The Next Heritage Festival

Now that the 2005 Ypsilanti Heritage Festival is over, the time has come to start planning the 2006 Ypsilanti Heriage Festival. So, tell me, what do you want in a Heritage Festival? What new things do you want to be in the festival? Do you want a bigger and better Living History Encampment? How about less of the so called arts and crafts from people who come here once a year, to sell their junk and take money out of the city?

I am sure there are meny great ideas out there, and someone is willing to do more than complain. For the Heritage Festival to continue, if you want it to continue, then the community must take part in the planning and make it the festival the community wants.

Any ideas?

Festival is Past

I survived the Heritage Festival. The walking tour of Michigan Ave. was successful, as I had small, but interested groups each tour. I think it went well.

I enjoyed the festival as well, in part by staying away from the arts and crafts booth where venders waited to take money from whose willing to pay. The crafts appear to be about the same every year, and somehow never fits in with the heritage theme of the festival. Some years there was a man with an old fashion camera, that made photographs that appears like the old glass plat ones. He has not been around for some time.

The Living History Encampment is only a faint shadow of the early years, in part because there are some other reenactor events taking place at the same time. There is also the problem, of reenactors willing to come only to events that are only reenactments. They want the whole festival to be one reenactor program. A pity, as the Living History Encampment was such a special part of the early festivals.

Those of you who wish to see the festival change, take heart. Planning for the next festival will start soon. Volunteers needed.

The Heritage Festial is coming!

I took a walk though Riverside Park this afternoon, and saw everything is well underway for the Heritage Festival this weekend. The food booths are up and ready to go, and spaces are marked in paint on the grass to tell venders where to set up. The large tents are being set up and people are running here and there, doing only they know what. Looks like a great festival in the making.

Walking Tour

As part of the Heritage Festival, I will be hosting a walking tour of Michigan Ave. on Saturday, August 20. The tours will begin at 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00 P.M., and start in front of bombadill's. Each tour should last about an hour, as i will have a lot to talk about. There is a lot of history to be found on Michigan Ave., from the first settlers, the fire of 1851, the battle of the sheds fought in 1899, and more. To find out what I have to say, take the tour. It is free.

Had to do some hard pumping

This story was published by teh Ypsilanti Daily Press on Thursday,August 15, 1905.

It might be all right to be on the wagon, but there are several gentlemen in Ypsilanti today who have strenuous objections to going back on the water pump, where they put in a good share of the past night.

This week the excavations in the alley back of the store which is to be occupied by Davis & Kislar, were made. The excavation is several feet wide and as deep as the celler bottem, and as fast as possible a new wall was being erected for the new enterence to the second story of the building. Last night with the heavy rains the water from Congress (Michigan AVe.) and Washington, as well as all the water from the block of buildings along Congress on this side of the street, was poured into this alley, whith the result that the catch basin at Huron street, which was already partly filled up, was not able to carry it off. This deluge of water then poured over the side of the exvation, breaking down the wall and rolling a torrent into the basement of the store. Thr accident happened about 7 o'clock and by good fortune the proprietors were in the store and at once went to work to move their stock, which is housed in the basement, to the highest part of the store. About this time Mayor Gaudy appeared on the scene and together with Supt. Blanchard the pump used in keeping water back when sewer excavations are being made was put in commission and the water which had reached a height of six or seven inches in the basement was kept down finally lowered so that no damage was done the stock, but to accomplish this it took two men at the pumps constantly until after 1 o'clock thia morning.

Among those who are willing to testify that it is hard work pumping on a steady stretch for some hours and will probably be voting to increase the dily wage of the men who man the pump on ordinary occasions, are Attorney W. B. Hatch, and Messrs. Guy Davis and W.L. Kishlar. At 1o'clock, when the deluge had somewhat subsided and the water in the basement was considerably lower, these gentlement went home, leaving the matter in the hands of the night watch to call help if the rain began again.

Squab Farm Started

This story is from the Ypsilanti Daily Press of Tuesday, August 10, 1905.

Ypsilanti is soon to have a new industry which bids fair to be a profitable and interesting one as well. It is a squab farm which has just been started at 107 Grove Street, on the former Hinkley property. This place, which contains about four acres, was recently purchased by Mr. A. H. Raymond, of Detroit, formerly of Philiadelphia, and prearations made to conduct a squab farm on a large scale. Already 300 squabs have been received and a good size flying pen is on the property so that work has begun in earnest. Later, as occasion demands, the pens will be added to and a large number of birds will be raised. Mrs. Raymond said this morning to a Daily Press reporter that so far the care of the birds seemed like a nuisance, although she was not yet ready to admit that she was tired of her job.

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond with their little daughter moved to Ypsilanti two weeks ago and purchased the property in question. Two days ago the birds, 150 pairs of them, arrived from Boston and were installed in their new home. The second story of a two story barn on the place has been fitted with nests for the birds and out of it opens the flying pen which is quit as high as the barn and covers considerable ground. Here are arranged ladders and perches and the birds enjoy the freedom.

The chief care of the birds is in feeding, which has to be done once each day. A mixture of red wheat and cracked corn is used and once in a while millet. Pails of water are kept in the house and the feed is put in a box with tiny openings for the birds to get the inviting grain.

"When we are settled," said Mrs. Raymond, this morning, "wewill have an automatic feeder, which will be less work than the present plan. With this we can place a lot of the grain in the pan and only so much of it will come into the box as the birds wat at a time. It will be much easier to care for the birds in this way."

The birds which Mrs. Raymond has are all thoroughbred homers and are of the finest stock. With these 300 birds they expect to raise not only a good marketable lot of birds, but to increase their present supply. A squab is marketable when it is four weeks old. Sometimes, when they grow quickly they are large enough to kill when when two or three weeks old. They are then killed and are easily markable at $2.50 per dozen. The average increase of the birds is about seven pairs per year.

While the birds are marketable at four weeks old they do not begin to breed until six months old, so the wise grower, as is the present case, startes with old birds, rather than younger ones, making the squabs pay the original cost of the investment.

Ypsilanti has several squab farms on a small scale, but one which promises to be so pretentious as this one, which is still, however, in the experimental stage.

Funny Bone

Some friends and I were talking not long ago, and the subject of pain came up. One friend pointed at his elbow, and asked how what is known as the Funny Bone came to be called the Funny Bone, as there is nothing funny about hitting that bone on something. In, fact, the result of hitting the Funny Bone can be quit painful.

Well, it seems that what is known as the Funny Bone is technically the medial condyle of the humerus, that is the enlarged knob on the end of the bone of the upper arm, and is below the ulnar nerve. So it is likely that some punster saw the humor in the humerus bone and called it the Funny Bone.