As I headed out of Clarksville Commons Saturday it occurred to me that I needed something from a hardware store and that I hadn’t been inside Kendall’s in quite some time.
Why not? I was right there.
In case you have never been, Kendall’s before Christmas is a delightful combination of mom and pop community hardware store around the edges (and the back) and Christmas goods in the middle. Need a screwdriver? No problem. You can also pick up some ornaments and a few stocking presents while you are at it.
When I walked in a young cashier greeted me and asked if I was looking for something in particular and I told her. She paused ringing up items for a second and gave me the aisle number. It was an auspicious beginning.
I’m not a big fan of Christmas displays before Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, I felt as though I had walked into Kendall’s at the precise moment when everything had been set up to its best advantage and several customers were beginning to explore the aisles of sparkling treasures. Not wildly busy. Not crowded. Just enough of everything.
It might have been the perfectly curated set of a Halllmark Christmas movie.
In a few weeks the selection may be diminished and shoppers will be weary. Saturday I had such a hopeful feeling of the beginning of things. I guess that’s the reward people get for shopping early and I clearly need to give some serious thought to that. Maybe next year.
In aisle 23 I found my bathroom sink sized plunger, then decided to check if they carried Command hooks. They do. I bought a bag of fancy fuit and sunflower feed for the bigger birds who eat on the ground. I was, as my mother used to say, just enjoying “noodling around” the store.
At the front of the Christmas section there was a book on display.
“How Columbia came to Howard County, 1900-2023: Big Changes, How one Farmer Changed with the Changes,” Alfred Bassler, self-published, 12/26/2024
If that isn’t a local story I don’t know what is. I had a lot of fun doing a basic search on Mr. Bassler yesterday. I found myself learning about airstrips and zoning conflicts and even a Watermelon Party.
As to the Watermelon Party, it was held in Catonsville and written up in the Society Pages in 1912. Mr. Bassler’s father George was on the guest list. There are days I truly wish I were writing those stories.
Outgoing County Council member David Yungmann once said to me at a HoCoBlogs party that everything in a place like Howard County comes down to either education or land use. It might be interesting to read Bassler’s book with that in mind, although at this moment I’m way more fascinated by airstrips and watermelon parties.
This is a memoir and Bassler, now 97, is not a historian. Still, it is first-hand local storytelling of a time that many of us don’t know much about. Sure, you could buy it on Amazon but - - why wouldn’t you want to go to Kendall’s and have the whole mom and pop HoCo local business experience?
As they say, act now and avoid the Christmas rush.
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