February 28, 2015- Our Town- Part 1

The Store

 We lived only a couple blocks from the convenience store (the only one in our town) at our old apartment. Our Aunt Joan lived right near it but she would usually ask Mike and me to go there for her. She sometimes would give us a quarter each for doing so.

   We probably got her cigarettes occasionally like we did for Dad. I was doing this even when I was as young as 9 years old. His brand was Kool and hers was Parliament 100s. They sold liquor there too.

   Mike, Cindy, Jessica and I got yelled at by the owner Lou once because we were sitting on the floor counting our money out before buying our candy. What a grouchy guy he was. They had to rebuild the place after a fire but I forget what year that was- early 1980s?

   The owners after him, Dave and Valerie, were very nice. One of mom’s friends, Betty, worked there. They catered our town’s 50^th Anniversary celebration in 1992. By the mid-1990s they sold the business which is a shame. We didn’t go there much after that.

   It went out of business sometime in 2014. A bakery/deli is supposed to open there soon. Mom told Mike and me that our town used to have a small Shop Rite. I should ask her when that closed down.

  

The Carnival

My favorite rides at our town carnival were the Scrambler, The Tilt-A-Whirl and the Octopus. There was one called the Bullet but Mike and I never went on that; it looked too scary to me. They used to have pony rides there when we were kids. I don’t think that we ever went on one though. I’d have to ask mom.

  The money raised at this event helped the fire department and ambulance squad. It was always held around the time of Mom’s birthday, July 30^th. We played the 50/50 sometimes but never won that and we weren’t that lucky at the games either. I did win a unicorn picture once.

   The food there was good.  Mom and Mike love the barbecued ribs. Mike likes the zeppoles also. After the early 90s the variety to choose from was lessened which was disappointing.

1972

Mid-1980s

The Octopus

The Bullet

 

Note- last 4 photos are from the internet

 

My Hometown Carnival

Next week is the annual Winfield carnival which my brother is really looking forward to mainly because of the food like the ribs and zeppoles. Mom and I haven't been to this event in a very long time. We do enter the super 50-50 for it though. We've never won that or the regular nightly ones. I do have some good memories of going there when I was a kid, like going on the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Scrambler and playing some of the games. The food was always good there. My brother said that the selection isn't as big as it used to be. It is always held around the time of my mom's birthday on July 30th so Mark would treat her to some ribs as part of her gift. This picture of the 35th one is in my scrapbook. It's from the Daily Journal, the paper that we used to get before it went out of business. The photos from my family album are from 1972. I'm with my friend Theresa on the left and on the merrry-go-round with my brother with mom hidden in the back. They are the only photos we have of our hometown carnival.

Carnivals

Our town carnival is in 8 days. My brother is looking forward to it for the food. I have not been to this event since the early 90's. They used to have good food there. My brother said that they don't have as many food selections as they used to there. We loved going on the rides when we were kids. My favourites were the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Scrambler. We never went on the Bullet - it seemed to scary to me. We'd play the games sometimes - I only remember winning a picture of a unicorn. We never won the 50-50 drawing. Some of the money from the carnival went to our towns' volunteer fire department.

Our grade school also had a carnival. It used to be in the bigger parking lot at a nearby school but then it was moved to ours and it wasn't as good. We won posters at the ring toss game. Mark got the Pope John Paul II and I got the Bee Gees which I wasn't happy about because I was not into them. My brother won a really nice Pink Panther stuffed animal at our friend Stacey's church carnival once. He regrets getting rid of it.