Embarras volunteer conservation day
CHARLESTON — The Embarras Volunteer Stewards will hold a Conservation Day at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, at Lafferty Nature Center, behind Carl Sandberg School on Reynolds Drive in Charleston.
Participants will remove bush honeysuckle with the help of over 100 young people and their adult supervisors. The school parking area will be busy, so organizers recommend that regular EVS volunteers park near the water tower on Douglas Drive.
All are welcome, and no prior experience is necessary. Sturdy footwear and gloves are recommended. Tools are provided.
Visit www.embarrasstewards.org for more information. To receive email notifications, contact thorsenhutton@gmail.com.
Make and Take project
CHARLESTON — Come visit the Charleston Carnegie Public Library to pick up a Take and Make flower craft to create at home.
Kid’s Take and Make is designed for ages 3-12. This flower craft will be available for pick up at the KidSpace desk from Monday, Sept. 13, through Sunday, Sept. 26, while supplies last.
Supplies you will need at home are glue/glue stick and crayons/colored pencils. This is a free children’s program, open to the public. A library card is not needed to participate. For further information, call 217-345-1514.
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Alpha Upsilon to hold meeting
MATTOON — The Alpha Upsilon Chapter of ESA will meet Tues. Sept 14 at 6:30 p.m. at Hubbart’s Diner. The guest speaker will be Phoenix Princko. RSVP Vicki Reible at 217-246-6753 or Paula Winchester at 217-259-9274.
Quarter Auction to be held Sept. 16
MATTOON — The American Legion Auxiliary will be hosting a quarter auction Thursday, Sept. 16. The auction will feature over 15 vendors. The items will include crafts, books, toys, purses, wallets, makeup, gift certificates, kitchenware, and much more.
The auction is a monthly event, held the third Thursday of each month, with profits going to American Legion Auxiliary projects. This month the proceeds will go to Epsilon Signa Alpha Omega Nu.
The monthly quarter auction has brought in over $24,400 for community projects.
This event is open to the public. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with bidding starting at 6:30 p.m. Food and drink will be available.
The American Legion is located at 1903 Maple Ave., Mattoon.
My Town: Clint Walker’s memories of Coles County as pulled from the archives
Cosmic Blue Comics
From the Nov. 22, 1992, Journal Gazette, this photo of Cosmic Blue Comics in Mattoon; where I spent virtually every Saturday afternoon for about two years. That small back room you see just off to the right of the Coca-Cola sign was where they kept the many, and I mean many, long-boxes of back issues. I still own my bagged copy of “Tales of the Beanworld” issue No. 1 that I found back there. Sadly, this location is now just a “greenspace”.
Mattoon Arcade
Pictured, Shelbyville’s Bob Murray from the June 2, 1982, Journal Gazette, displaying his dominance over the TRON arcade game at the “Carousel Time” arcade at the Cross County Mall, later to be the Aladdin’s Castle, soon thereafter to be not a thing anymore. I spent just about every Saturday at that arcade, perhaps with that exact same haircut. No overalls, though. I was more of an “Ocean Pacific” kind of kid.
Icenogle’s
Pictured, from the Nov. 28, 1988, Journal Gazette, Icenogle’s grocery store. Being from Cooks Mills, we didn’t often shop at Icenogle’s…but when we did, even as a kid, I knew it was the way a grocery store is supposed to be in a perfect world, and that’s not just because they had wood floors, comic books on the magazine rack, or plenty, and I mean plenty, of trading cards in wax packs.
Cooks Mills
I had long since moved away from Cooks Mills by the time this Showcase item about Adam’s Groceries ran in the June 13, 1998, Journal Gazette, but there was a time when I very well could have been one of those kids in that photo; for if it was summer, and you had a bike, and you lived in Cooks Mills, that’s where you ended up. At last report, they still had Tab in the Pepsi-branded cooler in the back. I’m seriously considering asking my money guy if I could afford to reopen this place.
Mister Music
Pictured, from the July 16, 1987, Journal Gazette, this ad for Mister Music, formerly located in the Cross County Mall. I wasn’t buying records at that age, but I would eventually, and that’s where it all went down. If you don’t think it sounds “cool” to hang out at a record store with your buddies on a Friday night, a piping-hot driver’s license fresh in your wallet, you’d be right. But it’s the best a geek like me could do. Wherever you are today, owners of Mister Music, please know that a Minutemen album I found in your cheap bin changed my life.
Sound Source Guitar Throw
Portrait of the author as a young man, about to throw a guitar through a target at that year’s Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest, from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette. Check out my grunge-era hoodie, and yes…look carefully, those are Air Jordans you see on my feet. Addendum: despite what the cutline says, I did not win a guitar.
Pictured, clipped from the online archives at JG-TC.com, a photo from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette of Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest winner, and current JG-TC staff writer, Clint Walker.
Vette’s
Here today, gone tomorrow, Vette’s Teen Club, from the June 20, 1991, Journal Gazette. I wasn’t “cool” enough to hang out at Vette’s back in it’s “heyday,” and by “cool enough” I mean, “not proficient enough in parking lot fights.” If only I could get a crack at it now.
FutureGen
FutureGen: The end of the beginning, and eventually, the beginning of the end, from the Dec. 19, 2007, JG-TC. I wish I had been paying more attention at the time. I probably should have been reading the newspaper.
