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The teenage Bryan was not the best Bryan. His personality was peppered with traits which, thank God, washed away in the sea of life. The old me enjoyed causing division and strife; a favorite past time in those halls of learning? Poking fun at how inferior Federalsburg was, as compared to ever superior Preston. Never could I have imagined what the future would hold for me.
Pop-Pop Gadow, farmer extraordinaire, had been widowed twice when loneliness again caught up with him. He left the farm to remarry but, alas, things didn’t work out so well. Seeking a temporary place to lay his head (and plant his butter beans) he settled on a hip-roofed bungalow just inside the city limits of Federalsburg. When he left us, I decided to give this old town a shake. It didn’t seem so bad, really. Oh, back in my teens I might have found it run-down, tired, downtrodden, but on closer inspection there was hope here.
One of the better mayors in my time here was Betty Ballas, but there was one thing she said that I never liked. It went something like this: “Federalsburg isn’t Mayberry, and it never was.” But, Betty, I really WANT it to be! Oh, but I get it. The whole notion of that mythical burg, well, I know it’s just “Hollywood.” I’ve been to Mt. Airy, NC, Andy Griffith’s hometown and the basis for Mayberry. I left there with a very warm feeling in my heart despite the fact that it really wasn’t like TV. And it never was. What the people there had built: no mere tourist trap. They had taken those old storefronts and created magic.
There’s not much magic on Main Street, Federalsburg today. Squint and it still looks like it did, but things are just... off. I marvel at the fact that, when I was a young child, there was a movie theater, a pair of banks, a supermarket, dime stores, a men’s store, a shoe store...on and on. Now, they’re not coming back, you know? That’s not pessimism. No, really, they don’t have to come back. But, something has to happen. And something positive very much CAN. Things are starting to gel. Tell me, what have St. Michaels, Berlin, Easton, Chestertown got that this town on the Marshyhope doesn’t have?
It’s been tough but, in time, I’ve come to call Federalsburg my hometown. It’s been getting a lot of bad press of late. Social media is loaded with vicious comments, mostly by people who have failed to read the whole article. Yes, the town is millions in debt. No, that money wasn’t stolen. Some of us knew about that debt years and years ago. Some could see the train-wreck coming, but hoped for a last minute reprieve from...somewhere.
On Facebook, people call for the entire mayor and council to be replaced. To this I ask, replace with who? (With whom?) Can you name five other people in this town who could do the job, who should do the job, who WOULD do the job? I’ve looked into this whole affair enough to know, it’s more of a knot than anything I want to try and untangle.
The motto of our town: Pride in the Past, Faith in the Future. It’s time to really show some faith, to come together, stay together, work together, and lift this little town to new heights. Mayberry on the Marshyhope? Hey, just an idea!
