We had a sweet evening at the Round House Cafe, the Deena Chappell Trio played and sang for two hours, beautiful American and country music.

I believe there is good news just on the horizon for the Round House, the word is they are close to reaching an agreement to keep the cafe in our community, thanks in great measure to the support so many of you have given them through their gofundme campaign, which has raised nearly $65,000 to help the cafe either buy their building or find a similar space.

It’s not really for me to disclose the details of this, but I think the cafe will be able to remain right in the heart of our community, as we hoped and fought for, if not necessarily in the same building, which may have simply been priced out of their range. Other quite wonderful options have materialized, and my sense is that one of them is close to being finalized.

But this is for the Carrino’s to announce, not me.

All over rural America, towns are fighting for their community, and we may have won an important victory and offered up a model for other small towns to keep their institutions intact and in town.

Tonight, sitting at the Round House with Maria, eating some great pizza, drinking some fine wine, listening to all of this great and free music, we  both said how lucky we are to live in this community. And we are hopeful of keeping our community cafe right in the middle of town.

Scott and Lisa Carrino have worked so hard for this idea of community, it may be very close. Stay tuned.