On 18 July 2009, tens of thousands of photographers participated in Scott Kelby's WorldWidePhotoWalk ( http://worldwidephotowalk.com/) in about 1000 cities around the world.

Thirty three of us walked about the downtown of my home, Ames, Iowa. Like many such towns the downtown became a distressed area many years ago as the bigger stores moved to "the mall". Ames has worked hard to restore the downtown by redoing the main street, planting trees, installing benches, and just generally beautifying the downtown main street. It is now full of small specialty shops which continue to prosper even in these times.

We started at the east end which is dominated by the power plant and walked up and down the mainstreet. There are views looking up and down the street, views of some of the shops. The city commissioned art work for blank building walls and there are also many interesting pieces of art. One block to the north of Main is 5th street which has had some renovation. It is home to the stately buildings of the newspaper and the funeral home. There are a couple of "sleazier" businesses as well, but one has fallen on hard times. On Main Street there are only three businesses done in by the hard times.

Between Main and 5th is an old-fashioned alley and even that has been beautified by some owners. There is where you find the only graffiti to be seen in the downtown area and even that seems harmless.

I hope you enjoy the photo walk. The last stop is the watering hole