Photo by Shamus Pons

 

         We all know the old adage: sometimes the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

Well, unfortunately, something akin to that happened with some of the content of this column in August.

          At that time we reported that this year's edition of the Sunny Days race to benefit an ailing youngster in our area would be staged on  October 24th to coincide with the Fall Foliage sales promotion by our many wonderful businesses in Old Mandeville.

          Alas, after the deadline has passed for getting this column into the offices of the Northshore Conifer, we learned that the Sunny Days race is not being held this year at all. You may recall we had previously reported it would be on October 17th and then on October 24th in Old Mandeville.

          Ryan Green of Varsity Sports, who would have organized the event,  has reluctantly decided it cannot be held. It was going to be moved from October 17th to a week later because there is a major running event passing through Mandeville on October 17th bringing some of the elite runners in this country to the race. Of course, Ryan, a tireless promoter of running and healthy living for young and old, is deeply involved in this major event, and since it is so large and so time consuming, it is just not feasible for him to come back a week later and try to stage another running event. We are sure Sunny Days will return in 2010 and we hope this finally clarifies its status for 2009.

          Shoppers, mark you calendars for October 25th and come on down to the heart of Old Mandeville for pre-Christmas bargains a-plenty. Most all of our colorful and unique shops will be offering all sorts of special deals on that day. And don't tell anyone we told you this, but there is some preliminary discussion underway about a possible champagne stroll in the evening to cap off Fall Foliage since the Sunny Days race that would have been the final event of the day has been canceled. We will keep you posted here when we know more about it.

 CHRISTMAS PAST

           Plans are taking shape rather rapidly now for what promises to be one of the most spectacular Christmas Past Festivals that your Old Mandeville Business Association has ever sponsored. It will take place on Girod Street from 9 am-4 pm on Dec. 13 followed at 4 pm by the city sponsored Christmas Parade on the lakefront, a boat parade, activities at the lakefront gazebo and the mayor switching on the lights in the live oaks; all of that after 4 pm part of the city's annual Winter on the Water Festival.

           An active and energized committee headed by co-chairpersons Leah Edmunds and Richard Boyd has been meeting every two weeks at Good Earth to continue to finalize a wide range of activities and coordinate among committee members.

          We can report that the initial response among interested arts and crafts vendors has been extraordinary and we have every expectation of meeting, or even exceeding, our goal of 100 street vendors stretching on Girod Street from just south of Wilkinson Street near the Trailhead to Lakeshore Drive.

          To make the event happen, your OMBA this year is fronting the total bill for event insurance and coverage for each of the vendors. If more than 100 sign up, we will bring some of them back up the east side of lower Girod using the parking bays on the east side.

          Our main goal this year is to keep all of the vendors (we are encouraging all of them to provide their own pop-up tents for uniformity down the street) on the west side of Girod, keeping the street and east side free for visitors.

         While our OMBA is paying the insurance costs, we hope to recoup that through corporate donations. Our goal is to break even, or even make some money, on the festival this year; money that will go into starting up costs for Christmas Past in 2010.

          To achieve this lofty goal, we have named the very capable Kathleen Martinell and Troi Kite as members of a special Christmas Past Committee to seek out corporate donors at the $250 to $500 level. Both are OMBA officers and board members. If you know a business that might want to contribute or if you have a business and want to contribute to the non-profit tax deductible OMBA, contact me at my business, Das Schulerhaus on Girod Street and I will put you in touch with our two donor committee members. In addition to getting tax credit for such a corporate gift, we also will have signage on the street on Dec. 12 thanking by name our corporate benefactors.

          Among other activities shaping up for a full day of fun on Girod Street will be a very vocal (as in loud) Scrooge Shouting Contest (can you say Bah! Humbug! loud enough to get the attention of old Scrooge himself?) Winners will get Mandy Money certificates that can be redeemed at several Old Mandeville businesses. This contest will be coordinated by new OMBA members and new business owners in Old Mandeville, Trina and Ted Pulling, who have opened Zorro pet store on the ground floor of the old St. Tammany Bank building at Carroll and Claiborne streets.

          And we pause here a moment to welcome Trina and Ted to our growing family of quaint and exciting Old Mandeville businesses. If you are a dog owner, go check them out and take your trusted four-legged buddy with you; dogs are welcome to help you pick out the perfect items for them. We also take this moment to welcome the Wash House, just recently opened on Girod bordering the public parking lot at the corner of Girod and Madison streets. You want to be stylin'? Then this is the place to go.

          Now back to Christmas Past. We will have chestnuts roasting at two locations along Girod and plenty of musical entertainment at two locations provided by Judy K's Studio and other performers still being lined up.  Leigh Edmunds is working on organizing an art contest for students and lining up some high school bands or choral groups. More to come on that later as those plans become finalized.

 MORE AT MAXIENS

          We all agree that one of the brightest post-Katrina developments in Old Mandeville has been the opening of the wonderful Maxien's Coffee House at the foot of Girod that rose from the ruins of the heavily damaged building that had last housed Juniper's Restaurant.

          And since opening, David Pons and his wife have not only shown a creative knack for running a unique and exciting business, but they have also brought several innovative events centered around the business: an art market and yard sale; open mic nights; live singers; provisions for dogs always welcome at the coffee house; benefits for dog parks in the area and so much more.

          Now one more element is shaping up and one that seems a natural with a coffee house: live poetry readings. Mandeville poet and OMBA officer and board member Richard Boyd, at the invitation of David, will launch a monthly live poetry reading from 7-9 pm on Thursday, September 24th. They will take place on the fourth Thursday of each month at the same time. This returns live readings to Old Mandeville for the first time in nearly 10 years.  Boyd originally organized and moderated such an event for nine years at the former Java Grotto Coffee House on the lakefront.

          So if you like to write poetry, or know someone who does, direct them to Maxien's on the evening of Sept. 24.