Include Art Festivals in your Travels

Got a shovel, a rusted rake and screw drivers you don't know what to do with? Fred Jacobs of Lima Ohio (41-222-3659) uses his creative mojo to make something fun, interesting and useable. This is re-purposed, re-cycled, clever and a favorite item I recently saw at Upper Arlington Labor Neighbor Day and Arts Festival. I got his business card and had his permission to photograph his work. Assumed his business card would have his webpage url, sorry to say it doesn't. The Card reads Visions and Memories Fred Jacobs. I wasn't able to find him listed when I googled his name or Visions and Memories. There were lots of metal sculptures present at The Upper Arlington Labor Day Arts Festival. We traveled...lol, walking distance from the house for this event; but I do highly recommend it, and all arts festivals in your travels. We've been luck in our travels to hit one in Park City a few months ago, one in Breckenridge last summer and others. Check with your hotel desk staff to see what's in your area while you vacation. Support local artists. 99% of you will purchase souvenirs of your trips, why not make it art from a local artist while you're at it.
I considered buying this little guy (not the same artist). I didn't see business cards for this artist to share with you. Many of the metal scuptures were large and would be awesome in a beautiful garden, this one I thought might be cute sitting on my deck....and I love a good martini. Perhaps we'll come across this little frog another time in another arts festival. Cat lower right right is pretty cute too.
Hey Gator fans......think you need this one for your front yard. lol This is the same artist as the frog.
Pinon Designs. This Red Creek Agate looks great around my neck. I like interesting, and unique jewelry pieces. This is the 2nd necklace I've purchased this summer at art festivals. Leslie Heath and Christian Wig are the artists listed. Though no website is listed there is an email ccwig@bright.net.
This year the festival was held on September 5th from 10 am to 5 pm. It is always a free event with something for everyone. Often it's hot and dusty, this year it was cool and overcast; but that didn't stop the festival goers. It threaten rain all day; but luckily we all stayed dry.
Plenty of space to move around, to enjoy the art, to sit down and enjoy a snack or just rest your feet a bit. There were children's activities scattered about. Hands on art activities for the kids, face painting, bike races in the morning, a pet show and a family Wiffle Ball Tournament.
Neighbors catch up and celebrate the end of summer, the beginning of fall.
You can tell I was into the metal art this year, look at this Bumble Bee...........how cute he'd look in a nice large garden area. This years event had 350 applicants with 200 fine art, fine craft artists being selected to participate in this one day blind juried event. Mark your calendars for next and add this to your Labor Day list of things to do.

Flat Stanley & Flat Joe at a Leathers Playground

Silly Stanley, he and Flat Joe missed Friday Fun with Flat Stanley yesterday. They apparently were too busy having a good time to come and post and tell you all about it. Here they both are at Wickliffe Elementary Playground in Upper Arlington, Ohio. This is a very special playground you see. It was built in 1989-1990 as a community build. Everyone got in the act. First all the school kids told Leathers People what they wanted in their playground. The kids talked, drew pictures, and made models. Then a plan was drawn up by by The Leathers Team and presented to the parents along with the price tag. Fund-raising ensued and for a week everyone came together, students, teachers, parents, and neighbors in the community to building this fabulous playground. Everyone was involved in some manner. Some took care of tools, some carried work equipment to and from, others prepared food and drink to keep us workers going hour after hour, others babysat so parents could pound nails Follow us now and we'll show you this marvelous playground. Come on in through the gate where Flat Stanley and Flat Joe are....

Hang on Joe, it swings. That's pretty cool. See behind Flat Joe? Things of different sizes for different age kids to enjoy. Fun spaces to crawl and play hide n seek, places to climb, places to sit and read. Even a little stage where kids can perform.


Flat Stanley here walking on a rail, while Flat Joe is exercising on the rings. Look careful and or click to enlarge the picture to see Joe.
Walkways, Castles, benches, play phones, swings, and slides and more. Flat Stanley and Flat Joe had a marvelous time playing and learning all about this really cool playground; but you know what they thought was the coolest? People working together to accomplish good are unstoppable. Flat Joe of Joseph Allen's Designs, said it's just like all the people pulling together on The Bridge and Beyond, there they make a difference one stitch at a time, and here they built a playground one board at a time.

Joe's on his way home now after 4 fun adventures here with Flat Stanley. If you missed any of their fun, you can catch up here:
Not a ordinary playground
Traveling Buckeye Style
Flat Joe and Flat Stanley

More than a school yard with Flat Stanley and Flat Joe

This wolf sculpture came all the way from Bozeman, Montana at the request of Ron Hirschi. It sits in the school yard at Wickliffe Elementary School in Upper Arlington, Ohio. Besides being a fabulous piece of art it has quite a history. It was requested by Ron Hirschi, a author of Childrens Books. He's a naturalist and teaches kids about the importance of saving the enviornment. His book, "When The Wolves Return talks about the importance of this animal in nature. He spent lots of time at Wickliffe helping students with writing, inspiring them to take care of the planet. There were fishing trips, walks in the woods as well. Flat Stanley enjoyed telling Flat Joe all about the Wolf, and Ron Hirschi.
Walking around to the front of the building Flat Stanley told Joe all about Peace Poles. This one has English, sign language on 2 sides and Japanese and Chinese on the other sides.
May Peace Prevail on Earth. Joe climbed to the top of the pole for a really good look, so you may need to click to enlarge it enough to see him.
The plaque indicates this pole was commemorated in April of 1991, the end of The Gulf War. When the pole was placed children sang songs about peace. Sadly, that peace has been interrupted.
In the garden beside the Wolf is this memorial to Will Powers. Will loved nature and enjoyed Ron Hirschi's visits. He lost his life riding his bike home from school. Both Flat Stanley and Flat Joe wanted to pause and honor this young man.

Activities:
Go to the library or book store and get one of Ron Hirschi's books.
Draw, color, or sculpt with clay one of the animals from his book.
Plot on the map Bozeman, Montana and Upper Arlington, Ohio.
Discuss how animals balance nature.
Do math with the numbers/miles from the maps
Make a word puzzle with new words from the book.
Discuss what the Gulf War was about.
Make your own peace pole
*No one likes to think of a child loosing his or her life; but it does happen. Discuss bike safety with your children, it's important.
**Look around your schoolyard, are there plaques, statures? Do you know what they mean, what the story is behind them? Many school yards have things to teach us.

See you Oct 1st when Flat Stanley and Flat Joe have a special on playing and having fun for you. Don't miss it, you see FLat Joe will be packing his bag and moving on to another interesting location.
Have you missed previous adventures with Flat Stanley, you can catch up, CLICK HERE

Bill Moose Crowfoot and Flat Stanley

This Memorial sits on 3.5 acres of land at 2875 Lane Road in Upper Arlington, Ohio. The land originally donated by the city of Columbus is comprised of 39 granite boulders taken from The Scioto Riverbed and stands just over 9 feet tall. The tower of granite boulders resembles a TeePee. The memorial sits on a rise a short distance from Scioto River Road which follows The Scioto River. A fitting location since Bill Moose Crowfoot often walked these grounds, fished and hunted these grounds. He lived on the land as he learned from his father.
A short bio of Bill Moose under glass stands at the park entrance. (click to enlarge). Bill lived to be almost 100 years old, as did both his parents. His father died in 1871 at 100 years of age, his mother the following year in 1872 at the age of 106. Both are buried in The Indiana Cemetery in Upper Sandusky.
This small photo (original housed at The Ohio Historical Society) is curled and faded over time is visible beside the above bio of Bill Moose. The fancy headdress and beads were worn when people wanted a photograph. These were given to Bill during the 9 years he was employed by The Sells Brothers Circus as an Indian Rider in The Wild West Act. Beyond living off the land, Bill's income consisted of having his photo taken, selling postcards and trinkets and teaching children Indian Crafts.
The park is pretty with wild flowers covering his grave and walled in with The TeePee Memorial facing The Scioto River and Scioto River Road. A paved walking path, small picnic area, and bench provide a peaceful spot to reflect on Bill's life.

Bill here telling stories to a group of young boys, an apparent common sight at his shack. I've read accounts of Bill having lunch at The Wyandot Country Club (where the blind and deaf school now are located), the Railroad allowed him to continue living on land they owned. This area is now Clintonville; even though the residences of Dublin want to claim him as their own. Bill and his family stayed in Ohio, one of only 12 families to do so when the tribe moved west to Kansas and Oklahoma.
As the tribe moved westward and inter-married with other tribes there were no longer full blooded Wyandots, except those few left here in Ohio. One by one they perished. Bill outlived his tribe and was the last known living Full Bloodied Wyandot Indian in the state and the territory. He died just 2 months short of turning 100. The last 7 years of his life he lived in the Franklin County Home, too aged to continue living off the land. His shack became a children's playhouse.

His funeral was attended by thousands who lined The Scioto River Bank to witness his full ceremonial burial, the largest funeral on record for The Rutherford Funeral Home. He layed in state for 5 days from July 13th through the 18th in 1937. In a short bio Bill mentioned he voted for Abraham Lincoln, and was a republican. Bill never married but lived a long and very full life. He was well liked and respected by thousands. The two hands in friendship on his memorial seem most fitting.

Activities the kids could enjoy and help them remember and learn from this adventure:

1. go to a stream, riverbed, creek and let the kids collect rocks. Get some glue and let them building their own teepee style memorial
2. color pictures
3. make word puzzles
4. make vocabulary lists of new words from the adventure
5. paint rocks with a design, shaking hands for example
6. string beads and make a necklace or bracelet
   

As always if you missed any of Flat Stanley's adventures, now's the time to catch up:

• April 23, 2010 Books and Parks (Upper Arlington, Ohio)
• April 30, 2010 Traitor or Hero (Worthington, Ohio)
• May 7, 2010 Flat Stanley and his friend Captain Pinney (Worthington, Ohio)
• May 14, 2010 First Flight and Flat Stanley (Worthington, Ohio)
• May 21, 2010 Up The Indian Mound with Flat Stanley (Columbus, Ohio)
• May 28, 2010 Flat Stanley goes to Camp (Upper Arlington, Ohio)
• May 31, 2010 Honoring Those who Served on Memorial Day (Upper Arlington, Ohio)
• June 12, 2010 Signs and Flat Stanley, (Worthington, Ohio)
• June 18, 2010 Breathe Easy with Flat Stanley (Columbus, Ohio)
• June 25, 2010 Stanley at The Masonic Museum (Worthington, Ohio)
• July 2, 2010 Special 4th of July with Flat Stanley (Worthington, Ohio)
• July 9, 2010 Free Seats Available (Worthington, Ohio)
• July 16, 2010 Corn on the Cob and Flat Stanley (Dublin, Ohio)

See you next week, Friday August 6th for another Flat Stanley Adventure, bring the kids! Stay tuned, Flat Stanley has a cousin, Flat Bob who will be visiting in the next couple of weeks. You don't want to miss that.

Flat Stanley goes to Camp!

Ok, firstly let me say oophs, this post for Friday Fun with Flat Stanley was suppose to focus on Art, due to some technical difficulties that's not happening. Sorry folks, please though do check back next Friday June 4th when Stanley hopes to share some fun art with you. And remember click on all photo's to enlarge them.

This is Flat Stanley in front of a Franklin County Historical Sign marking the location of Camp Willis. The sign indicates The National Guard was trained here in 1916 in order to go into service against Pancho Villa on The Mexican Boarder. Some 8,000 men trained here. Pancho Villa was a cold blooded killer, though loved by many. He had the reputation of a Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor; but he forced 18 American miners off a train and shot them in cold blood in 1916. He was ruthless many times over.

The men who trained here served under General Pershing. The camp was short lived and was dismantled in September of 1916. The need for this camp to train men interrupted the plan The Thompson brothers had for a "Garden Club Community". They had purchased land from Mr. Miller.
These historical markers are placed in a mall area in front of Jones (now middle school) High School. Upper Arlington is the birthplace of notables like Jack Nicklaus and Bev D'Angelo.
This fabulous old photo was published back in 1941, in The Norwester's publication was prior to Upper Arlington becoming a city. If you click to enlarge you'll see the high school, to the right where the arrow is you see the pool. Both exist to this day. The white oval in the bottom left marks where the current mall area is, the location of the historical markers noting the interruption in the planned community with the building of Camp Willis.

As always, Flat Stanley suggest word puzzles, maps, math, coloring activities to make these stories come alive. History is not dead, it is more then dates and facts of long ago, it is stories of people who lived, and loved their families just as we do. They made mistakes along the way, just as we do. Much of history teaches us what mistakes not to repeat. Remember some lessons from Upper Arlington's early history?

Til next time, Flat Stanley out.
Please check back for a Special Memorial Day with Flat Stanley and again on Friday June 4th for the Friday Fun with Flat Stanley Series.
Did you miss Stanley's previous Friday Adventures?

• April 23, 2010 Books and Parks (Upper Arlington, Ohio)
• April 30, 2010 Traitor or Hero (Worthington, Ohio)
• May 7, 2010 Flat Stanley and his friend Captain Pinney (Worthington, Ohio)
• May 14, 2010 First Flight and Flat Stanley (Worthington, Ohio)
• May 21, 2010 Up The Indian Mound with Flat Stanley (Columbus, Ohio)

Traveling Books and Parks, with Flat Stanley

Hello My Name is Flat Stanley, and I'm really excited to see you. This is our first adventure in Sandy's Summer Series of Friday Fun with Flat Stanley...me in other words. I'm dancing with joy as you can see, my arms stretched wide to show you how much fun we're going to have, how many places we're going to go, and how much we're gonna learn.
I need a step stool, I'm not tall enough. Will you please remember to pack one on our next trip? This is me outside a library. Now what's not fun about a library? Books on any topic, fun, serious and everything in-between. Did you know most libraries have summer reading programs? AND, did you know you can win cool free things? PLEASE make sure you get signed up, read alot and win neat things. Leave comments, or have Mom leave comments so I know what you read, and what prizes you won. Ask too about story time, you sit on the floor and someone reads a cool story to you.

But wait, there's more. Behind me is a fun park. Let's run and play and jump. Bring along the family pet. How many times do you go normal places like the park or the library and see a sign? Do you stop and read it? If not, why not? Here's my challenge to you. Stop, read and let's learn together.
Now here's a close up of the sign I couldn't reach. On this very spot (currently The Miller Park Library in Upper Arlington, Ohio), is this historic sign (historic...that means old). It talks about how this little community of Upper Arlington was born, sorta. It was planned which is unusual for towns and cities. Most just sorta grow around something. This was planned, streets designed to be curved with lots of green space and trees. It was molded after a place in Kansas. Mom, get a map and show the kids were Kansas is. They wanted to call the community The Country Club District. Doesn't that sound snooty? Miller Park and Library is named after James Miller who was a farmer and had lots of land here.

The sign talks about a Garden Community too. That means a residential area, and to this day there isn't much in the way of business in Upper Arlington. This area was right next to a community called Arlington (present day Marble Cliff), and since this area was north of Arlington it got the name of Upper Arlington. Whew, that's better than Country Club District.

This almost romantic sounded community has some not so nice history. When 2 brothers, named King and Ben Thompson bought some land from Mr. Miller way back in 1913, they had clauses that land couldn't be purchased by Blacks or Jews. It was to be a White Christian Community. Thankfully those clauses have been deemed illegal; but it's important to know history...even if it's not pleasant. Everyone needs to learn from mistakes.

In 1921 this same spot was a Trolley Line. (picture from Wikipedia)
So, it's pretty cool that right where this sign is--there's a story to be told. It was a land office for the farmer Mr. Miller when the two brothers Ben and King Thompson started planning their community, then it was a trolley stop, then it was a library-- the little building behind the car is where the library is. This little community didn't even become a city until 1941!

Kids of all ages can learn from everyday experiences. Think about where you walk, ride your bike, or drive on a regular basis. What's there to see, to explore? I'm betting it's easy to whiz by and miss the details.

This type of summer outdoor activity is suited to everyone, including the family pet. After all everyone likes to go for a walk, or spend time in the park.

Take a regular activity and make it a fun learning activity. If there's a sign, stop and read it. Then take time to learn about it. If children are too young to get involved that way, what do you see on the way? Count how many different flowers there are; then look them up at the library to identify them. Take the numbers represented in the dates add and subtract them. Equate it to something that has meaning. For instants I was born in 1950 so the community is only 9 years older then me. Doing things like this helps put things into perspective and make them more memorable. Take the opportunity to discuss how it isn't fair or nice to exclude certain people because of their skin color or their religion. Use this type of exercise to get out maps, point out where you are and find where you're going. How many miles is it? Again there's a math componet. Draw a picture about what you learned, depending on age write about it. Writing exercises can be fun, and they too can be taylor made to be age appropriate. Summer is a time for fun; but it doesn't mean learning has to stop.

Look for something near you, tell me all about it. That's all for today, but please come back next Friday April 30th, for another adventure.
Flat Stanley out.
**below is small version of me, a 125 x 125; you could add this as a badge to your blog as a reminder to come every Friday and see me. If I can figure out Mr. Linky it might be fun to do this as a meme. What do you think? Add the url of my blog which is: http://travelingsuitcase.blogspot.com/ with this cute badge. Click on me and go to my dedicated page where all our adventures will be listed as links. See ya Soon!
http://travelingsuitcase.blogspot.com/p/friday-fun-with-flat-stanley.html
that's the url for the dedicated page you could as well.