We Believe

Last summer, members of the community came together to paint blocks on a colorful mural, which now hangs on Academy Street in Kingstree, reminding us all that "We Believe in Kingstree." 

The thin metal background with a design by Cait Goins and Rod McCants awaits

Kingstree's creative touch.

Other small, rural communities across the country are also finding ways to make their belief in their towns tangible. The folks at SaveYour.Town, an online community dedicated to pulling together resources for predominantly rural small towns, have come up with the Small Town Creed, from which the rest of the printed material in this blog post is taken.

We are a community of possibilities, not of problems. 

We are action takers. 

We are optimistic.

It's not about the way this town used to be.

We have people right now, assets right here, and we can take action right away.

We create the moments that show what this town could be,

and the places that take our breaths away, if only just for a moment.

What we create doesn't have to be permanent to create possibility.

We don't care about titles or who holds official positions.

No one can stop us from doing the little things that really matter.

We'd rather help 10 people try their own ideas than to hold a vote and tell everyone

to support the winner.

That might be more efficient, but efficiency isn't our goal.

Community is our goal.

We don't let statistics and negative reports beat us up.

Those numbers are nothing but a snapshot in time.

What we do next is up to us.

We aren't changing our town to attract others to come save us.

We are valuing the people who are here now and what we all want to create together.

That means everyone, every single one.

People of all ages, all ethnicities, all backgrounds, all incomes,

people who are new in town, and people who have been here for generations.

We all want a thriving town with a future.

We thrive by doing more business together.

We celebrate the entrepreneurs, the businesspeople, dreamers, makers, artists,

experimenters, performers, crafters, bakers, upcyclers, junkers,

people who sell in booths and homes, and parking lots, and trucks, and sheds.

Together we prosper, right here where we are.

We are creating the community we want one small step at a time.

It's nothing short of a revolution in how we build our town together.

We can do it now!

This photo courtesy of Mayor Darren Tisdale.