The Chain O' Lake Festival--In History

To help celebrate this year's Chain O' Lakes Festival in Albion, I thought I'd post some photos from previous festivals. (As always, this is Indiana--there are at least three more Chains Of Lakes that I know of in other states, in addition to the dozen or so Albions.)

 The original celebration was called the Albion Street Fair because, well, there was no Chain O' Lakes State Park. This photo even calls it the "Lawn Street Fair", and as you can see, the Noble County Courthouse lawn is being well used. A few years ago, someone used a metal detector to find a few coins there that might well have fallen from some of the pictured people's punctured pants pockets.

 

 What does one do at a street fair in the early 1900s? Well, you could watch the Mars Duo, a pair of acrobats who seem unfairly low to the ground. The building behind them was the Worden House, a hotel that was later moved in pieces to become homes. One of those homes may have been haunted, according to my research for Haunted Noble County, Indiana. The gas station most of us Old Timers call the Corner Stop stands there now.

 At one point Albion's Street Fair happened in September ... or maybe it was a second town festival? It's not like people were home watching The Price is Right. The truth is, I can't trace the lineage of the original town celebrations directly to today's festival until after these older photos were taken.

 

But there were still rides--the Merry Go Round and the Ferris Wheel, for instance.

 

As you can see if you read sideways, the Ferris wheel photo was taken in 1909. There were three photographers operating in Albion at the time that I know of: Joseph M. Harkless, John Inbody, who worked out of Ekhart, and M. C. Beck. Harkless passed away in 1909, so these probably weren't his. In any case, a lot of photos were taken around Albion that year.

 

Then there were the Chain O' Lakes Festival parades, of course. I hate the word problematical, so for this Campfire Girls photo I'll just stick with "politically incorrect". I'm guessing it was taken in the 20s, but it's a pretty wild guess.

 

 In any case, it wouldn't be a parade without horses. We're jumping forward some for this photo, which is from the Grace Leatherman collection, as is the next one.

 

 

 

More forward jumping brings us to this photo. The photographer had a bad habit of not writing down dates and should probably be whipped for it, but I think I took it in the late 80s. 1980s. Which, my aching body tells me, makes it awfully close to historical.

I've posted this last one before, but I added it now because it's one of the few parade photos I know of that actually has me in it. I was a last minute replacement for the Color Guard, and had absolutely no idea what I was doing--that's me on the right, shouldering an ax in a way I usually wouldn't.

 

 

After you’ve enjoyed the Festival, look us up online:

 

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

 

Remember: I would advise against reading while on a festival ride, but the books will be waiting when you get home.

It's Festival Time

 And ... I missed most of it. Which I really don't mind, because I'm not much of a fair ride rider. I am a fair food foodie, but my wife and three doctors held me down and beat me with broccoli sticks until I gave them all my cash.

Speaking of eating, on the same Wednesday the rides started the Albion Fire Department served over six hundred fish and tenderloin meals under a pouring rain and occasional thunder ... well, under a roof. Good thing that roof was there. The Chain O' Lakes Festival is notorious for funny weather and/or unusual things happening. During the fish fry one year, for instance, there was an earthquake, but many of the diners just thought it was the sound of their waistbands expanding. This year everyone was treated to the performance art of one Mark R. Hunter, who tried to sit in a chair when the chair was somewhere else. And yes, I'm still sore.

My first night working in the new dispatch center was the Friday night of the Festival. For the first time in my dispatching career we had a great view, although we were mostly too busy to enjoy it. I did find time to harass a couple of police officers on foot patrol by sending them pictures I took--of themselves. Bwhahahaha! I'm sure they didn't mean it about the Tasing me thing.

From my new position I was able to catch this photo of a pirate attack on the Noble County Courthouse. Turns out those brick walls hold up pretty wall against cannon balls, which I later learned were paper mache, which might have made a difference. No pirates were harmed.

My position actually faces away from the street, which is for the best from a distraction standpoint. But there's a window to my left, and at one point, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a giant Transformer coming straight at me!!! Turns out it was a ride swinging my way. And not a cool ride that turns into a robot, either. So everything was fine, although the 911 caller was concerned about my screaming and whimpering. "Well, it's just loud music--should I call back later?" I still haven't found the pen I was holding at the time.

As I write this the Festival parade is today--or maybe tomorrow by the time you read it--but I'm working through that too. I'll take the day off when they make me Grand Marshal.

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

A Walk Along Sand Lake

I got this all ready to post during the worst of winter ... now, in the worst of spring, I'm finally putting it out there. Let's face it, we're all at least half a year behind. 

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Between Emily's knee surgery and my general laziness, we weren't taking Beowulf out for walks as often as we should, so before the weather turned icky in November we drove down to Chain O' Lakes State Park. I took him for a stroll along Sand Lake while Emily was in the car, luxuriating in not being at home. (Then we went for a drive.) Naturally, I took pictures.

Of course, no dog walk would be complete without the dog, who was happy to get some new smells in.

Honestly, it was a little depressing seeing everything closed up for the winter.
There were still a few brave souls camping, though. As you read this, outdoor stuff is finally getting a little easier.

Duck! Sorry. The geese weren't fond of the dog, I don't know why.

It was close to dusk, but there was still one fishing boat out there. Even with most of the leaves down, Chain O' Lakes is still a beautiful place to visit. We didn't see any deer this time, though.

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

 

But at least it's not snow

Before we went for a walk earlier this week, we first had to find a place that wasn't a path of mud, or a new stream with mud underneath. Mud was fun when I was little, before I was responsible for cleaning it up; these days, not so much.

So we settled for the campground at Chain O' Lakes State Park, where the roads between the sites are paved, and that worked out pretty well.

As long as you didn't go off the paved roads.

 Elsewhere things are the same as they are all over the Midwest--soggy. The park's beach is gone, and a beaver dam we spotted over the winter is either washed away, or completely underwater. Every swampy area around is now a lake, although I suspect that's not going to cut down on the mosquitoes.

Last I heard, we were about two and a half inches over our normal rainfall for April, and April's usually a pretty rainy month. Still, there are places that have it way worse than us, especially those near major rivers.

Besides, April flowers bring ... well, you know.

A walk in the park

A tunnel through the woods at Chain O Lakes State Park.

Which led to a deep gully that Bae found fascinating.

And the days are getting shorter ...

School is starting, unused canoes are stacked up late in the day at Chain O Lakes ... summer is coming to an end.  *sob*

Happy dog