By Darren Johnson
Journal & Press
Some quick thoughts to start out the week:
Kudos to (R-L) Liv Thygesen and Karen Prime for organizing the first ever Union Village Fest this past weekend. It has gotten great reviews from visitors online and attendance was solid. It was simpler than its successor, Whipple City Festival: UVF had some food trucks, bands playing in the gazebo, bounce houses for various kid age groups, non-profit vendors and a relaxed, homespun feel to it. It probably will return next year, and Prime said that maybe Whipple City Festival can come back, too, returning to Main Street while UVF stays in the park; one event promoting history, and the other commerce.
Hopefully by now you’ve read our latest print edition and the story on the 20th anniversary of “Greenwich, the Musical
!” I later realized the original musical title didn’t have the exclamation point, but I just found myself typing it that way for some reason, and no one objected. But I think it deserves an exclamation point. In any case, I did get some photos from David Doonan (thank you) before going to press to decorate the article — but then I got these photos from Clifford Oliver Mealy (thank you, too) after going to press:And I knew this day would come. Greenwich is losing its Redbox soon, and the last way to rent a video in town. Here is a sign of the times at Hannaford:
I was in Fort Edward the other day and spotted this abandoned video store near the Subway.
I guess the Cumby’s next door uses it for storage.
Greenwich actually had a video store until a few years ago. We did a story on its closing in 2020. Hopefully, Bob, the longtime owner, is enjoying retirement down South.
I think it’s important for local newspapers to cover these types of stories. Someday, our grandkids (or someone’s grandkids) will search for something like, “When did the last video store close in my town?”
I recently wrote about having to dig up my VCR/DVD player combo to watch “Greenwich, the Musical” — no exclamation point. It’s kind of fun to play around with tangible media, like DVDs — and print newspapers!
And Now for the Comics … “Filbert” by LA Bonté
Well, that’s it for today. More tomorrow. Have a great week! It’s going to be a hot one!