Every town has it's "thing." I grew up in the "Lilac Village," where they have a park filled with lilac bushes and tulips and every May they have a lilac festival when the flowers and bushes are in bloom. They have a parade and, while I was growing up, they also selected a lilac queen and her court.
I recently visited a village founded post-WWII where their claim to fame is their chimney charms.
For $10, you can walk around and look at the different decorations on everyone's chimneys. From Angels (#MyLifeIsAMusical, can you hear me singing Amy Grant's
Angels Watching Over Me?) to Mickey Mouse, to firefighter boots and badges, to frogs and beyond. No, I haven't done the tour yet, but I fully intend to! In fact, a book or two ago, while I was thinking about what comes after The Epitaph Series, I was inspired by the row houses built for the returning vets, alongside free-standing houses. The neighborhoods are grouped together by alphabet - "I live in the D's" or "I live in the F's" - where all the surrounding streets start with the same letter. There's a statue of Normal Rockwell sitting before an easel in the downtown area. A fountain dedicated to Eleanor Roosevelt. A little girl statue twirling an umbrella.
What is your hometown famous for? Or where was your favorite "famous" spot to visit?
Those chimney charms look interesting. Not sure I'd pay $10 to get what I assume is a map to find them, though. I grew up in the Los Angeles area and Sunset Boulevard was "famous" for people (usually very unattractive people) selling maps to movie stars' homes.
ReplyDeleteFor $10, you get a guide to point them out to you and to tell you the history of the town. It's a piece of Americana. Sounds like fun research to me!
DeleteAh, I didn't understand you had a guide. Yes, then it's worth paying a fee.
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