On Memorial Day, my husband, Clif, and I decided to give ourselves a day of rest with no household chores or projects. (The day before, we had had a feast honoring our ancestors.) Except for hanging laundry and watering plants, we stuck to our plan. The day was sunny and warm, the blackflies were gone for the season, and we spent a pleasant day on the patio, where we ate both breakfast and lunch, read, and, yes, even dozed a little.

Midafternoon, we roused ourselves for a bike ride along Memorial Drive, a fairly flat road (for Winthrop!) that goes by Maranacook Lake. As we rolled along, the water sparkled on one side, and a loon swam in a small cove. Young boys with nets patrolled the water for minnows. We smelled hot dogs and hamburgers cooking on grills. A large flat-bottomed boat, with lots of people, made its slow, serene way not far from the shoreline. We went about six miles, and when we were done, we decided we needed a sweet, refreshing reward. In short, we needed an ice cream from Tubby’s. (For the complete “scoop” about Tubby’s, see my post Tubby’s Is Coming to Town.)

Tubby’s in Winthrop was supposed to open the end of May. However, as is often the case, actual construction has fallen behind opening plans, and although the place—a once drab industrial building—is coming along nicely, it clearly isn’t ready to be open for business. This meant we had to drive to Wayne, seven or so very hilly miles away from Winthrop. (Clif and I both agreed we weren’t in good enough shape to bike up those hills. Maybe we will be by the end of the summer.)

“I wonder when Tubby’s in Winthrop will be opening?” I asked.

“Don’t know,” Clif answered.

“I’m going to ask,” I replied. “How cool will it be to go for our bike ride and then swing by Tubby’s for an ice cream?”

As it turned out, I didn’t have to ask. There was a sign on the window at the Wayne Tubby’s. It read: The take out window at our Winthrop store will be opening June 18th. Or something to that effect.

June 18^th! Yes, Tubby’s is behind schedule, but in a few weeks, we’ll have our nice, relatively flat bike ride and our ice cream, too. We weren’t the only ones who were excited. A couple from Manchester, a town just outside Augusta, had driven all the way to Wayne to get some of Tubby’s ice cream, and they were thrilled they would only have to drive to Winthrop for their Tubby’s fix.

As luck would have it, the great man behind it all—Skip Strong—was resting on the deck in front of Tubby’s. He looked tired, but he wasn’t too tired to speak enthusiastically of all the wonderful treats that would be coming to the Winthrop Tubby’s—the ice cream, of course, the lobster rolls, chicken tenders, and, eventually, even breakfast a couple of times a week. He also spoke of how thrilled he was with the way the building was shaping up.

The woman from Manchester said, “Maybe this will bring back some life to downtown Winthrop.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Skip replied.

So are Clif and I. When we first moved to Winthrop, the downtown was full of little businesses—a hardware store, a five and dime, a pizza place, a craft store, and two clothing stores for women. One by one, they blinked out. How could they compete with the chain stores in Augusta? And, during the day, too many people were working someplace other than Winthrop. As a result, there were too few people in town to keep those shops going during regular business hours.

Other businesses have come and gone, and the main street, while not exactly vibrant, is not totally shabby, either. With a little effort, it could make a comeback, and as Winthrop’s population ages, there are more and more people in town during the day. While an aging population is not so good for the school system, it might very well give a boost to the community in other ways.

When I think about community, I am reminded about something the Dalai Lama said in a film called 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama: “When traditions are good, keep them. When traditions are not good, don’t keep them.”

Community is a tradition worth keeping, even though we let it slip away, first with the automobile and then with strip development with its miles and miles of parking lots. How good we are at tarring things!

Perhaps one of the great benefits of peak oil will be a return to community. As gasoline becomes ever more expensive, people won’t be able to drive as much, and they will rediscover the virtues of their own towns. Perhaps they will haul out their bikes and begin riding again, with the sun shining down on them as they hear the sound of children playing, and the smells of summer surround them. If they are very lucky, there will be an ice cream waiting for them at the end of their ride, and because they have gotten so much fresh air and exercise, they can relax and enjoy their ice cream, knowing they will burn off the calories on the way home.