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DAZE WORK: Let’s embrace what we’ve got right here
Look around. We’ve got it pretty good here in Greencastle and Putnam County. Really.
Unfortunately, we take a lot for granted. Always have.
We’ve got a world-class university here that offers not only educational opportunities but also free access to music, lectures (think Bill Clinton and Margaret Thatcher) and sports of all kinds. Yet we grouse about students walking in the street or DePauw construction causing detours.
Covered bridges are an inconvenience when we have to sit and wait for traffic to clear on the other side of the bridge. Yet some people will drive hundreds of miles just to come look at our covered bridges and take selfies with them.
We pine for ubiquitous eating places like Applebee’s or Texas Roadhouse, while diners come here from out of town to happily sample the wares at Bridges, Almost Home and Wasser.
Whenever I think of these juxtaposed situations, I can hear Joni Mitchell singing in my ear. You know, the song “Big Yellow Taxi,” as in “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot …”
Or my favorite: “They took all the trees and put ‘em in a tree museum, and they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see them.”
No, no, no, we’re not about to pave paradise and put up a parking lot. But I don’t think people here realize what a little gem they have with 28-acre Robe-Ann Park nestled right in the midst of our community.
Sometimes it takes an outsider’s eyes to show you what you should have really known all along.
Enter Park Director Rod Weinschenk and a recent Robe-Ann rendezvous with Police Chief Tom Sutherlin and Youth Development Commission Director Linda Merkel, who were at the Greencastle park to ponder the layout of the early August National Night Out program.
“We were over by shelter No. 5, overlooking the Emerald Palace playground,” Weinschenk recalled, “discussing the park when a lady came up to let us know that she really enjoys the park and how beautiful it is.”
Weinschenk identified himself as the park director and thanked the woman for providing “one of the biggest pats on the back we could get.”
Turns out that the woman lives in Indianapolis and brings her three children and a well-filled picnic basket to Robe-Ann Park once a week to enjoy our surroundings.
In fact, her family enjoys the park so much, they are planning to move to the area.
“Because Robe-Ann Park has become such a major part of their lives, they’re going to be relocating to Greencastle in the near future,” Weinschenk told the Park Board at its recent special session.
Economic development experts will tell you that when businesses and people decide to locate or relocate to an area, quality-of-life issues emerge. They all want excellent schools, a good and nearby hospital and plenty of parks and recreation opportunities.
What they don’t say a darned thing about is paved parking lots, a pink hotel or a swingin’ hot spot.