First Friday and the winter from....wherever!

Could the worst winter in several years, as far as snow is concerned, be the reason for the length of time since I last blogged? Oh yeah...without a doubt. This "little" snow, one of many of all proportions, was in March. Come on, it's supposed to be getting nice in March!

And here we are just 2 days before First Friday in June. I have fond memories of seeing Santa in the toy department at Wm H Turner in the 1950's. I sure hate to see this building come down but that's better than sitting empty the way it has for the last several years. It will be interesting to see what happens on this site once it's cleared.

Regardless of the floods, tornadoes or snow storms I am still high on Kokomo and First Friday's. I read with interest Morgan Young's article about all that's going on uptown and how people feel about it. I'm proud to say that I'm one of the people he terms "early adopter's". The minute they lay out a vision of what can be done to improve the city I become a cheerleader. Often I'm in the minority and that's okay. Bring on the new ballpark! How can anything be worse than the way that area had become? No one should have to live in a place like that and the only way to get rid of it is to make it better. Do we need it or can we support it? We won't know until we try. I think it's worth trying.

Now, let's get back to First Friday. I went to all of them throughout the winter and spring and worked as a guide at most. Cold? Yes. Windy? Yes. Wet? Yes. And your point is? It would have been cold, windy and wet without First Friday but with it there was something to do besides stay in and complain.

Lots of people agreed with me. I was surprised at the number of people who came out. Sure there weren't big crowds but there were people out and about. It was fun to see things that the Library did and they were always a refuge from the elements. Another place holding fond memories for me is the old, soon to be new, Firestone building. It was great to have First Friday events there.

One of the things I'd like to encourage those coming to First Friday to do is to make sure you check out the places that are a little off the beaten path. The Literacy Coalition always has something special over on Mulberry St along with the Bohemian Tattoo Club & Gallery, All God's Creatures Grooming Spa and Walt Moss Barber Shop.There's also the Manna From Heaven Cakery, the historic Train Tower and Crystal Wand Creations on Buckeye St. Each month the whole experience seems to grow and soon, I'm sure, Panhandle Alley a little further north on Buckeye St will be participating.

Okay, it's confession time. I'll have to admit that when I first heard about FF last year I pretty much thought all I would see would be people my age (70+) who remembered the "good old days". There are plenty of us to be sure but we are far outnumbered by families with younger kids, teens and young adults. This has been a great thing to see. If you haven't yet attended a First Friday please give it a try. I'd be surprised if you couldn't find something you like.

If all else fails, there's always Jamie's Soda Fountain, Main Street Cafe, Pepperwhistle Bakery & Cafe, Cook McDoogal's Irish Pub, The Laugh House Comedy Club, The District, Drake's Bar & Grill and Foxes Trails where you can eat. So far the only one I've missed is The Comedy Club but by next First Friday that will be taken care of. Oh, and yes, only people my age remember when there were  this many places to eat uptown!