To the editor:

To the Town of Warren, I have a question: Whatever happened to Warren Days? As I recall, it was Warren celebrating Warren. Merchants, store owners, restaurants moved on to the sidewalks of town if possible with big sales ands good times.

In those days, you could gobble up sale items at the Gob Shop or gobble lunch at Dan’s WigWam (today they would make Dan change the name as if he were the Cleveland Indians). Iggy Delekta was your drug dealer of choice at Delekta’s Drug Store across the street at Jamiel’s Shoe World you could walk in and the Mayor of Warren as I always called “Tut” would greet you with a smile and a big hello and you would walk out with a new pair of shoes and a smile of your own.

Downtown has changed a lot. I cannot drive by what used to be St. Jean’s without thinking of that kind, gentle priest Father Robert — what a humble man. Iggy, Tut, Fr. Robert, we miss you guys. You made every day Warren Days.

Warren is not my home town. I was born in New York City, raised in Brooklyn and Long Island, but Warren has been my home for over 40 years, and I love living in a small town. Warren is Americana.

It seems to me that over the last decade, Warren pays more attention to Water Street than Main Street. Nothing wrong with that, but why not both? Eating on Warren’s waterfront is a culinary experience, really nice, but for a price. But that’s the same everywhere.

It’s a little late to get Warren Days back this summer, maybe the fall? We all know the economy is in the tank. Just try to fill your gas tank. If you want to blame someone, there’s always Election Day.

I don’t know if Warren Days were celebrated when my late mother-in-law, Ida Nolan, cruised the wooden floors of the A&P on Main Street to the smell of roasted 8 o’clock coffee as she filled her shopping cart and got her plaid stamps.

My point being, bringing back Warren Days can only help Warren and the Warren economy. Maybe for the Christmas holidays? I don’t mean Warren can compete with Black Friday in November, but how about in October when you get your Christmas Club check, you shop Warren for gifts and gift certificate and how about Warren businesses give Warren residents discounts? Then maybe Warren residents, while shopping, can overdose on Coffee Cabinets at Delektas or wieners at Rod’s Grill.

When there were Warren Days, there was no cable TV, but there was television and “Happy Days” and “The Days of Our Lives,” and Archie and Edith sang “Those Were the Days.”

Warren Days, those were the good old days. As Paul Harvey would say, “good day.”

George Carroll
Kenny Drive