There are so many halls of fame, we need a hall of fame for them, too. So, we’re on a search, much like Amazon’s hunt for HQ2 but on a smaller scale. Oh, and we want to draw tourists to otherwise insignificant minor cities. One city, really.
Like who would visit Cooperstown if the Baseball Hall of Fame weren’t there? Or Canton OH if the football hall of fame weren’t there? How about Rochester? Now that both Kodak and Xerox are skeletonized, count on the National Toy Hall of Fame to bring in those tourist dollars.
Cleveland has two halls of fame, Rock n Roll and Polka. So does Nashville. The Country Music and Grammy Award halls. It doesn’t seem fair.
Then there are the ones you never seem to hear about.
--The Before Their Time Big Box and Department Store Hall of Fame. Members include B. Altman’s Orbach’s Gimbles, Bonwitt Teller, Abraham and Straus, John Wannamaker, Mays, Stern’s and Bamberger’s.
Also: Klein’s, Korvette’s, Pergament, Times Square Stores, Toys R Us, and probably the biggest of them all, Marshal Field. The Lord and Taylor pavilion is under construction and they’re building a new wing for Sears and Kmart.
But you don’t have to go out of business to be in the smaller halls. Fast food and chain restaurants have their hall, too. Included: McDonald’s, Burger King, Applebee’s, TGI Friday, Chili’s, Cracker Barrel, Wendy’s, Mr. Donut, Dunkin’, KFC, Denny’s, Jahn’s, Schrafft’s, Child’s, Mr. Softee, Carvel, Howard Johnson’s, Starbucks. And there’s a special exhibit of New York City coffee carts and a full-scale reconstruction of a soda fountain transported piece by piece from Rexall's in Sutton NH.
Men’s clothing fans are building their own hall. They’re going to call it Robert Hall Hall. But there’ll be room aplenty for Howard, Crawford, Sym’s, and the later and still-open entries, Men’s Wearhouse, Jos. A. Banks, Kohl’s, and Johnny Cupcake’s.
And let’s not forget the Great Evangelists’ Hall in Big Sandy TX. There, you can learn all about Herbert W. and Garner Ted Armstrong, Billy Graham, Jim Bakker, Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, Mary Baker Eddy and Madalyn Murray O’Hare.
The point here is to bring exhibits from these halls to a central location. We’re thinking Covington KY. Good airport. And why else would anyone visit Covington?
Other plans include an annual red carpet award. There are so many award ceremonies these days there should be an award ceremony for the best award ceremony.
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them.
Correspondence: wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2019
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