Blog Lafayette

If you like antique tractors and other things to do with engines powered by gasoline and steam then you should come out to the Tippecanoe Steam and Gas Power Show at the Tippecanoe County Amphitheatre this weekend. The event will start Thursday the 28th and run through Saturday the 30th. This event features displays and demonstrations that show how old engines work as well as displaying many very neat antique pieces of farm equipment and antique cars.

There will also be craft demonstrations for those of you who enjoy the crafting arts. The Tippecanoe County Amphitheatre is located at 4449 SR 43 N. West Lafayette, Indiana. For more information you can contact Jim Westfall at 765-463-4968.

There is nothing like the nostalgia of seeing the old time tractors and automobiles. Make me long for that 1965 Ford Galaxy 500, 2 door convertible that I have always dreamed of owning! Someday perhaps. Here’s hoping you come out and have an enjoyable day or two at the show.

Sundays have long been a favorite day for me. It has always been a day for family, fun, and relaxation. There were lazy Sunday afternoons on the bank of the Embarrass River close to my grandparents home in rural Hidalgo, Illinois. I remember fish frying in the cast iron skillet on the campfire and the sound of my dad and his brothers playing horseshoes. I remember the way my grandpa would make all of us kids laugh with his sense of humor as he would tease us and tell us the way that we could have a mustache just like his. Something about cow manure rubbed in the strategic spot…

None of us kids tried it of course!

Sunday was a good day of the week to be a kid. We weren’t spending every waking hour hunched over a computer or in front of a video game. I remember one of my favorite things to do on those lazy Sunday afternoons was to pick a slender tree about 15 or 20 feet tall and climb it until I got to the point where my body weight would be more than the tree could handle and it would bend over as I clung to the upper trunk. I would be lowered to the ground and then I would let go of the tree. It would spring back up straight, ready for another go around from one of us kids.

As I sit here and remember those days I am struck by the memories that I haven’t let my mind dwell on in many years. The feeling of cool mud between my toes as I ran around the woods with my cousins. The thrill of swimming in the river and fighting against the current in order to stay close to where we were swimming. The smell of the fire and the stories from the adults around the fire. Great memories. I always looked forward to the family times on the river with my Dad’s side of the family.

Time moves on…

Those days are long gone and the business of life, work, and my own family are my main concerns now. I do not see my extended family very often. Kind of crazy the way life and time can separate people. They are a good memory though and I am grateful for the good memories. Do you have good memories that you have not thought about for some time? Is life pushing you to be too busy? Take some Sunday time today and spend a little while allowing yourself to remember. Find some memories that are good for your heart and soul.

When I was just a young boy I was privileged to know two of the best people on Earth. They were my grandparents. I have written about them before. I guess they will always be one of my favorite topics. No apologies here. They fill my mind with nothing but good memories.

Those memories are one of the reasons I love antiques. I love to walk around in antique shops with my wife and look at little pieces of the past that make me remember. My grandparents were not what I would call collectors at least in the modern sense because they were simple people without much money. But they did have a rather large collection of items that would make any antique dealer drool. All of the items that they had were handed down from family. I remember an old drum that was in one of the buildings at their farm. When I asked my granddad about it he said it was from an uncle or great uncle of his who was in the civil war. That was very possible since my grandpa was born in 1895.

My love of antiques is easily fed by the abundance of local shops in the Lafayette area that carry antique items. There is Leaping Leopard Antiques at 2145 South 4th Street, Lafayette, Ravens Roost Antiques at 2200 Elmwood Ave, Lafayette, and there is even a decently run and stocked pawn shop which has a lot of interesting antiques and old coins called RamZ’s at 205 Farabee Drive N in Lafayette.

Bottom Line? There is not shortage of nice shops to visit in Lafayette if Antiques are your thing. One thing that you may want to know is that if you go to Leaping Leopard Antiques be prepared to see some really interesting stuff. One booth that I always really enjoy looking at when visiting their store is one that is filled with Western items. Old cavalry uniforms, pistols, a huge buffalo head and other very cool old West kinds of things.

Maybe this weekend is your time to come to town and visit our shops. All you are required to bring are your memories.

The Columbian Park Zoo will be opening its doors to the public again this year in mid April. I am looking forward to its opening because when it does, that means it will be warm in Lafayette again!

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the animals and exhibits at our Columbian Park Zoo are great as well. And just a note of Zoo trivia: did you know that the Columbian Park Zoo in Lafayette is the second oldest zoo in the state of Indiana? It turned 100 in 2008. That means it has been around since 1908 thrilling visitors with views of animals of all kinds. The oldest zoo is the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend, Indiana. Being in the top two oldest is a distinction that should be celebrated. As part of your celebration of Lafayette’s Columbian Park Zoo you need to be aware of what is new at the zoo.

The zoo features over 190 animals representing 79 different species and opened several new exhibits in 2010. The new exhibits included all of the following.

The Australia exhibit, or Wallaby Walkabout, is sponsored by Tippecanoe Laboratories. The exhibit feature various species from “Down Under” including Bennett’s wallabies, New Guinea singing dogs, emus, kookaburras, and Galah cockatoos. Visitors will have an immersion experience as they meander along the pathway through the wallabies’ habitat as they hop about. The Columbian Park Zoo currently exhibits seven adult wallabies. Two of the females have joeys in their pouches. These joeys should emerge sometime this summer!

There is a new North American River Otter exhibit which features a trio of otters in an 18,500-gallon pool. Visitors will enjoy watching these playful creatures through the large underwater viewing window. Also included is a clear, acrylic tunnel through which Zoo patrons can crawl and see the otters swim over and under the tube! I can personally vouch for how much fun this exhibit is. My wife and I had a very enjoyable afternoon at the zoo looking at this exhibit with our son Nathan, his friend Britney, and our two grandsons, Chase and Parker. It was great watching the otters swimming around in their enclosure. And even better we got a special kick out of watching Chase and Parker watching the otters. They were so excited!

The zoo also hosts a Galapagos Tortoise Exhibit. The Friends of Columbian Park Zoo, along with several individual donors, provided the funding for this exciting exhibit. Two giant female tortoises, one of which is over 90 years old, inhabit the exhibit, which features lava rock similar to rock found on the Galapagos Islands, landscaping, and a small hut to provide shade. Don’t miss you opportunity to view this beautiful endangered species! While you are at it, don’t miss the Giant Tortoise Sculpture. Sitting just outside the Galapagos tortoise exhibit, this life-size sculpture will become a photo-favorite stop for Zoo visitors! The bronze tortoise was fabricated in Otterbein, Indiana by Rick and Rita Hadley of Moments in Bronze. The beautiful sculpture weighs in at approximately 500 pounds and was sponsored by the Jim Risk Family Foundation.

The address of the zoo is:

Columbian Park Zoo
1915 Scott Street
Lafayette, IN 47904
(765) 807-1500
For additional information visit lafayette.in.gov/zoo/

Every town is interesting. Every town has history that is populated by peoples and events. Lafayette is no exception.

Lafayette has a rich Native American History that I am eager to learn a little more about. My interest is somewhat personal because I have Native American Indian heritage in my own family history. One of my great great grandmothers was a Seneca Indian from the New York region who eventually moved to Ontario Canada with her husband, my great great grandfather Augustus Barber. Another of my great grandmothers was a Cherokee. Knowledge of our own family histories as well as the histories of our towns is continually disappearing as old books, papers and diaries are being destroyed by time and neglect, and as the older generations who knew of some of the old stories are passing out of this life into the next. We are no longer story tellers and as a result, the stories are being lost.

A local Miami tribe called the Ouiatenon or Weas was living in the Lafayette area around the same time that the French government established and built Fort Ouiatenon on the banks of the Wabash river about 5 miles Southwest of present day downtown Lafayette. The fort was built as a base for fur trappers, Indians, and for traders. A great reenactment is held each Fall at the Fort called the Feast of the Hunters Moon. For people like myself who never quite left childhood behind, the fun of dressing in the old time garb and playing trapper or Indian is great fun. I have not participated in costume as yet but maybe in the future.

The Miami tribe that I mentioned became a part of the ongoing struggle with the United Stated government that most American Indian tribes were involved in at different times. They and a confederation of Shawnees, Delawares, and Potawatomis led by Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, and Buckongahelas were part of the worst defeat ever suffered by United States Army in a battle against an Indian force.

This little bit of Lafayette history is only the tip of the iceberg. Our town is ripe with even more interesting facts and stories to learn. Lucky for us. Have a great Lafayette day!