Nostalgia has hit me this summer. Perhaps it is because I have reconnected with many people in my life that were important to me years ago. It seems to have been a summer of renewing lost friendships.

Perhaps it is because our community seems to be alive with celebrating and honoring what was. The words “On Wells High School, On Wells High School, We will win tonight” rattles through my brain each time I drive through Main Street.

It was a line from my old high school fight song. The chant “We are the Wildcats, the mighty, mighty Wildcats. Everywhere we go, people want to know, who we are, so we tell them. We are the Wildcats, the mighty, mighty Wildcats” is also jumping in my brain. When I attended Wells High School, we were the Wildcats. The Mighty Wildcats!

The reason those words start haunting me is the relocated restaurant “The Wildcat” named after “The Wells Wildcats.” After two years on a side street it recently relocated to Main Street. You can’t miss it as it is bright purple with gold painted on its storefront. It not only brightens Main Street, but it brings back those old memories.

The purple will lure you in. The food will make you come back time and time again. The memories of the Wildcats live on in the bar side of “The Wildcat.” While you are reliving memories or acquainting yourself with who “The Wells Wildcats” were you can sample the Laotian Cuisine, which is new to the restaurant.

Visit at the noon hour and you can sample such things as pad tai, chicken basil or tilapia with tomato Asian sauce. The specials vary from day to day so you can be adventurous. We can’t forget about the homemade egg rolls. The new chef, Dan Sylavong, knows how to tempt your taste buds.

If you venture over a few blocks in Wells you will experience the depot project. A group of dedicated volunteers have been working hard since 2005 to raise money to bring the old train depot back to life and to its original state. This makes me nostalgic as well because I lived on the wrong side of the tracks. I am not sure what side that was, if it was the north side or the south side, but since I don’t want to make people who lived on the south side feel bad I will lay claim to living on the wrong side of the tracks, which was the north side.

Living next to the railroad tracks and down the road from the depot was very interesting and fun. My grandfather used to shovel coal in the railroad yard. As a child I met the hobos who rode the trains that came knocking on the door for a handout. It wasn’t unusual to see one talking to my uncle in the pasture as he was tending to the cows. It was always fun to watch the trains and walk along side of the tracks to visit the depot. Once in a while my parents would let us ride the train to Alden or Albert Lea. It was a treat.

The depot is now receiving a new roof and the brick is being cleaned. Soon the Wells Historical Society will have all of its hard work rewarded by seeing the depot restored so we can preserve some of our history of the Wells community. The depot was at the point of being demolished when these volunteers took on this huge task. They had a dream and they have proved that dreams can become a reality.

We live in a world where it is easy to forget about our roots and our past. Buildings are demolished, Main Street windows are boarded up in vintage buildings to preserve heat, not minding that the beautiful architecture of these buildings may be changed forever.

How can we build on a future if we don’t preserve some of the past that got us to where we are today? Perhaps remembering our foundation might change the way we live in our society today. If you look at the beautiful architecture of some of our Main Street buildings you have to marvel at the craftsmanship that went into those buildings. Compared some of those buildings to the Walmarts and big-box buildings we have today, those builders were truly artists.

If we do not preserve our past, then our future is shaky because we need to understand what it took to get to today. We need to understand the hardships and the sacrifices and the stamina and the work that it took to build a great nation. We need to look at our past. We need to look at our accomplishments and our failures in order to go forward.

Some people think that living in a small community leaves you standing still in life. We may not have fast-food restaurants, huge million dollar houses or a Walmart or lots of traffic, but we have people who understand that you have to preserve the past for future generations. We have to remember our past to build our future.

We are the Wildcats, the mighty, mighty Wildcats. Everywhere we go, people want to know who we are.

And so we tell them. We are a proud community that remembers our past and preserves it for future generations.