Wednesday, January 25, 2017

"Of Northside Sites and the Circus" by Rose Lucas


I try to take different routes when I am going to and from the neighborhood so I can share in the sites.  Some are great, some are funny, and some need to be addressed. 

Two great housing sites:  the house on the corner of Toner and West Sixth Street that recently sold to a family.  I remember the family who lived there when I was growing up and whose son would play with us.  They would be so happy to see the house in its present form and know a family was living there.
In the 300 block of North Martin Luther King, a new house is being built, complete with an attached two car garage.  It is nice to see that construction.

A funny one:  driving north on Jefferson a week or so ago, I saw chickens out pecking on the front sidewalk.  A man sat on the porch watching them, so I guess they are well behaved and will not run into the street!  This reminded me of the rooster that lived on Upper Street behind our house and called us early every morning. 

To be addressed:  the trash all around the neighborhood.  I try to pick up as much as I can around my home and office, but there is a lot of paper and litter all over.  I hope each neighbor can address this issue in her or his own way.

Onto to the circus – some of my best early memories are of going to the big tent circus when it came to town.  It was so much fun to watch the circus unload downtown along Water Street and see the parade to the circus grounds.  I cannot remember the exact locations of the tents for every circus performance except for the last time I saw it in the big tent.  That was located in the field on the east side of the railroad tracks that cross Southland Drive.  The road had not been continued through, and to my eyes the big field (now developed) was completely filled with tents and sideshows.  The one time I saw the circus in Rupp Arena was just not the same.  I understand and sympathize with the concerns for the animal acts, but I still count those yearly shows as wonderful childhood memories unmatched by anything of the like.