Whoa! A lot of anger here being directed at the folks who live on or near the parade route on Central St. and North Evanston in general. I think that if the parade route was on another street in Evanston----say Church, Dempster, Main or Oakton---that the folks who lived on or near that route would put their chairs or blankets out early, too. And it would annoying to others. Human nature.
As a long time North Evanstonian, I am a little annoyed by the whole practice of staking out spots for the parade days in advance.
There is going to be a parade that steps off July 4 at 1 pm or whatever, and there are some people who are going to want to see it, and not be stuck behind people who are standing in front of them.
In the absence of the current practice of grabbing a spot days in advance, when should people start taking spots? 6 am the day of? 10 am? No sitting or standing on Central Street until the tuba player from the first marching band strikes his first note?
At some point people are going to get there and want a spot to watch the parade. As much as I don't love what people do now, it is free, it is general admission, and every seat is a lawn seat.
It’s bully behavior. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at the entitlement when some (not all) of the folks living near Central Street went on rants about the friends and families of ETHS graduates who dared to travel to the stadium area for graduation because, you know, traffic.
Some are a truly unique breed best to be avoided. I hastened to add that many lovely, generous people also live in the Central Street area. They’ve got to put up with the entitlement on a regular basis.
I think the parade's location should rotate throughout Evanston. Have three or four agreed upon sites (I'm sure they can be found) and then every third or fourth year the parade would take place at that location. What a great way to actually have all Evanstonians experience not only the parade's pageantry and fun but also the diversity of the city's neighborhoods and population.
The parade is not put on by the City but by the Evanston 4th of July Association (could be botching the name). As a volunteer organization, it needs to be able to run the same playbook over and over (this is how you stage everyone while they are waiting to march, etc.). Otherwise, it becomes a much larger project than anyone wants to take on.
Maybe I’m just bitter that the non-profit that ran the Custer St Festival (which was right in front of my house) got into a stupid fight with the city and we lost our festival
This isn’t a city-sponsored event. If another organization wants to co-host- it probably could be done. But no one wants to reinvent the wheel. It’s actually a PITA. And the fact that it’s mainly an area with ample street parking makes it easy for people to come. I’m still mad about Custer Street Fair. That was a great fair about 20 years ago. Then it started getting too big and a little ridiculous with the tents of folks selling as seen on tv products.
Tom, I agree with most of what you cover, but please, after what we have been through in this town over the last few years with D65 and the bile on Facebook by the usual suspects, can you NOT add to the practice of judging and pitting Evanstonians against each other? This practice is honestly degrading the community spirit of this town, my hometown. I grew up in far South Evanston (not near the lake as many proud "South" Evanstonians live) and now I live in North Evanston, landing here after looking at houses all over Evanston - all areas which we would have happily lived. I am the same person as I when I lived in South Evanston and my neighbors seem just as nice. What is not OK is the hate constantly thrown toward the N Evanston schools and the people. And, this kind of hate toward the parade for the last few years (and by the usual suspects online) I fear is making it a less attended event with less groups participating. Meanwhile, this has been such a nice community event (even when I lived in South Evanston!) when people can all come together. Yes, it is kind of a silly tradition, but I feel like it's just showing enthusiasm for the event. There are always tons of spots that are not claimed by chairs, even day of. And, I'm sure you could tape a spot off if you didn't want to bring chairs. I feel like it's more a case of people who plan or do not plan (sadly, I am not great at planning.) Anyway, can we please not contribute to the negative, judgmental attitude that has torn us apart over the last few years?
I don't think we want to get into us all recounting all of the wrongs we have experienced in various parts of Evanston, do we? Make judgements? Also, FYI this accusation has been made about so many things in town that were then simply canceled, never replaced with anything better . The South and North branch libraries. YMCA's Brillianteen, a free community musical by teens throughout Evanston, brought kids together from all schools, backgrounds, etc was eliminated. Now kids (much fewer) are in silos of private and sometimes costly drama troupe and many, many more will never have the joyful experience so many once had. Free social events at schools, replaced with nothing - so private gatherings among small groups of families. Great.
And some of those things are valid points and some are not! We should all be talking about these things instead of letting a small handful of people call all the shots while everyone hides behind anonymous usernames. The more out in the open and honest this discussion is, the better. You can disagree with me and that's completely OK!!!
Hahahaha. It is stupid. It’s nice to be able to bitch about annoying things that are basically inconsequential. I’m pissed about Brillianteen. What a waste. First they came for our debutante ball. Then for our musical theater. Then our parade chairs. Then we mutinied and re-elected a millionaire to lead us. Where is the marshmallow drop when we need one???
Currently live in North Evanston. Have since 2015. Lived 2008-2015 in South Evanston. Each has their own quirks and merits. The first year we lived here in an apartment at Main/Hinman. Biked up to Central the day of the 4th with a picnic and a blanket. Found a little spot. Sat and watched for a couple hours. When we had our first kids while we lived on Madison, we would transport them up to Central and enjoy the parade, never with an issue.
Tom - love your reporting and love that you care deeply/are passionate about many issues. I think when you start name calling and painting an entire part of town with a broad brush, it is not helpful/useful. It’s your Substack and your content that we all freely enjoy. But you might want to consider rethinking the utility of this post.
Nope! It's my blog and I can write what I want regardless of what "utility" you find in my posts. You don't have to agree with everything I write and you can comment and that's OK!
Living near there, this is an annoying practice, but admittedly I am also dragging a few chairs over at 6:00am on the 1st.
I wish it wasn’t a thing, and some of the practices (tying off sections, taping huge blocks of space) are pretty obnoxious. Folks also drop stuff off before the 6:00am start tine.
Neighbors are also pretty unneighborly and entitled, too. I’ve heard words exchanged. Nowhere else are Subarus as close to being Mad Max War Rigs as Central Street on July 1st.
100% agreed. It's all a little silly and people are generally not that nice to each other, but that's about as far as I'd take this. I'm not sure that it's indicative of broader societal trends in Evanston.
I grew a thicker skin living in the city during the winter. In a working class neighborhood…the shoveling of snow, the plastic chairs (for weeks)…seriously— “dibs” is annoying. But it’s kind of a “thing” and really, in the end, we’ve always found great places to sit and watch without hauling out chairs ourselves.
Also the 4th of July parade IMHO is just meh. Once you see it once you really don’t need to see it again. Whatever floats one’s boat. All I know is one thing: I love America—warts and all. And I love that this post has 60 or so comments!!
May we always strive to form a more perfect Union —even with a “meh” 4th of July parade and some weirdos staking out ground days in advance…. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
That story about Out Of Space sounds very familiar! I can’t imagine setting seats out and not using them, or getting mad when other people show up to enjoy the show.
In terms of saving seats for the parade, I’ve seen that everywhere I’ve lived when it comes to small-town parades. For some reason, they are a big deal to people, and saving seats days in advance seems to be common practice. I don’t think this is an “Evanston issue”, tho I see how it could appear that way. I saved our seats a few years ago for the parade that didn’t happen and I don’t live in North Evanston. I just knew it was a thing to do.
As someone who previously lived in Chicago for many years I’ve always hated this system. You dig your car out of the snow and some but*hol* with bigger muscles than you puts a chair in it while you are at work. No thanks. I respect the system only because I don’t want to get beaten or have my car destroyed. I have never claimed a parking spot. I’ve probably dug my car out of the snow hundreds of times. This is my only redeeming quality.
I guess everyone regardless of where they live could put chairs out to save a spot?
I think the real solution is to sprinkle tons of no-waste bird seed where the chairs are parked. The birds are then able to relieve themselves on the chairs! After all—the early bird catches the worm!
Fun story - the city has a weird drainage garden by Lot 32 on Hinman and Kedzie - I once tried to contaminate the garden by planting thousands of sunflower seeds, hoping that it would grow a super crazy gonzo sunflower garden. I went out in the middle of the night at like 3am and planted all the seeds.
By the morning there were no fewer than 800 birds in that garden digging out every single last seed I planted!!
Tom - have you considered a bog garden? Sandy soil lacks the nutrients for plants to thrive and will definitely need green matter mixed in, per the below article. ex: garden compost, rotted leaves or any green matter
Tom, I love your blog, but I thought someone who is interested in the responsible use of taxpayer money would appreciate the "weird drainage garden." It intercepts storm water and reduces the amount of public money needed to maintain our combined sewer system. Planting random stuff in it can obstruct its purpose. Good on the birds.
Yes I know, I live directly next door and was there during the construction of the entire thing. Have you seen the plants they put there? Most of them are half dead and it's a 95% dirt patch that the city barely maintains. Everyone is being such a buzzkill today.
You did mention equity. You made multiple references indirectly and “In Evanston, we talk a big game about valuing equality and equity but sometimes the reality is more”. Am I missing something?
I don’t like this dibs either, and neither do my neighbors. But after 10 years in south Evanston and now 4 in north Evanston I plan to do what I’ve always done and stand or find some curb somewhere. Nor do I like entitled people at any event in any town as happens everywhere, but no need to degrade half of Evanston with such broad strokes based on the actions of a few. I’m very disappointed.
This is an interesting take. While it's a little strange, it's pretty clear that the culture of Out of Space is to permit reserving seats with lawn chairs. It's the same as Ravinia in that way. It's been the same for many, many years. That woman sounds like a jerk, though.
As for the parade, I don't disagree with you. It's a pretty weird practice, although you could argue that this actually creates an opportunity for anyone to reserve a space days in advance. You don't need to live near Central St. If the spaces were reserved only a few hours before the parade, you'd likely have more of the spaces taken up by hyper-locals who can just walk out their door and hold space.
On a slightly snarky note, I'd gladly trade the parade to any other neighborhood if it meant we had a library on Central again. :)
Also! Not everyone has a car! I didn't have a car until like 6 months ago. So to reserve a spot I would've had to lug some chairs on the L - no thanks!!
The pavilion at Ravinia has assigned seats, so the comparison doesn't totally work. Are you sure about the Out of Space VIP? As far as I know, it's the same as the rest of the areas. It's just cordoned off for those with VIP tickets.
Sure it does. You enter the 'festival' and set up your seats. Then you walk around, maybe grab dinner, and come back. Walk around before a show; there's lots of saved areas. Are you suggesting that they remove unoccupied seats and blankets?
You’re probably right that if a guest dropped two chairs, left and returned it would not be a problem. However, if a guest dropped two chairs to return and complain that someone was seated in front of them, they’d be out of luck. And, if a guest dropped a dozen chairs and left, they risk being reseated. It’s in their published policies and I’ve seen it enforced.
If I had access to my Hotmail email address from back in the day, I could dig up an email I sent to then-alderman Ann Rainey about how ridiculous it was that the best spots were taken by wooden folding chairs and SOC caution tape starting on June 15. It was a diatribe that I guess actually made me woke before my time. The next year, city council changed the rule that dibs could not happen before 5 am July 1 or something similar- I forget.
I used to love taking the family to the parade and the fireworks, with a bbq at some friend or another’s in between. Now I am just as happy to avoid it. How many times can you see the drunken Kazoo band in your life? And honestly, I couldn’t have been more grateful to be enjoying Pure Michigan during the HP fiasco of a few years ago.
The reality is that most other cities are worse than Evanston in many, many ways. But I am beginning to feel as though I need to be confronted with that to appreciate Evanston again. There’s no such thing as utopia. Evanston has great heart. We just have some things we need to straighten out. To be honest, the music fest and the 4th of July parade are kinda towards the bottom of the current list. But I get what you are saying.
ok but over in the non-VIP section, I had a group of housewives, dressed to the nines and drunk and loudly talking and standing right in front of me. I could not enjoy the show at all. If you are going to ignore the show you should stand at the back next to the food. Don't go in the crowd as use this as an excuse to catch up with all your friends!
What I would like to do is put up a group of chairs and leave a sign on them saying "Anyone can sit here!" I feel like setting out chairs is very exclusive, and antithetical to any kind of community spirit, which is what I thought we were supposed to be celebrating on the 4th of July. It's really not a great parade...I'll just keep walking up 10 minutes before it starts and get a perfectly good view from behind those chairs.
Whoa! A lot of anger here being directed at the folks who live on or near the parade route on Central St. and North Evanston in general. I think that if the parade route was on another street in Evanston----say Church, Dempster, Main or Oakton---that the folks who lived on or near that route would put their chairs or blankets out early, too. And it would annoying to others. Human nature.
Come to the Skokie parade instead! All of the excitement and none of the snobbery :)
Eh, there are many bigger fish to fry.
As a long time North Evanstonian, I am a little annoyed by the whole practice of staking out spots for the parade days in advance.
There is going to be a parade that steps off July 4 at 1 pm or whatever, and there are some people who are going to want to see it, and not be stuck behind people who are standing in front of them.
In the absence of the current practice of grabbing a spot days in advance, when should people start taking spots? 6 am the day of? 10 am? No sitting or standing on Central Street until the tuba player from the first marching band strikes his first note?
At some point people are going to get there and want a spot to watch the parade. As much as I don't love what people do now, it is free, it is general admission, and every seat is a lawn seat.
Have you been hacked?
No it's a spammer account (their user id has an extra i in it).. Deleting
It’s bully behavior. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at the entitlement when some (not all) of the folks living near Central Street went on rants about the friends and families of ETHS graduates who dared to travel to the stadium area for graduation because, you know, traffic.
Some are a truly unique breed best to be avoided. I hastened to add that many lovely, generous people also live in the Central Street area. They’ve got to put up with the entitlement on a regular basis.
I think the parade's location should rotate throughout Evanston. Have three or four agreed upon sites (I'm sure they can be found) and then every third or fourth year the parade would take place at that location. What a great way to actually have all Evanstonians experience not only the parade's pageantry and fun but also the diversity of the city's neighborhoods and population.
The parade is not put on by the City but by the Evanston 4th of July Association (could be botching the name). As a volunteer organization, it needs to be able to run the same playbook over and over (this is how you stage everyone while they are waiting to march, etc.). Otherwise, it becomes a much larger project than anyone wants to take on.
Maybe I’m just bitter that the non-profit that ran the Custer St Festival (which was right in front of my house) got into a stupid fight with the city and we lost our festival
My recollection is that they were going to move the festival to Whiting, but it got Covid'd. https://evanstonnow.com/custer-fair-relocates-to-indiana/
Please no. As someone who lives in South Evanston, I don’t want it here!
Yes!!!!
This isn’t a city-sponsored event. If another organization wants to co-host- it probably could be done. But no one wants to reinvent the wheel. It’s actually a PITA. And the fact that it’s mainly an area with ample street parking makes it easy for people to come. I’m still mad about Custer Street Fair. That was a great fair about 20 years ago. Then it started getting too big and a little ridiculous with the tents of folks selling as seen on tv products.
Tom, I agree with most of what you cover, but please, after what we have been through in this town over the last few years with D65 and the bile on Facebook by the usual suspects, can you NOT add to the practice of judging and pitting Evanstonians against each other? This practice is honestly degrading the community spirit of this town, my hometown. I grew up in far South Evanston (not near the lake as many proud "South" Evanstonians live) and now I live in North Evanston, landing here after looking at houses all over Evanston - all areas which we would have happily lived. I am the same person as I when I lived in South Evanston and my neighbors seem just as nice. What is not OK is the hate constantly thrown toward the N Evanston schools and the people. And, this kind of hate toward the parade for the last few years (and by the usual suspects online) I fear is making it a less attended event with less groups participating. Meanwhile, this has been such a nice community event (even when I lived in South Evanston!) when people can all come together. Yes, it is kind of a silly tradition, but I feel like it's just showing enthusiasm for the event. There are always tons of spots that are not claimed by chairs, even day of. And, I'm sure you could tape a spot off if you didn't want to bring chairs. I feel like it's more a case of people who plan or do not plan (sadly, I am not great at planning.) Anyway, can we please not contribute to the negative, judgmental attitude that has torn us apart over the last few years?
I'm gonna things as I see 'em even if it means I sometimes agree with the usual suspects (even if the hate me)!
I don't think we want to get into us all recounting all of the wrongs we have experienced in various parts of Evanston, do we? Make judgements? Also, FYI this accusation has been made about so many things in town that were then simply canceled, never replaced with anything better . The South and North branch libraries. YMCA's Brillianteen, a free community musical by teens throughout Evanston, brought kids together from all schools, backgrounds, etc was eliminated. Now kids (much fewer) are in silos of private and sometimes costly drama troupe and many, many more will never have the joyful experience so many once had. Free social events at schools, replaced with nothing - so private gatherings among small groups of families. Great.
And some of those things are valid points and some are not! We should all be talking about these things instead of letting a small handful of people call all the shots while everyone hides behind anonymous usernames. The more out in the open and honest this discussion is, the better. You can disagree with me and that's completely OK!!!
And when this gets canceled along with so many other things, I guess we can still go to fun things that exist in other suburbs.
Also don't worry I'm not turning the cannons on North Evanston - you guys just gotta take the heat for this stupid chair thing
Hahahaha. It is stupid. It’s nice to be able to bitch about annoying things that are basically inconsequential. I’m pissed about Brillianteen. What a waste. First they came for our debutante ball. Then for our musical theater. Then our parade chairs. Then we mutinied and re-elected a millionaire to lead us. Where is the marshmallow drop when we need one???
Dude the egg drop they did a few years ago at Mt Trashmore a few years ago was so stupid and fan
What is the story behind Brillianteen?
Currently live in North Evanston. Have since 2015. Lived 2008-2015 in South Evanston. Each has their own quirks and merits. The first year we lived here in an apartment at Main/Hinman. Biked up to Central the day of the 4th with a picnic and a blanket. Found a little spot. Sat and watched for a couple hours. When we had our first kids while we lived on Madison, we would transport them up to Central and enjoy the parade, never with an issue.
Tom - love your reporting and love that you care deeply/are passionate about many issues. I think when you start name calling and painting an entire part of town with a broad brush, it is not helpful/useful. It’s your Substack and your content that we all freely enjoy. But you might want to consider rethinking the utility of this post.
Nope! It's my blog and I can write what I want regardless of what "utility" you find in my posts. You don't have to agree with everything I write and you can comment and that's OK!
Happy 4th Tom.
Same to you!!
Living near there, this is an annoying practice, but admittedly I am also dragging a few chairs over at 6:00am on the 1st.
I wish it wasn’t a thing, and some of the practices (tying off sections, taping huge blocks of space) are pretty obnoxious. Folks also drop stuff off before the 6:00am start tine.
Neighbors are also pretty unneighborly and entitled, too. I’ve heard words exchanged. Nowhere else are Subarus as close to being Mad Max War Rigs as Central Street on July 1st.
And for what? To get a “Jan Fan?”
100% agreed. It's all a little silly and people are generally not that nice to each other, but that's about as far as I'd take this. I'm not sure that it's indicative of broader societal trends in Evanston.
I grew a thicker skin living in the city during the winter. In a working class neighborhood…the shoveling of snow, the plastic chairs (for weeks)…seriously— “dibs” is annoying. But it’s kind of a “thing” and really, in the end, we’ve always found great places to sit and watch without hauling out chairs ourselves.
Also the 4th of July parade IMHO is just meh. Once you see it once you really don’t need to see it again. Whatever floats one’s boat. All I know is one thing: I love America—warts and all. And I love that this post has 60 or so comments!!
May we always strive to form a more perfect Union —even with a “meh” 4th of July parade and some weirdos staking out ground days in advance…. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
That story about Out Of Space sounds very familiar! I can’t imagine setting seats out and not using them, or getting mad when other people show up to enjoy the show.
In terms of saving seats for the parade, I’ve seen that everywhere I’ve lived when it comes to small-town parades. For some reason, they are a big deal to people, and saving seats days in advance seems to be common practice. I don’t think this is an “Evanston issue”, tho I see how it could appear that way. I saved our seats a few years ago for the parade that didn’t happen and I don’t live in North Evanston. I just knew it was a thing to do.
Oh gosh! First a woodpecker and now this!
As someone who previously lived in Chicago for many years I’ve always hated this system. You dig your car out of the snow and some but*hol* with bigger muscles than you puts a chair in it while you are at work. No thanks. I respect the system only because I don’t want to get beaten or have my car destroyed. I have never claimed a parking spot. I’ve probably dug my car out of the snow hundreds of times. This is my only redeeming quality.
I guess everyone regardless of where they live could put chairs out to save a spot?
I think the real solution is to sprinkle tons of no-waste bird seed where the chairs are parked. The birds are then able to relieve themselves on the chairs! After all—the early bird catches the worm!
Fun story - the city has a weird drainage garden by Lot 32 on Hinman and Kedzie - I once tried to contaminate the garden by planting thousands of sunflower seeds, hoping that it would grow a super crazy gonzo sunflower garden. I went out in the middle of the night at like 3am and planted all the seeds.
By the morning there were no fewer than 800 birds in that garden digging out every single last seed I planted!!
Tom - have you considered a bog garden? Sandy soil lacks the nutrients for plants to thrive and will definitely need green matter mixed in, per the below article. ex: garden compost, rotted leaves or any green matter
https://www.flowerpotman.com/garden-pond-builder/bog-garden/
Sunflowers are super hard to grow from seed with the critters. If you want to contaminate a garden for life always use mint. 😀
As someone who had to remove mint from my city garden plot, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy!!
Tom, I love your blog, but I thought someone who is interested in the responsible use of taxpayer money would appreciate the "weird drainage garden." It intercepts storm water and reduces the amount of public money needed to maintain our combined sewer system. Planting random stuff in it can obstruct its purpose. Good on the birds.
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/ILEVANSTON/bulletins/16744ce
Yes I know, I live directly next door and was there during the construction of the entire thing. Have you seen the plants they put there? Most of them are half dead and it's a 95% dirt patch that the city barely maintains. Everyone is being such a buzzkill today.
You did mention equity. You made multiple references indirectly and “In Evanston, we talk a big game about valuing equality and equity but sometimes the reality is more”. Am I missing something?
I don’t like this dibs either, and neither do my neighbors. But after 10 years in south Evanston and now 4 in north Evanston I plan to do what I’ve always done and stand or find some curb somewhere. Nor do I like entitled people at any event in any town as happens everywhere, but no need to degrade half of Evanston with such broad strokes based on the actions of a few. I’m very disappointed.
This is an interesting take. While it's a little strange, it's pretty clear that the culture of Out of Space is to permit reserving seats with lawn chairs. It's the same as Ravinia in that way. It's been the same for many, many years. That woman sounds like a jerk, though.
As for the parade, I don't disagree with you. It's a pretty weird practice, although you could argue that this actually creates an opportunity for anyone to reserve a space days in advance. You don't need to live near Central St. If the spaces were reserved only a few hours before the parade, you'd likely have more of the spaces taken up by hyper-locals who can just walk out their door and hold space.
On a slightly snarky note, I'd gladly trade the parade to any other neighborhood if it meant we had a library on Central again. :)
Also! Not everyone has a car! I didn't have a car until like 6 months ago. So to reserve a spot I would've had to lug some chairs on the L - no thanks!!
That rule does not apply to the VIP area or the pavilion at Ravinia!
The pavilion at Ravinia has assigned seats, so the comparison doesn't totally work. Are you sure about the Out of Space VIP? As far as I know, it's the same as the rest of the areas. It's just cordoned off for those with VIP tickets.
Ravinia does not allow empty “saved seats” on the lawn.
Sure it does. You enter the 'festival' and set up your seats. Then you walk around, maybe grab dinner, and come back. Walk around before a show; there's lots of saved areas. Are you suggesting that they remove unoccupied seats and blankets?
See the link to Ravinia lawn policies under “ Be Considerate.” https://ravinia.org/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=Ravinia_FirstTimers&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=
You’re probably right that if a guest dropped two chairs, left and returned it would not be a problem. However, if a guest dropped two chairs to return and complain that someone was seated in front of them, they’d be out of luck. And, if a guest dropped a dozen chairs and left, they risk being reseated. It’s in their published policies and I’ve seen it enforced.
If I had access to my Hotmail email address from back in the day, I could dig up an email I sent to then-alderman Ann Rainey about how ridiculous it was that the best spots were taken by wooden folding chairs and SOC caution tape starting on June 15. It was a diatribe that I guess actually made me woke before my time. The next year, city council changed the rule that dibs could not happen before 5 am July 1 or something similar- I forget.
I used to love taking the family to the parade and the fireworks, with a bbq at some friend or another’s in between. Now I am just as happy to avoid it. How many times can you see the drunken Kazoo band in your life? And honestly, I couldn’t have been more grateful to be enjoying Pure Michigan during the HP fiasco of a few years ago.
The reality is that most other cities are worse than Evanston in many, many ways. But I am beginning to feel as though I need to be confronted with that to appreciate Evanston again. There’s no such thing as utopia. Evanston has great heart. We just have some things we need to straighten out. To be honest, the music fest and the 4th of July parade are kinda towards the bottom of the current list. But I get what you are saying.
Happy 4th!
Kazoo band and weirdo librarians with their carts—oh and the mosquito abatement company? Seriously. How.Many.Times?
ok but over in the non-VIP section, I had a group of housewives, dressed to the nines and drunk and loudly talking and standing right in front of me. I could not enjoy the show at all. If you are going to ignore the show you should stand at the back next to the food. Don't go in the crowd as use this as an excuse to catch up with all your friends!
Well said Tom!
What I would like to do is put up a group of chairs and leave a sign on them saying "Anyone can sit here!" I feel like setting out chairs is very exclusive, and antithetical to any kind of community spirit, which is what I thought we were supposed to be celebrating on the 4th of July. It's really not a great parade...I'll just keep walking up 10 minutes before it starts and get a perfectly good view from behind those chairs.