Indoor Farmers Market–Last of Season

Folks were lined up outside the Coliseum before the 10:00 opening of the last Farmers Market of the season, held indoors at the Coliseum.

Indoors all the usual FM vendors were present, selling fresh “farm-to-table” vegetable and meat products and homemade pies and other baked goods.  The crowd was large during the three hour Market as people snapped up the last fresh, organic produce of the season, just in time for their own Thanksgiving feast.

One of the State Farm singing groups, “J8″ performed throughout the Market, singing holiday favorites and some jazz and swing classics. Everyone agreed the State Farmers were very good and the acoustics inside the Coliseum were excellent.

The Book Bike, a project from the West Side Redevelopment Office was there with volunteer and Ward 6 Alderman Karen Schmidt helping children and adults alike select free books to take home with them.  The kids that visited the Book Bike booth were especially thrilled when they found out they could take the books home!

City leaders such as  Mayor Steve Stockton, and aldermen Steve Purcell, David Sage, John Hanson, and Jennifer McDade were also present to chat with Bloomington residents and to explain the upcoming complete redesign of the Veterans-Morris Avenue interchange south of Downtown.

Mayor Stockton agreed that the Indoor Farmer’s Market was an outstanding example of a good public use of the Coliseum facility.  ”It’s great when we make the Coliseum available to this kind of program,” Stockton said. “And it’s especially good when we can offer a free, no-admission charge event like the Indoor Farmers Market.  People can easily see how valuable the Coliseum really is to Bloomington and the area in general. It’s a real quality-of-life asset to us.”

A Quick Peek At The New A.L. Pillsbury Exhibit

“Now playing” at the McLean County History Museum, a retrospective on the work of local architect Arthur Pillsbury.  The exhibit runs through August 30, 2011.

While the name of Arthur Pillsbury may not be familiar to McLean County residents, Pillsbury’s work certainly is.  You can see examples of Pillsbury’s design work throughout Bloomington-Normal; during the exhibit the Pillsbury homes in town are marked with blue yard signs carrying the exhibit’s logo.  Take a drive down East Washington and you’ll see lots of Pillsbury homes, but there are also examples in Normal as well.

The exhibit at the Museum features dozens of beautiful elevation drawings of Pillsbury buildings–including the “old” Normal Community High School (Kingsley and College) and the “old” Bloomington High school (now Blooming Grove Academy) on E. Washington, as well as photos of many of the Pillsbury designs Downtown. It’s amazing how much Pillsbury contributed to the architectural catalog of McLean County–and better yet, how many Pillsbury works still survive!

The exhibit, located on the 3rd Floor, is produced rather nicely by the Museum staff.  It’s not easy telling this kind of story since you obviously can’t physically produce the actual buildings in an exhibit, and they’ve done a fairly good job.

But the displays may still be a little  ”light” on some items that might have been helpful in further interpreting Pillsbury’s contribution to our history:  I would have expected an interactive map of BN showing off the locations of the Pillsbury homes and buildings.  I also would have liked to have seen actual blueprints and maybe a model?  The Grieshiem Building, which many Downtown fans miss terribly (regrettably  lost to fire in 1990 and replaced by a truly ugly brick box on the east side of the Square) could have been profiled better maybe, as an example.  The famous “wolf’s head” facade ornament that graced the Grieshiem is on display and it was good to be able to see it again.  I’m admittedly an architecture fan and I was left wanting more.

Still, it’s fitting that the Museum cast an eye towards an architectural subject since Architecture is one of the hallmarks of our Downtown area, and this is a very decent showing of one of our architect “stars.”  You can learn more about the exhibit here: http://www.mchistory.org/mcmh_Pillsbury.html

Overall, and any petty criticisms aside, the Museum is a treasure for Downtown and McLean County.  You can learn a lot about our roots by wandering through the fine exhibits in the other rooms. During my morning stroll through the museum I encountered a group of elementary school children who were visibly thrilled and entirely engaged in interacting with the museum’s wares.  It was also fun to pop in and visit the ” Quilting Ladies” who were busy working on two quilts  in their 3rd floor cubby.  The volunteer quilters can be visited on Thursdays from 9 am to 1 pm.

This is one of the “sights” of Downtown that everyone should visit at least once a year.  The museum, and the fine old courthouse, represent who we are. That “definition” is part of being a Downtowner.

Life And Death In “The Down Under” –UPDATES!

The historic Johnson Transfer building, 400 So. Madison, home to Old Warehouse Antiques and other groups, is a main feature of "The Down Under" neighborhood of Downtown. Mark Olson was killed nearby.

On Sunday, November 14, 2010 a horrendous act  took place in the Old Warehouse District, in Downtown’s “Down Under” neighborhood.

Mark Olson, a 48 year old resident of Normal, died on South Madison Street.

Olson was apparently in the vicinity of a storage warehouse near 407 S. Madison when he saw something:  Two men were in the act of committing a burglary, witnesses said, of a BBQ grill that had been left outside one of the nearby sites.  Olson called police and then yelled at the men to stop, witnesses say —and then acted to further deter the men as they tried to flee the scene.

They ran him down in the street with their pick up truck.

Olson later died from his injuries.

There is no way to express the shock and sorrow that people feel at the loss of Mark Olson.  Everyone is horrified at the manner in which he was killed and the heart-wrenching story behind why Mark Olson was in Down Under that evening in the first place.

He was obviously a good guy, one who had volunteered to help The Baby Fold raise money for needy children.  He had worked the Festival of Trees event at the Col all weekend—with his fiance Wendy—and was helping put away items in storage.

He had a sense of right and wrong, obviously, and courage— he took action to try to stop a criminal act in progress.  Many people would have looked the other way. They would have stood by and watched these creeps swipe someone else’s property without moving a muscle to stop it.  Mark Olson wasn’t that kind of guy.  Mark Olson had a sense of responsibility.  And for it, he lost his life. You don’t find many cases of real heros these days. But Mark Olson is one of them.

There are other victims of this tragedy, however, going beyond the human cost and the loss to Mark and his family and friends.  Today there is a deep sadness among the Down Under businesses and organizations as well.  There is sadness and anger that this crime happened here, in an area of Downtown that is often overlooked but which has a real sense of community.   This criminal act will knock the wind out of those people who make their living in the Old Warehouse District, who love this Down Under neighborhood for its urban flavor and the freedoms that come with occupying historic old buildings for creative purposes.

Entreprenuers like Mike Kapton and his Old Warehouse Antiques store,  Jason Mack and his Mack Glass Studio,  Steve Hermes and his Hermes Properties,  the Hermes Sales and Service company, and many others, know what this act and this story is going to do to them.  It’s going to hurt.  This is the last thing that The Down Under needed in terms of headlines and public scrutiny.

For it’s true that while the Old Warehouse District looks a little “rough” around the edges, it really is a safe place to be–night and day.  Since 2004, when Blue Jay Computers first opened its doors at 400 South, and the late Tom Kruze had his Recycled Office Furniture store back “under the bridge,” there have been no violent crimes reported in this neighborhood, and just one reported break in.  There have been no reported cases of attacks on pedestrians walking in the area at any time.  There have even been few reported vandalisms like breaking of glass or other serious damage.  Believe it or not, as rough as the neighborhood looks, grafitti is even rare.

The Old Warehouse District may look like the south side of Chicago, but the record shows it’s actually safer than other neighborhoods Downtown and on the Near sides.

Police issued this composite drawing of the suspect driving the truck that killed Mark Olson.

This lack of serious crime in The Down Under is even more amazing when you take the “lifestyle” of the residents into consideration.  There has always been a sense of Trust and Goodwill down there, meaning stuff often gets left outside without being “secured.”  Things like flower planters, signs, cars, bikes, and barbeque grills, are frequently left outdoors.  Most Down Under denziens don’t think twice, or worry too much, about leaving things laying around like this. “If it gets stolen, well, it gets stolen,” the owners often think. “No big deal.”  It’s surprising that more items haven’t been ‘ jacked over the years.

But that someone was killed defending the property of someone Down Under–is just too sad to think about.

Make no mistake, businesses Down Under will pay a price for this act—they know what is coming next.  Fear mongering. Bad mouthing. Whispers about the area being unsafe for folks to walk or shop in.   All of the Down Under citizens will now have to make even more efforts to convince people that it really is okay to be in this neighborhood, yes, even after dark.

God willing, the Bloomington Police are going to catch the two guys who killed Mark Olson.  There were witnesses to the murder and there are many clues to go by reportedly.   These murderers are going to be caught and we’ll see a Perp Walk through the McLean County Law & Justice center soon.  When these two men are captured, tried, and sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison,  Mark Olson’s family and friends will have some Justice.

But the businesses and artists Down Under will be left holding the bag for a long time as they struggle to rebuild the peaceful reputation of the Old Warehouse community, a reputation that has also been mowed down by two goons in a truck.

God bless you and keep you, Mark Olson.

And hang in there, Down Under.

—JE Myers

UPDATE, NOVEMBER 18: Two suspects have now been apprehended by the Bloomington Police Department.  David Boswell, 23, of Bloomington, is being held in Tennessee on a murder warrant and is awaiting transport back to town. A second suspect, still un-named, aged 20, is in the McLean County Jail. They are both expected to be formally charged in the next few days.  The Pantagraph is also reporting that the truck was discovered in town by a BPD patrol officer.

BPD is being praised from all quarters for their swift work.

Veterans Day, Downtown