Chevy Chase's resurgent intersection

Last Friday, as Mrs. Sweeper and I were coming home from the Gallery Hop, I saw a quite beautiful sight.  The evening was just perfect for getting out either to stroll through downtown looking at art or taking the kids to the ice cream shop for a cone or two.  Many a family was out doing just that.  Downtown, couples meandered through stop after stop of art and in Chevy Chase, hoards of families with kids were descending on Graeter's and the treats within.

 I tell you, the sidewalk in front of the Ashland Plaza was crawling with activity and both McAlister's and Graeter's were full.  The scene reminded me of the days when Romany Road was hopping.  I hope that it still is on Tuesday nights after Jazz or baseball in the park.  But this scene in Chevy Chase is today a rarer sight than some 30 years past.  The one thing that would make it better still would be the presence of some seating, you know, some tables and chairs or benches kind of like the sidewalk dining that we see downtown.

There is some sidewalk dining space already in Chevy Chase.  At Starbucks, at The Beer Trappe and Bourbon n' Toulouse, even Charley Brown's has some outdoor seating but I think that that has more to do with the smoking ban than anything else.  The area around the newly opened shops is in need of real seating.

The former Buddy's location had a so called patio for outside seating although it is right on the parking area, but it is there.

Speaking of Buddy's, it has not surprised me that it did not sit vacant for very long.  While @GossipGirl40502 will most likely tell you that the trendy things always begin early in her favorite zip code, the Chevy Chase area is just now getting in on the band wagon of brewpubs.  The South Broadway area, downtown and even W Sixth St., saw the micro or nano brewing sites before the 40502 but soon the Corner Brewpub will be taking over the old Buddy's spot and the intersection will become even more active.

I would not doubt that sometime, maybe near the end of Summer, somebody will organize a Colt trolley tour of all the local brewhouses or brewpubs in town, perhaps beginning and ending in the Distillery District.  I think that it would be great if it could benefit some local charity while exposing Lexington to the growing number of local brewers.

Update, May 3, 2012
Today, they put out at least two picnic tables in front of Graeter's and Business Lexington posted details about the brewpub.  When I mentioned the brewpub to the Lextran management and suggested a Brewhouse Hop, they seemed receptive.  What do you say, can we make it happen?

The Legacy Trail: Bike Events For Everyone

I did not hear the Mayor's speech at the opening of the Legacy Trail but I saw the YouTube video. He says the the new trail puts Lexington "on the map" and makes us a cycling "destination". I have to wonder after all the other grandiose projections about Lexington's "so-called" accomplishments.

I have enjoyed cycling here in Fayette County since the late '50s and have always found town very easy to get around by bike. The masses are just now coming to realize what I have known all along. I ride for enjoyment and don't get into racing or bike polo, nor do I go for high-speed jaunts through the countryside. I just plod along and enjoy myself.

But, now that we have arrived (in the Mayor's thoughts) I wonder when we will get all the other stuff that goes along with cycling and the young activists that we have in Central Kentucky. Lexington has lagged behind the rest of the country, or so the pundits say, and we get our ideas from the big cities of the east. I have been re-reading "The History of Pioneer Lexington; 1781-1806" by Charles Staples, who was a neighbor when I was growing up, and much of the merchandise that local shopkeepers brought to sell - came from Philadelphia. Not Boston, not New York, but Philadelphia. Just last week, Philadelphia held their latest rendition of a local "Naked Bike Ride", you know, the protest bike ride where you wear the least that you feel comfortable with and advocate such things as global warming and Peak Oil and traffic congestion.

Most of the world's "NBR" events (some call them "Bare as you Dare" rides) are along city streets and through parks. Some at night but most are now in broad daylight. Now that we have a premier facility for cycling, how far off can a Lexington "Naked Bike Ride" be?

Mrs. Sweeper thinks that I would be "front and center" for one, riding proudly and slowly, but I am not so sure. I saw all the different varieties of age and body shape last Sunday, it could be a scary thing.

I Still Support Art In Motion

I attended the fund raiser for Art in Motion last Thursday night, along with Mrs. Sweeper, as it afforded me the opportunity meet some of the people that I have posted about for a while. Or so I thought.

The location was Natasha’s Bistro and Bar on the Esplanade, time, from 5:30 till 10:00, a great chance for us to meet and greet other AiM supporters. Maybe even exchange some ideas. We arrived at about 6, just enough to not be the first in the door but still have some time the entertainment for the evening.

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. By 6 o’clock the opening band was rocking the joint, and I mean rocking it. We heard them from the corner of Main St. There was no time for casual conversation with others, no introductions, no quiet time for mingling. Take your money at the door, hustle you to a table and we were on our own.

The band, Positive Movement, was playing some modern jazz or blues which the Mrs. and I enjoy on a regular basis during the summer, but this was just a bit too loud for the occasion. I couldn’t hear the waitress or my wife so we reverted to the primitive form of texting, passing notes to each other across the table.

Relatives of the band members or members of the main band, Water with Vera Soules, took up positions right in front of the stage and took snapshots and video of the performance while others kept to the periphery and ordered dinner.

We watched the slide show of a variety of art stops from around the world and marveled at the creativity of them. We watched the slide show of the sculptor of the Third St Artstop as he described how he did it. We heard reference to the major participants of the existing structures, but none of them were introduced. I felt a little bit lost.

Dinner over, and the slide shows behind us, little was left to keep us there, as apparently was the case with a majority of the others in the room, so we left. Two members of the MPO staff and the table with the EOP people had all left. I saw nobody from Lextran that I knew and I now know just one more person with Art in Motion.

Don’t think for a moment that this diminishes my enthusiasm for the Art in Motion program or for art stops in general. I will continue to post about them and continue to support their construction. I even anticipate being at a fundraiser in the near future, which I hear will be at Buster’s, and I am told that it will be more along the lines of what I expected last week.