Map page 16
The Broad Ripple Gazette
Vol. 16 No. 19
Including the Cultural Districts and Midtown: Meridian-Kessler, Butler-Tarkington, and Meridian St.
Crossword page 13
Sep. 20 - Oct. 3, 2019
20th Annual Rocky Ripple Festival to be Sept 28 By Mario Morone
mario@broadripplegazette.com
photo courtesy of VMS
Children enjoying lunch at Village Montessori.
Village Montessori School Fall Market By Mario Morone
mario@broadripplegazette.com Village Montessori School invites the community to their Fall Market at 6535 Ferguson Street on Friday, September 27th from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Food and drinks will be available. The children will sell their “schoolmade” foods and crafts, salsa from the school garden, bath bombs and greeting cards. Mr. Daniel (Daniel Paquette) will provide the musical entertainment. There will also be crafts, games and glitter tattoos. New director and lead teacher Maria Leeman, said, “It is my life mission to be an encouraging, compassionate and devoted Montessori teacher. I believe that Dr. Montessori’s educational philosophy - having teachers co-learning with children to encourage and feed children’s natural desire to learn - embodies a true partnership between teacher and student that enables learning through trust and respect.” Emily Watson shared a personal story about her son who attends there. “Five years ago, I visited half-a-dozen preschools before deciding that Village Montessori School was where I desperately wanted our three-year-old to learn. It was just across the White River from our house; for a year we walked by it almost every day. My son would beg to play at “the chicken school” - in the yard there was a coop for the school’s three hens, a huge sandbox, rope swing and picnic tables where the children ate lunch, even on snowy days. When I first met the teachers, I was almost intimidated by their positive energy and peacefulness they always seem to have infinite time to wait and help the children learn to do things for themselves,” she recalled. “After just a few months, everyone noticed the difference in our son. His grandfather always noted that he was like a pinball, frenetically bouncing from one idea and activity to another - ‘It makes me tired just to watch him.’ This didn’t seem to faze his teachers. He was given the job of collecting eggs from the hen house and he broke several that first week. But soon he learned to walk slowly, to ask a friend to help open the door. He shifted toward a more measured, methodical way of doing things. At home he showed me the right way to wipe crumbs from a kitchen counter and he was adamant that we put all our backpacks and shoes away as soon as we came in the house, no matter how busy or tired we were. One night he spent ten minutes wiping the mug he uses for milk, his only explanation was that ‘this was the future of cleaning.’ Finally satisfied, he pronounced it ‘shiny as a diamond,’ ” she noted. “A lot of schools claim to be Montessori, but Village Montessori truly embodies the
See Montessori pg. 3
www.virtualbroadripple.com MOST ACCURATE DIRECTORY MAPS • HISTORIC PHOTOS This 2011 photo of Bob’s Marathon where the parking garage is today is in the archive section
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INDEX
a service of The Broad Ripple Gazette and BroadRippleHistory.org
Celebrating 20 years! The Rocky Ripple Festival is an art-filled, high energy day of live music, local art, creative activities, food, craft beer and wine by local vendors to be held on Saturday, September 28, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Its Midtown location is in the center of Rocky Ripple in Hohlt Park at 840 West 53rd Street. Dhyana Raynor, vice-president of the Rocky Ripple Community Association and festival coordinator, said, “After twenty years we are proud to continue our grass roots tradition. It looks and feels like a neighborhood festival. Like a block party gone wild and wonderful!” According to a recent press release, there is an “artist village” with over 80 artists, featuring an eclectic mix of original art and unique artisan items for sale. Each year brings new talent as well as many favorite repeat vendors. This year Rocky Ripple is honoring artists Dan Axler, Chris and Megan Wright, and Vandra Pentecost Linder, four Rocky Ripple residents who helped conceive and create the first festival, twenty years ago. Included among the 80 plus artists are four who have participated ten years or more and 20 with five or more years as art vendors. Look for red flags or balloons flying from the artist tents. At the music stage, emerging artist and singer-songwriter Emma Richardson kicks off the festival, singing America the Beautiful at 11 a.m. The first band begins at 11:15 a.m. In line-up order are Scott McNew and the Twisted Knobs (Hangout rock), Jim Davis and Friends (Country rock), Moor Dub reggae (Reggae dUb), Rock E Bassoon (Electric rock bassoon band), True North (Folk rock) and DR JAR (Party rock). A creative children’s activity area has become a destination spot for families. “Children at Play” is an area of hands on, self-directed fun, featuring sand play all day long in the volley ball court (new sand is delivered every year). New this year will be chalk drawing on a safe, sectioned portion of 53rd Street. There is also a beanie bag toss in addition to the traditional bean bag toss. The popular art station, bubble bonanza, face painting, hooping, and hair spray color are returning. By the time of the festival, the playground should have a new layer of kid-friendly wood mulch within a new 100% recycled border. Interactive Fun includes AcroYoga (you’ll find them near the stage), Hoopers (a drum circle, djembe drums (bring your own or use one provided by Helger Oompkes), which is free and open for all ages and skills. Judy Hanna and the Midwest BellyDancing Superstars will be dancing throughout the festival crowd in the afternoon. Pop-up yoga in the sand and at the kids’ stage is free for all ages and levels of experience and flexibility. Attendees can interact with performers from Timepiece Theatre Company at the kids’ stage or throughout the festival grounds. Festival organizers encourage people to ride their bicycles to Hohlt Park where Pedal & Park provides safe and secure bicycle parking. Promoting recycling is just one of the many ways the organizers are creating an ecofriendly event in the City. Meridian-Kessler resident Mary Stumpp (“The can lady”), KIB and a group of festival volunteers will attempt to reduce all of the festival’s refuse into only ten garbage bags. The rest will be composted in the community garden or recycled. This year’s food court features La Chinita Poblana, Punch Burger, Byrne’s Pizza, Tandoor & Tikka, LICK ice cream and MooLou frozen treats. Craft beer will be provided by The Broad Ripple Brewpub and wine will also be available The event is made possible by generous sponsorship of local businesses and organizations. The Rocky Ripple Festival especially wants to recognize and thank John Bleakley’s Blue Herron Construction Company, The Broad Ripple Brewpub, The Great Frame Up (N. Delaware and E. 62nd Street stores), and Bowen Construction Company. The festival is produced entirely by volunteers. Volunteers are still needed in many of the festival areas for two to three hour shifts. Please contact volunteer coordinator Rachel Wuthrich at rachelwuthrich@gmail.com or festival coordinator Dhyana Raynor at dhyanar@sbcglobal.net for more information about how you can help. All proceeds support the park system of the town of Rocky Ripple. Their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/RockyRippleFestival) has further details. According to their website (www.rockyripple.org/festival-history.html), The first stirrings of an annual Rocky Ripple festival began in 1998 when the town officially obtained the land now known as Hohlt Park. After much legal wrangling, Rocky Ripple had its first official park and townsfolk were anxious to use it. The Community Association decided that a celebration should be held. Because of the large number of musicians that were residents of Rocky Ripple (including local harmonica virtuoso Allen Stratyner), it was agreed that it should be a day of music utilizing local talent. The 20th Annual Rocky Ripple Festival celebrates an eclectic blend of art, food and music for all families and individuals from “A Community within the City.”
1 Montessori
5 BR Brewpub Quiz
9 Random Rippling gotSOLE 11 Frog’s Random Rippling
14 Wine Scene Jill A. Ditmire
1 Rocky Ripple Fest
6 Classified Ads
9 BR Farmers Market
12 Where in the Village?
15 Directory
2 Random Rippling Market
6 Public Notices
9 What’s new at BR History
12 Hidden History
16 Maps
3 Calendar
7 Local Contacts
10 BRHS Class of 1969
12 Sudoku
19 Right in my Own Backyard
4 History of BR part 18
7 Mistakes winner
10 Marigold turns 30
13 Crossword
19 Random Rippling church
5 Random Rippling Taste
8 Buzzing Around Town
11 Poetic Thoughts
13 Historic Ad
20 Random Rippling graffiti