Sunday, October 28, 2007
Viva, Rio Blanco!
Last night was our village's annual Halloween parade, and what a jolly event it was.I live in White River Junction, one of the less affluent towns of the Upper Connecticut Valley. We're near the more prosperous Norwich, VT and the wildly affluent Hanover, NH, home of Dartmouth College. WRJ hosts the county's social service offices, has several thrift stores, and nicknames from other towns that I won't even post here. When our football team beats those of richer towns, they cheer, "That's all right, that's okay, you'll be working for us someday."
Suffice it to say that we're poor cousins.
So it was with great glee that my darlin' and I have been witnessing the adoption of WRJ by a group of artists who see great potential here. One guy bought the old Tip-Top bakery building and revamped it for artist studios
and high tech businesses, with a nice dollop of public service (the local public access TV station and the Turning Point Club, a large AA meeting place). Matt Bucy (seen here on his trusty, two legged steed) is the Mayor of Merriment in WRJ, which he and his buddies have nicknamed Rio Blanco. They even printed tee shirts saying, "White River Junction: it's not so bad." Aside from running the Tip Top, Matt has his own movie company, Unwatchable Films.Since Matt's inventive efforts, other creative businesses have moved in, other buildings have been renovated. The Center for Cartoon Studies offers a college for cartoonists. Garry Trudeau was here last Monday in a fundraiser for the school. Last night the parade took us past a whole new area that we hadn't even been aware of--lots of exercise, martial arts, and wellness businesses, more artist studios, a tapas bar.
Of course, I digress. (What is this blog but a series of digressions?) Last night's party was
delightful--a fire organ which plays eerie music from an application of a torch to its pipes, an energetic and skillful band called Pariah Beat, some wild women in a walking bathtub, along with spacemen, ghosts, neon fireflies on tall posts, people on stilts and stilt ponies, the Statue of Liberty, drummers, bagpipe players, guitarists, and a cast of thousands. (OK, hundreds. This is Vermont, after all.)We came home delighted with the quirky path that our town is on and very glad to be here.
Viva, Rio Blanco!
# posted by Lulu Maude @ 11:52 AM 
Comments:
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I wore black clothing with a hood mask, then a feather mask I bought in N'Awlins. I'm not very creative when it comes to costuming.
You?
You?
you guys have so much fun and beauty in your lives..thanks for sharing it with us less fortunate..and yeah what are blogs but a series of digressions..Keep up your wonderful , smile inducing writing lulu - (not that you show any indications of quitting but just in case )
Hey this is no trick..but a small but vocal bunch of us..are working ourselves into a moderate frenzy for getting on board for Edwards..see Liberallymirth, Bluebloggin.com and me if you are wondering wtf i am talking about.
I will still be wearing my Kucinich gear..but we want to stop Hillary - at least that is part of the motivation for many of us. Me i am going to switch from Green to Dem just for the primaries..It may be the last vote i cast in my adult life. Hey got any candy ????
BOO !
- PP
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Hey this is no trick..but a small but vocal bunch of us..are working ourselves into a moderate frenzy for getting on board for Edwards..see Liberallymirth, Bluebloggin.com and me if you are wondering wtf i am talking about.
I will still be wearing my Kucinich gear..but we want to stop Hillary - at least that is part of the motivation for many of us. Me i am going to switch from Green to Dem just for the primaries..It may be the last vote i cast in my adult life. Hey got any candy ????
BOO !
- PP
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