- by Anne Finlay-Stewart

Riverside Yarns describes itself as "A local yarn shop located in a beautiful heritage building in downtown Owen Sound"

The store at 928 2nd Ave. East posted these frightening words on Facebook to its loyal customers on Friday...

"Dear Knitters,
Unfortunately our store was subject to a random act of arson early this morning. Damage appears to be minimal but we will be closed for the rest of the day to regroup. Thanks for your understanding."

We now know that this was one of the five acts of arson, committed downtown in those early hours of the morning, that displaced tenants and closed businesses. Noone was physically injured, and in the middle of it all, those affected were still thinking of others.

Accordung to Bayshore Broadcasting, "Lorne Rich, owner of Kornblum's Menswear says the fire department went above and beyond for him, rescuing a dozen tuxedos needed for two different wedding parties on Saturday. They were sent to Douglas Cleaners right away so those weddings will be able to go on without a wrinkle in their plans."

This is community.

Riverside Yarns followed up with another post -

"Everything is ok!!!

We were incredibly lucky and the fire didn't damage the interior of the store at all. A lean-to at the back was burned to the ground, as well as our dear landlord's car. Thankfully he is ok!

Back to business as usual "

And what is usual in Riverside? One Facebook reviewer describes it this way: "Just going into the peaceful environment makes ones blood pressure return to normal." 

When you support locally owned, downtown businesses, you keep these treasures in our city.