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I spent the 4th of July among with several thousand of my closest friends down at the Monona Festival. Took my newish Giant Tran Send DX bike down for display at the Natural Step Monona booth (See News: Come visit us on July 4!) where the focus was on transportation.
Monona resident and Community Car member Matt Aro seriously upstaged the bike when he brought down the 'date car' - a Mini. That really attracted a lot of folks. I returned later to help the Heather Gates at the booth along with alder Bob Miller, Joah Greengus, alder Chad Speight, Kevin Speight (with ball cap made of recycled stuff), Kate Heiber-Cobb, Penny and Ross Depaola, Margaret Caldwell (OK, I think I just butchered up her name - but then she thought I was stealing my own bike when I started to ride off on it around 4 PM!), Sara and John Whalen, and, and , and, (Heather, help! Who else volunteered?!)
At some point I segued over to the Monona Public Library booth where Demita Gerber and her grandchildren Mary O'Connor, Andrew Taylor, Ann Bowles and her daughter, Toni Streckert, John and Lynda Weinberger, Ed Van Gemert, Val Edwards, and a bunch of other good folks whose names have retreated to the recesses of the memory banks.
One of the great things about volunteering at the event are all the people that you see (hey, the tables are located by the entrance to the beer tent). Among the many who stopped by the booths were Democratic party stalwart Sig Midelfort (not Sigmund Freud as someone thought they heard!), Jim Beyer, Pat Blair (later I saw Pat and spouse Jim from a distance in the food booth listening to alder Wiswell), Mary Possin, Mr. Clean (aka John Disch) and their daughter (fortunately she resembles mom), stellar local columnist Sunny Schubert (who BTW wants to reopen discussion to change the name of Squaw Bay to Squat Bay), Tyler Wood, Lindsay Wood (my daughter, that is, not the other Lindsay Wood who still attends MG and is friends with son Tyler - confusing), Jim Keck and Melissa Zeitz with their children, Keith Plasterer (an old friend from work), ....more names to be added as the sun warms the brain cells.
Overall, I thought the festival was as good as ever with higher-than-usual attendance. Food, drinks, and friends and conversation, fireworks.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
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Help is here, Doug. The name is Bernadette. Bernadette Caldwell -- a Community Car member and one of the ringleaders of the community garden at St. Stephen's.
ReplyDeleteAlso helping at The Natural Step Monona booth were Steven Jefferies, Sigurd Midelfort, and Carol Gruba. (And I hope I haven't forgotten anyone!)
After having four people come up to me at the booth to complain about the lack of recycling at the event, I want to pass on some info. The Natural Step Monona members were concerned about it last year and brought the topic to the city's Sustainability Committee. SusCom Member Bert Slinde looked into it, meeting with the Monona Community Festival (MCF) committee members, and discovered that the waste festival-goers put into the receptacles is sorted after the event is over.
It would certainly behoove the MCF to let their recycling plan be known to the general public. I think it is safe to say that if four people spoke their minds to me, there were likely many more who, not seeing any recycling bins, carried their disappointment silently away, and perhaps with a negative attitude about Monona.
Some simple signage would do a world of good.
We need recylcing bins throughout the city. I carry it home if all I have is a trash can to deposit recyling in but I know a lot of other people do not.
ReplyDeleteOn a festival note, I didn't attend too much of the festivities but I did spend time at the park and watched people and fireworks. Both were very entertaining!
Did anyone else think the fireworks ended abruptly? It seems they have been longer in years past. They were awesome but the time frame seemed shorter than usual.
damn, doug, thought you would've supported your local community and bought a Trek... :)
ReplyDeleteI tested two Treks and one Giant. The Giant felt more comfortable. I did buy it at the Village Pedaler on Monona Drive.
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