Welcome! I hope I bring a spot of calm and happiness into these uncertain times. I blog about my photography adventures, flowers, gardening, the importance of chocolate in a well lived life, or anything else on my mind.
Yesterday, at lunchtime, I left my office in downtown Binghamton, New York and ventured forth for a half hour of just mindless wandering.
Listening to a high school steel band perform.
Walking down the middle of the street.
A couple of years ago, this historic building connected to the late Rod Serling was vacant
Grateful that Binghamton is starting to recover from years of doldrums.
Marveling at the trees you can still find downtown. This street has seen years of neglect, and still can be a bit on the gritty side, but it also is set up this weekend with the wares of artists.
Galaxy Brewery
And, finally, we have restaurants with outdoor seating.
It's hard to believe that we almost lost July Fest back when Binghamton had almost lost hope.
But today, while we in the United States sorrow, we also know that life must go on. And this weekend, we celebrate in Binghamton.
July Fest has arrived in downtown Binghamton, New York, a small city of about 47,000. people.
Sad to say, but many people in this area hesitate to come to downtown
Binghamton. For many years, buildings sat vacant for years. This is
changing. New businesses open almost month by month. Binghamton has a
ways to go before it can return to when its downtown was vibrant, but
the journey has begun.
The Brunner Building, downtown Binghamton
So, why come? If you are interested in architecture, downtown Binghamton will satisfy your needs.
(If the author of the article I'm linking to knew how to spell "Binghamton", it might have been better. No, we aren't on Long Island. No, we aren't a Hampton.)
Here's another picture of the Brunner building, for you architecture fans, taken by my "guest photographer". Some pictures today are mine, some are hers. Visible in this picture is a green man.
This is only one of many treasures awaiting the visitor, although enough buildings still need renovation.
July Fest itself is another reason to come. The sound of music was in the air today, with a jazz and music festival that merged with July Fest in 2010. Like so many other times, music helped to revive what for, a while, had been a declining July Fest. Now the festival grows each year, and expanded from two days to three a year or two ago.
People were posing with Mr. Peanut on normally busy Court Street.
Elsewhere, art booths were set up on one street. Along Court Street, crafts and food vendors were selling their merchandise. It's nice to have a street fair downtown.
The Friday farmer's market was selling lettuce, swiss chard, squash, herbs. I had an interesting talk with one of the vendors, which I will hopefully blog about more later this month.
Lilies, downtown Binghamton
Trumpet Vine, downtown Binghamton
Flowers were blooming everywhere.
July Fest continues tomorrow and Sunday. If you live anywhere near Binghamton, please come out. Architecture? flowers? food? jazz? crafts? Lovely art? You'll find it all.
Last Friday morning, I approached downtown Binghamton, New York, and, to my delight, found potted flowering plants lined up around a temporary stage.
It was time for July Fest - a street festival and downtown Binghamton's opportunity to shine.
(2012 sign created by July Fest participants courtesy of the Magic Paintbrush Project, which provides art opportunities for disabled children and adults )
Perry Building, 89 Court St., Binghamton, NY
This year, I walked around with a relative who spends a lot of time in New York City. She took pictures of several of the historic buildings of downtown Binghamton - for example, the Perry Building.
This time, Court Street was packed with booths, food vendors, and live entertainment.
Here, jazz singer Glenda Davenport performs in the Binghamton Music and Jazz Festival which brought July Fest back "from the brink" several years ago. Now, it is an integral part of the festival.
This is a short video taken towards the end of her set. Enjoy!
We are only at the beginning of various public performances of jazz and other music in Binghamton, and all of these are free: (I'm not even listing weekly performances in various parks throughout the area) - although I say "free" a lot of volunteer work goes into these, and some accept donations or have fundraisers.
Yesterday, the cry of a peregrine falcon echoed through downtown Binghamton, New York.
Ignoring the stilled machinery, the dug up streets, the detoured traffic, the falcon patrolled the skies above its home, the Security Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York building.
Below him (or her), the Roundabout slowly takes shape.
It's the talk of all Binghamton, New York. And not in a nice way. Everyone who works downtown, or shops downtown, or just passes through downtown, has an opinion. Many times, that opinion is unprintable.
Will The Roundabout, aka the Court Street Gateway Project, save our burnt out industrial city of some 47,000 citizens? Or will it help to destroy it? And why should you, dear reader who probably doesn't live in Binghamton, care?
Because a roundabout may be coming to an intersection near you, that's why.
This is the latest flavor of Urban Renewal. It's the answer to our traffic prayers. Of course, there have been other flavors of urban renewal served to Binghamton with disastrous results. For example, the downtown pedestrian mall that almost killed our fair city when it became a hangout for undesirables. The street was eventually reopened to traffic, several million dollars later.
This roundabout is so controversial, the City of Binghamton has devoted part of its website to trying to justify it, trying to reassure its citizens that our downtown will be all the better for it.
There is even a video that allows us to "drive" through the roundabout. And a FAQ page. We are told that we may oppose it now, but we'll love it once we've driven on it several times.
It's hard to visualize it now. When you look at it, you can hardly believe that cars will even fit on it. You just know that some idiot, traveling drunk late at night, is going to miss a curve and end up decorating the lobby of one of the office buildings or businesses lining the roundabout.
As a pedestrian, I'm concerned too. Especially after someone lost control of their vehicle about two weeks ago, went up on the sidewalk, hit a pedestrian and ended up partially inside a convenience store which (if you know where it is) is visible in the first picture above. No, it wasn't the fault of the construction but it still makes me wonder how drivable that roundabout will be.
Since March we working downtown have endured constant drilling, dust, detours, and worse. I feel bad for the office workers working directly in front of the construction. Right now the jackhammers are stilled because this weekend is Binghamton's July Fest. So I was able to hear the cry of peregrine falcons for the first time in months.
But Monday the drilling will resume.
Has your town or city built one of the new-style roundabouts? If so, do you like it? Or not?
July Fest is over. This morning, downtown Binghamton was back to normal. Where crowds had gathered the past three days, gentle breezes blew through the almost empty streets. The vendors were gone, the sidewalks cleaned, the music stage disassembled. The only live music was birdsong and an occasional burst of rap music from a passing car.
I ended up going to July Fest all three days. Friday because I work down there anyway, Saturday to browse the booths I couldn't get to Saturday, and Sunday to listen to a musician by the name of Gap Mangione, performing with with his New Blues Band.
Funny how we can sometimes close ourselves off to new musical experiences. Last year, the first year of the Binghamton Jazz Festival (held with July Fest), my spouse didn't want to go at all. He loves hard rock music - groups like Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot, Staind. Of course, the roots of rock are complex, and include jazz.
Would we have gone if Gap wasn't Chuck Mangione's older brother? Probably not. But I am very glad we went. A lot of the music was what I would consider "easy listening" but the day was sunny, and it was so nice to sit downtown and people watch. The musicians in the band (including Gap) were excellent and we enjoyed the hour and a half or so that they played.
I wonder how many people half expected Chuck to suddenly appear onstage and play. He didn't, of course, but Gap did several songs written by his brother. The last song of the set was "Feels So Good".
It did, Gap. It did.
Here's a picture of the band. Gap is in the white shirt.
Oh, one other thing. Gap sure had the biggest smile I've ever seen.
Earlier today, I blogged about Binghamton's July Fest. But, I had something special I wanted to say about the power of music to heal.
To think that several years ago, this festival almost died in a sea of apathy (along with downtown), and today Court Street was filled with people of all ages enjoying the sunshine, is enough to give someone chills.
Music is a powerful tool. It can even help to heal wounded cities.
Binghamton has seen more than its share of hard times. Losing Endicott-Johnson, and later losing IBM (I am talking here about the Triple Cities, not strictly Binghamton but its two smaller neighbors to the west, Johnson City and Endicott) and the well paying jobs that left with IBM, was a very big blow. When we moved here in the mid 1980's this area was full of decaying factory buildings - sadly this has not been fully fixed.
But now, downtown Binghamton is on the way back up. There are a number of reasons for that, including influx from New York City-which may or may not always be a good thing. (Why? I will blog about that another time. And, when I say something like that, please keep in mind I am a native of New York City.)
Two major Binghamton events, July Fest and the August Chris Thater Memorial, added music last year. (Again strictly speaking, the Chris Thater Memorial does not take place in downtown, but rather on Binghamton's West Side) and - the crowds came. And they stayed, and enjoyed, dancing and interacting, into the wee hours of the night. There's no way this would have happened without the draw of music.
I know my spouse would never have set foot in downtown Binghamton on a sunny Saturday afternoon without the lure of music. I suspect he is far from the only one.
Tomorrow, the special appearance will be that of Gap Mangione.
This morning I was determined to buy some local sweet cherries. The same U-Pick farm as last week was still offering them but with our schedule, we knew we wouldn't be able to get up there in time. Instead, we headed to the Otsiningo Park Farmers Market. There was a vendor there selling New York sweet cherries for $2.75 a pint. We bought a pint and....they were soft, sweet and juicy.
The cherry quest has ended, and I am happy. With other berries I have in the house, and the start of the local blueberry season (finally!), a pint should last 2 or 3 days.
We also picked up a dozen farm fresh brown/Arucana eggs.
We finally stopped by a booth called Gimme Cookie. This booth features naturally baked cookies, using free range eggs. The variety changes by the season. But besides their obvious cookies, they make handmade English muffins, and that is what we wanted. A co-worker had offered me one of their English muffins, a (whole wheat) basil pesto. It was heavenly. By the time we got there (10:30 am) the booth was out of all their muffins, except for two packages of whole wheat dried cherry/dried blueberry. Fruit in English muffins (or bagels, for that matter) do not appeal to either spouse or me, so we passed. And because we won't be able to make the market the next two Saturdays, we'll have to wait. Noting the English muffins are $1.00 each, they had better be good - and they are. They bear little resemblance to store bought.
After that, we took a 2 3/4 mile exercise walk, and the highlight was this little critter on the path:
Then we headed to July Fest in downtown Binghamton. This is a combination jazz festival and art show, with lots of craft booths.
This picture is of something called the Magic Paint Brush project, which originated here in the Triple Cities several years ago, and is now expanding. Their mission is to serve the community of special needs individuals and their families through art. This was their set up, and all were welcome.
Here is an overall view of the festival, showing some of the historic buildings downtown Binghamton is blessed with, and the sunny day we were blessed with, too. Sunny days here are not the most common occurrence.
A view down a different street. (the grey building is not historic but rather our State Office Building, the tallest building in Binghamton.)
And finally, what would a jazz festival be without jazz. The music was added for the first time last year, and was an instant success. For the first time ever, July Fest is three days, and the music was responsible for the expansion.
There is more I want to say about this subject, and I will do that in a separate post.
Next year - who knows? It will be a special anniversary for this festival, and I can't wait to see what is planned.
