A p r i l 2 0 1 8 • M a r i e m o n t, O h i o • Vo l u m e X L I I , N o . 7
Summers in the Park: A Childhood Recollection with Wes Iredale
By Rex Bevis
I recently had an opportunity to reflect on a much earlier era and hear first-hand from an enthusiastic participant. Wes Iredale, a longtime resident who spent his entire childhood in Mariemont and then returned as an adult, took me on a summer’s journey as he remembers it, from the period of 1956 – 1964. The venue was Harper’s Park, now known as Ann Buntin Becker Park, located behind Beech, Murray, Oak, and Chestnut Streets. The summer days would revolve around the Park and the many activities made available to children ages 5-14 years old. Under the guidance of Recreation Director Bob Anderson (Barb’s husband, now deceased), children would gather at the field in the morning between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. for a summer “day-camp.” Mr. Anderson would set up shop on a few picnic tables near a recreation garage, which housed the supplies: board games such as checkers and Risk, shuffleboard equipment, softballs and bats, kick-balls, and craft items. Recreation department assistants were teenagers engaged to coordinate the activities and the crafts. Wes remembers “Mary Ann and Pretzel” as two of these teenage group leaders. Playground equipment consisted of teeter totters, large 12-14 ft. swings, a jungle gym, sandboxes, a merry-go-round, and a “sit-goround the pole.” There was a basketball court with a basket at each end, shuffleboard and four-square courts on the basketball court, and, for a couple of years, a trampoline. Wes recalls days filled with fun: - Shuffleboard, checkers, hopscotch tournaments,
Wes Iredale, long-time Mariemont resident and 1950’s summer camper! - Board games played on the picnic tables or on the sidewalk abutting the Park, - Softball, kick-ball, four-square games under the tutelage of the teenage leaders, - Crafts such as lanyard-making and popsicle stick boats, - Kids would also strap on their roller skates and skate around/along the sidewalks and basketball court, - Pick-up baseball games (in the fall, outside of the summer recreation season, pick-up football and basketball games became the focus), and - Hide and seek. Occasionally a dad would hit some whiffle balls to the children. There were also a few FatherSon softball games, but mostly this was a parentfree zone. Tuesdays were particularly busy, Wes recalls, because the swimming pool was closed! A couple of our current Mariemont residents
were participants along with Wes: Ron Shelander and Suzi McKee Vianello. Others who participated include David, Doug and Dan Baer, Petey Woodward, Bobby Gunkel, Jay Hedrick, and Cindy Hopper, to name a few. Harking back to this carefree era was fun for me. Wes has a good memory for these lazy days of summer, and I need to conclude with a couple of his remembrances: “We would shimmy up in the narrow space between the Murray Avenue garages to get on the roofs. On Beech Street, there was only one house with a fenced-in yard—belonging to Mrs. Clippinger I believe. She was an elderly lady whom I don’t remember ever seeing. But, just like in the movie ‘Sandlot,’ if a ball went into her yard, there would be a lot of ‘dares’ about who was going to go get it. The Field was about the greatest place to grow up that I could imagine.”