On Main Street

I ran into a friend on Main Street tonight who griped that nobody - not the Eye, not Patch, not the Press - covered Tuesday's fantastic North End Night Market. For the record, it was a blast, with music, great food and a lively, hula-hooping crowd filling the corner of Liberty and Main. My kid got a Grilled Cheese from the Whey Station - a bonafide Hipster Food Truck in our midst. I only got to stay for 10 minutes, doing some griping of my own (i.e. what's the point of seeing Middletown turn into such a cool town when I never get to go to the fun stuff myself!) before I headed off to a marathon Parking Department meeting.

You'll be happy to know that this post is NOT about the parking meeting.

No, I rushed to my laptop this evening to post photos from the annual Citizens Bank 5K on Main Street, only to find that Madam Nirvana has beat me to it. I, however, have a photo to share of the winner, Middletown's own Rob Weston, age 22, and a wicked fast runner:

At least one Macdonough School teacher - Buster Nelson - finished very respectably in the top 10 or so, followed not long after by colleagues Sarah Claffey and Kate Antonucci. And here's a shot showing the photo finish of two Village District runners - let's call them Lucy and Monica - as they approach the finish line.

After the race, my spouse and I walked the North End and noticed a few newsworthy items. It's Only Natural Market put up a new sign - less artsy and more like their logo. Here it is:

And Little Tibet closed their doors for good in the last week - I thought the "we're closing - really, we are - very soon" sale would last forever, but finally the last rug, statue and table were sold.

Although one hears rumors, I don't think there are any definite plans for future uses for this space. Unfortunately, the empty storefront immediately acquired a number of broken windows, so I hope it won't be empty for long.

Speaking of broken windows and the way they can drag down a neighborhood, I'll put in a plug here for cleaning up the graffiti on Hartford Avenue - that's the entrance ramp to Route 9. When a large bubble tag appeared on the south side a few months ago, I contacted the police, public works, and the Mayor's office, and was assured that the State DOT had been notified and our local officials would stay on them until the graffiti was removed. I think it might be time to just buy some beige paint....