In this case the particular industrial prairie was Garden Station, a project of the Circus
The event was sort of a halloween party, on the same night the Oregon/5th Street has it's party. Not too well attended but one can see a lot of potential for a "Dayton Music Fest" type of thing going on here as this is a neat outdoor venue. 
I hope they have this again next year as one can see some potential in re-inhabiting these derelict urban spaces. Almost like a Heidelberg Project.
More pix here.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Rocking the Rustbelt on Dayton's Industrial Prairies
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5 comments:
A nice example of local initiative. The youngsters lead the way! Notice how hardly anyone under thirty-five participates in all these eternal committees created by Richard Florida's acolytes. If only the Dayton Mostly Metroids followed this example instead of always looking to false idols to tell them what to do
There is that Updayton group which I posted on below and they are all under 40, so a younger group. They are maybe more yuppie types than the bohemian set you see here.
I think Florida is talking about things like this group and events like this that give a place a buzz and make it interesting. But I'm not sure the local folks involved "get" the bohemian aspect of what Florida is talking about.
So great to see this here! Lily Whitehead and I are the Garden Station Managers and would LOVE LOVE more community involvement @ Garden Station! We just got our lease from the City in June and spent most of the year cleaning up all the trash and poison ivy and building garden beds. Just about everything on site was donated and done with just a few volunteers. MetroParks GWYN program is helping us a great deal with the community garden plots which are available to local residents to adopt. We got water in July and should get power this April so we will be able to have bands and movies without needing a generator! other projects in the works include constructing a main mosaiced archway entrance and wheelchair accessible ramp, a deck and a straw bale garden shed with a green roof that will be done as a workshop with MetroParks and blue rock station on mother's day weekend. We are now looking for some local business sponsorship for some of these projects. Oh, and you don't have to be a "youngster" to help, most of our volunteers are over 40 ;)
For more info check the links below!
THANKS! Lisa Helm
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/DowntownGarden
www.myspace.com/gardenstation
www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=14574773660
www.daytoncircus.org
Jeffrey! Thanks so much for this! Wonderful photos! I`d forgotten what a lovely afternoon it turned out to be, it was a chilly, windy day and as the suns warmth faded it got very cold. I think it took me a few days to thaw out!
Power came from a rented generator, which unfortunately, inexplicably poo`d out around 10:30 pm leaving us in utter silent darkness. The good thing is that it didnt run out of gas, it was actually defective and the company we rented it from gave us a refund. Luckily our crowd had mostly ventured on to the party on Fifth, so aside from our food vendors packing up in the dark, there wasnt a crowd of disappointed people boo-ing. This, aside from the fact that we need regular lighting and to be able to run a pump in the pond is why we are planning to have an electric drop installed this coming spring.
We WILL be hosting the Harvest Fest again next fall but we will probably bump it up a couple weeks to earlier in October, hopefully before the weather hits that unpredictable point and to avoid conflicting with the Boo Bash on Fifth.
We will be having a spring kickoff event, most likely in April. I`ll be sure to post the info here. We are looking forward to the awakening of our baby trees planted last fall. Two Weeping Willows, two dwarf Pear & an ornamental Plum, donated by St. Annes Hill Violins & North Dayton Garden Center. We have regular Saturday morning gardening when the weather is warm, we welcome volunteers! We have three raised planting beds built and will be building more in time for this years planting. We invite fellow Daytonians to adopt a bed, plant what you like and maintain it through the season. We need donations of all kinds. Services, dollars, sponsorship. If you clean out your garage give us a call before you throw stuff away. You`d be surprised what we can make use of, although we wont turn down new stuff either!
I could go on forever! Working on this project has been amazing. We hope for Garden Station to be a place for everyone who loves Dayton to come and stroll with their dog, swing in the hammock, soak up the warmth of the sun on the redwood platform, daydream with the fishies, read the paper while reclining in a bathtub, create art on the wall, enjoy smores alongside a bonfire, eat a burrito, play a guitar, watch a movie or play video games on our larger than life easel!
Hoo hoo! Neat. That was my halloween pumpkin. Thanks for posting, what a fun night! Next year's will be bigger and better :)
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