I've lived in Fountain Square nearly all of my life. For those counting it's like 40 years (yikes!). I've seen so many changes and not all good either. When the G.C. Murphy store closed, hell even before it closed, we wondered what would happen to that very old building. The neighborhood had a lot of blight at the time. Some would say it still does but bright spots appeared on the horizon.
The arts community found Fountain Square and it's old buildings appealing. Slowly they started to make inwards on the blight. Bringing with them color, life, vibrancy, and most of all hope. The feel of the neighborhood began to change. The Murphy building and the Fountain Square Theater buildings began to show improvements and attracted groups to their large spaces. In a matter of time it became cool to hang out in an older area of the city.
Places like The Murph and FS Theater Building, along with a little place that was Deano's, drew a fun crowd and good times have been had. Deano's has closed now for a couple of years but the growth and life continued with places like Brass Ring and B's Po Boy, Radio Radio, the White Rabbit, the list goes on.
Flash forward a few years to me sitting in the Art Bank talking to my artist friend Danielle and a tall gal over hears me talk about being from Fountain Square. She introduces herself, Kelli, and explains to me that she's on the Arts Council in Fountain Square and is looking to recruit some people. I contacted her group via email and joined their meetings last year about June.
That was the start of my involvement in my community in a positive way. This year I'm chairing the Art Fair of the Fountain Square Art Squared event on 9/22/12. This experience has fulfilled something in me that my day job cannot touch. I have a sense of belonging, a sense of accomplishment, a sense of community that is so strong. This work really makes it hit home that this place helped shape me into the adult that I am as no other place I've visited.
We are not a perfect community. We have problems. But there are people here who try everyday to make life better in our community. People who have love, hope, faith, and a desire to make a difference. I'm proud to be part of that.
I will move away soon but I will always be a part of this neighborhood. There's a connection to this place that moving won't take away. I tried when I was out of high school to get away from it and it pulled me back in when life elsewhere wasn't what I imagined it to be. I came home.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
Roller Coaster Trip!
What a great weekend! This trip was talked about for awhile and then became a reality which is always wonderful. Our friends invited us to go to Cedar Point. A place for roller coaster enthusiasts from everywhere to visit at least once. Doug's parents live near Toledo and were our hosts for the weekend. That was a big savings since we didn't need a hotel room.
His parents were wonderful hosts and so gracious. Beautiful home. It was cool to see where my friend grew up. I've not visited Northern Ohio before. Lovely neighborhoods up there. We drove out of Indy in the rain and at times didn't go over the speed limit due to it. It was a safe drive though so we are grateful. We loaded up on pizza and chips for the road, made a pit stop or two and arrived in about four hours.
Saturday morning we were up about 7:30am and Doug's mom made a great breakfast. We took our time getting ready and then it was off at 11am for the park. Cedar Point was open 12-10 that day. Erik and I have season passes and the promotion that weekend was bring a friend for $14.99 plus our passes paid for parking. A great savings for our friends. Plus it was $1 32-ounce soft drinks for card holders as well.
Weather was beautiful, chilly at first but it got to a very comfortable temperature in the afternoon. We rode the Raptor first and it was awesome, slinging our feet above our heads as we rode. We walked to the back of the park at least twice. I wish I would've had on my pedometer to log the steps because I'm telling you it felt like miles! Not to mention the steps taken to get to some of these rides.
We bought some of the souvenir photos as we don't know for sure when we'll get back and it was fun to pose for those, as you can see from this example.
We called it quits after riding all the major coasters we could. We don't do things that just spin and no Farris wheels. It was a great day in that you could walk up and get on almost any ride. The longest wait we had was 30-minutes, most were 15-minutes or less.
We decided to get dinner outside the park to save some money. We collected our furry friend who had been in the kennel for the day ($15). We stopped at Casa Real and it was really good food. Would stop there again if given the chance.
Doug's parents were asleep when we got home. We were not awake for very long either. The next morning we slept later and needed it! Doug's mom and dad made breakfast again and Doug's brother and family came over to visit. We left out about noon heading to Michigan.
We stopped in Dundee, MI to shop at Cabella's, a huge store and they had some great sales going on but alas I left empty handed. Next up was the Grand Traverse Pie Company for cherry crumb pie. I gained 5 pounds looking at the menu! We got those to go. I brought mom a small pie, brownie and I ate the cookie!
Next we went into Ann Arbor, MI to visit the famous Zingerman's Deli, as seen on the Food Network. The line wrapped to the side of the building but moved quickly. They have a great variety of cheeses, meats, mustard, olive oils and so much more from around the world. I got the Ruben on Jewish Rye with Russian dressing. It was good, but Fat Dan's in Broad Ripple is still better! I'm glad we stopped. Zingerman's has this funky vibe, not unusual for a college town.
We hit the road and made the long drive home to Indy. It was a great weekend in general. I couldn't stay awake on the way home and later felt bad that Doug did all the driving. Erik and Danielle did their share of napping as well so I wasn't alone. Even Biscuit slept and luckily didn't gas bomb the car on the way home as he did several times on the way up!
Hope to get back to Cedar Point again next year! Thanks to our hosts, The Scotts, and our friends for driving and entertaining us!
Ride on!
His parents were wonderful hosts and so gracious. Beautiful home. It was cool to see where my friend grew up. I've not visited Northern Ohio before. Lovely neighborhoods up there. We drove out of Indy in the rain and at times didn't go over the speed limit due to it. It was a safe drive though so we are grateful. We loaded up on pizza and chips for the road, made a pit stop or two and arrived in about four hours.
Saturday morning we were up about 7:30am and Doug's mom made a great breakfast. We took our time getting ready and then it was off at 11am for the park. Cedar Point was open 12-10 that day. Erik and I have season passes and the promotion that weekend was bring a friend for $14.99 plus our passes paid for parking. A great savings for our friends. Plus it was $1 32-ounce soft drinks for card holders as well.
Weather was beautiful, chilly at first but it got to a very comfortable temperature in the afternoon. We rode the Raptor first and it was awesome, slinging our feet above our heads as we rode. We walked to the back of the park at least twice. I wish I would've had on my pedometer to log the steps because I'm telling you it felt like miles! Not to mention the steps taken to get to some of these rides.
We called it quits after riding all the major coasters we could. We don't do things that just spin and no Farris wheels. It was a great day in that you could walk up and get on almost any ride. The longest wait we had was 30-minutes, most were 15-minutes or less.
We decided to get dinner outside the park to save some money. We collected our furry friend who had been in the kennel for the day ($15). We stopped at Casa Real and it was really good food. Would stop there again if given the chance.
Doug's parents were asleep when we got home. We were not awake for very long either. The next morning we slept later and needed it! Doug's mom and dad made breakfast again and Doug's brother and family came over to visit. We left out about noon heading to Michigan.
We stopped in Dundee, MI to shop at Cabella's, a huge store and they had some great sales going on but alas I left empty handed. Next up was the Grand Traverse Pie Company for cherry crumb pie. I gained 5 pounds looking at the menu! We got those to go. I brought mom a small pie, brownie and I ate the cookie!
Next we went into Ann Arbor, MI to visit the famous Zingerman's Deli, as seen on the Food Network. The line wrapped to the side of the building but moved quickly. They have a great variety of cheeses, meats, mustard, olive oils and so much more from around the world. I got the Ruben on Jewish Rye with Russian dressing. It was good, but Fat Dan's in Broad Ripple is still better! I'm glad we stopped. Zingerman's has this funky vibe, not unusual for a college town.
We hit the road and made the long drive home to Indy. It was a great weekend in general. I couldn't stay awake on the way home and later felt bad that Doug did all the driving. Erik and Danielle did their share of napping as well so I wasn't alone. Even Biscuit slept and luckily didn't gas bomb the car on the way home as he did several times on the way up!
Hope to get back to Cedar Point again next year! Thanks to our hosts, The Scotts, and our friends for driving and entertaining us!
Ride on!
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