 at the new Hobknobbers Pub in Milo — a year to the day that the old pub was the sight of an arson fire that spread from the tavern on Main Street to the adjoining buildings, taking out five buildings in total and displacing five businesses and two apartments, one that included a family.
Monday was the first day that Hobknobbers reopened, and it opened with a packed house as numerous county leaders came to listen to the state legislative delegation from Piscataquis County and talk about the council’s goals for the future. The sight of a former hospital, the new bar looked great from the inside and added a number of features that tied the tavern to the old hospital, including using the old light above the surgery table to illuminate the bar.
While the meeting was going on, dozens of people gathered on the gravel patch that used to house the Milo True Value, flower shop, game stop, theatre and pub for a commemoration. A band played as the sidewalk filled — in some spots as much as three to four people deep — just to remember what happened one year ago.
Plans are in place, thanks in large part to the PCEDC, to replace what was lost in the fire with a new block of downtown businesses that is sure to attract people to the heart of this eastern Piscataquis County town. Who knows, in another year’s time, maybe that block will be rebuilt and a larger festival held in the nearby parks to celebrate what had risen from such a terrible loss.
There is some good that can come from both these anniversaries, some lessons to learn and things to remember. It’s just good to see, in both instances, that we as a region are moving forward to make our lives better while never forgetting those key events in our past.