SquirrelHillNews.com

Yesterday, July 2nd, we noticed the banners had gone up for the Squirrel Hill Happening, set for July 14, 15 and 16.

In typical fashion, that's how we, and a lot of other businesses not on Forbes, "part of the family" found out about it.

For over 13 years, we've been in business here in Squirrel Hill, and for 3 years, we've had our retail shop open to the public. This will be our 4th Squirrel Hill Happening, and not once have we ever gotten any pre-information on it. We are not alone. Most businesses not on Forbes have been slighted this way. That was the impetus to set up this site. To promote the "other" Squirrel Hill -- the actual HILL part of the area.

In the past year or two, a lot of businesses have gone out. There have been many store fronts open up. A new Deli is coming in, Folio Papers just closed their doors, and a new Knitting shop is opening up in the Morrowfield Shops. The carpet store has also closed, the computer store moved to Hobart along with an arts and crafts shop from Penn Circle, and one of the real estate agencies moved to smaller quarters. The old Squirrel Hill Hardware shop has again changed hands, with the closing of the 2nd dollar store. Rumor has it, a convenience store is on the way.

In short, there is a major changing of the faces all along Murray, and on Forbes. There are a lot of new neighbors, we are ALL part of Squirrel Hill, and EVERYONE should be invited to the party.

How may of these new shops were invited to the "party" so people could get to know them? From what I've overheard, not many, if any.

It's presumptuous for Forbes Avenue shops to lay claim to "Squirrel Hill" and not invite the rest of the "hill" to the party.

Last year, the "happening" was so "not" happening, we really didn't expect to see one this year. Needless to say, I was pretty surprised to see the banners go up. Maybe, keeping it a secret from the bulk of the businesses that would support it is part of the problem?