The City Park

What ever happened to the city park? Today I drive past the park and see a beautifully landscaped area with a lovely gazebo and an awesome memorial to our war veterans. There is still a grouping of baseball diamonds on the north side and a playground with all sorts of entertainment options for the young. There is a very functional brick shelter house along with three or four covered picnic areas and a scattering of tables throughout the grassy expanse. Two rustic looking wooden cabins stand at the west end of the two blocks set aside for recreational activities. However, the public park in my hometown just isn't what it used to be.

My memories come flooding back as I reflect upon this part of town. As a youngster I spent many happy hours there. The ball diamond that lies to the east was once an outdoor swimming pool. Whenever the pool was open, I was there. Back then we didn't know about sun screen and skin cancer and didn't give a second thought to staying under the hot rays all day long. Once summer hit I was perpetually brown. I don't mean lightly tanned... I mean BROWN....dark brown. I never took many swimming lessons but must be part fish because I loved the water.
The pool had three diving boards - a one meter, a two meter and a three meter. I eventually worked up the nerve to dive off the one meter but only ever jumped feet first from the tallest board.

The pool wasn't the only attraction for my friends and me. Though the playground area wasn't nearly as elaborate as it is now we still enjoyed hours of fun on the swings, slides, jungle gym, giant strides and merry-go-rounds. If we became bored with the games we played in our own neighborhood, we would head across town to the park where there was no end to the diversions that kept us occupied. If we tired of the playground we could always go watch a soft ball game. There was always a game going on in one of the fields. Even if you didn't particularly care for soft ball, as we got into our pre-teen and teen-age years, it was enjoyable just to watch the boys!

The two little log cabins, that don't seem to get much use anymore, were at one time teaming with boys and girls as they attended scout meetings. The south bungalow was the boy scout house and to the north was the girl scout house. We sang and crafted, earned badges and learned many new things under the roofs of those little structures. The boy scout house is still in use as such but the girl scout house had been turned over to the American Legion and stands pretty quiet.

The center of the park used to hold two long wooden shelter houses where many family reunions were held. They had screened windows but the reunions were always held during the hottest part of the summer and there was just no way to keep cool within those buildings. As I think back on those gatherings I can still smell the sweat, fried chicken, coffee and cigar smoke. I can hear the clink of the horseshoes as the men challenged each other to game after game. There were no refrigerators in the building but we kept nibbling on the food that had been prepared much earlier in the day and never seemed to get sick. The stiffling heat caused a mighty thirst which we quenched with warm kool-aid from one of the many gallon jugs lined up on the table.
The women gossiped and fanned while the children headed for the pool. On any given day, the shelter houses were packed. If you wanted to reserve a space for your party you made sure to do so months in advance.

The most memorable of all activities the park had to offer were the weekly band concerts. Every Thursday night Grandpa and Grandma would pick us up and off to the park we would go. Once we arrived the problem of finding a suitable parking place was a priority. My mild mannered grandfather would drive around the park while the best back-seat driver of all times, my grandmother, would point out one spot after another. "Go there," she would say, and grandpa would calmly pass on by. "Now, just stop here," she would implore as we cruised past a space that a tricycle wouldn't even fit into. Finally, much to his wife's chagrin, grandpa would settle on the place he wanted and switch off the ignition. Sometimes we would sit in the car as the band played and at other times we would perch on the hard benches in front of the stage. Some towns had an actual band shell but all we had was a raised stage where the musicians sat in a semi-circle around the conductor. The instrumentalists consisted of high school students and adults with a musical background. They played for perhaps an hour or so and the music they produced was wonderful. I was especially fond of the John Phillips Sousa marches. At some point during the concert we would slip off to the little concession stand and get a bag of popcorn or an ice cream cone. I loved that little store! Years later the people who ran the Scout Stand, as it was called, would offer me my first real job.

I spent three summers working in the Scout Stand, and got to know the likes and dislikes of every customer. After an afternoon of swimming, the children would climb up on the bench outside the window in order to get a good view of all the penny candy. Then they would carefully make their choices and still end up trading with their friends after the purchase was made. The junior high boys would always order "suicides," a mixture of every kind of soda pop we had. One of the towns "simple" guys would spend his days watching ball games and always top it off with a cherry nut ice cream cone. The smell of popcorn would bring the older men from the horse shoe pits and the teens would stop by for a frozen Snicker bar. On nights when there was a big concert or tournament game, three of us would be required to take care of business and we would be tripping all over each other in the small confines of the concession stand. After the rush we would collapse onto a stool and enjoy one of the treats we had been serving up all night.

The only time our city park is packed any more is during our annual Labor Day celebration. On that day you can barely manuevure through the crowded walkways. There is excitement and fun and merriment, but the next day all is once again quiet. Oh for the days when the city park was alive with people and activity every day.