Blast From The Past - Harry's Meat Market

This is my sweet little village in about 1962.  All the store fronts were full.  We had at least two grocery stores downtown.  There were two furniture stores in town.  One downtown.  This picture was taken before main street became one way.  You can see why they had to make it one way.  The traffic is crazy!!
The reason I love this picture is, my Dad had a grocery store/meat market downtown.  We do not have a picture of it.  This is the only picture I have seen that has it.  My Dad's store had two awnings.  A larger awning and a small awning. To the left of his store was a barbershop and Art's Bird Store, now known as Turtle's Tap. 
I have many great memories from my Dad's store.  My Dad was a butcher.  Farmers would bring cows in and my Dad would handle the entire process of butchering them.  I was not allowed to watch.  One day I begged.  I said, I am old enough, I can watch.  I was not old enough.  I lasted about two minutes.  I was allowed to watch my Dad cut meat.  I loved it.  He was so fast.  I was fascinated with how he would take a huge side of beef and make the different cuts.  He had a huge butcher block he cut the meat on. At the end of the day he would clean it.  He used several brushes and sawdust. My Dad always had a band-aid on at least one finger.  Part of the job. 
Another part I enjoyed watching was him sharpening the knives.  He had a long thick rod that looked like a sword.  This is what he would sharpen the knives on.  All of it was well executed repetition.  It was like a dance.  Some of the things were played out day after day.
Most of the time there was a pot of coffee brewing in his backroom.  It was a place farmers would go to hang out.  The would be in there laughing and talking.  I am sure it was a great place for them to gossip. 
Every night by 6:05 the phone would ring at home.  My Dad would call to see if my Mom needed him to bring anything home.  The answer was milk, bread, or both.  Some evenings if we wanted a special bedtime snack, we would go up to the store.  I can remember walking up and down the aisles looking for something special.  My Dad's favorite was root beer floats.
I wish I had a close up of this picture.  Not that I need it.  In my mind I can picture everything.  I can smell all the great smells.  I can see my Dad behind the lunch meat counter or in the backroom at the butcher block.  The business was sold when I was in Fourth Grade.  The reason it was sold was because of new laws.  Everything in the store would have had to be updated.  No more butcher blocks.  No more sawdust.  It all had to be stainless steel.  New rules for slaughtering animals.  It was the end of an era in our house.  The night before the auction we made one last trip to the store to find a bed time snack.  Good memories.