Cherries n' Cream

I think my illustration of Ben Jones doing the “rain, rain go away dance” partially worked — the sun has been poking out from behind the clouds off and on all afternoon. Way to go Ben! While the weather was still a little dismal at lunchtime, the atmosphere over in Third Street Park was anything but. True, the crowd was kind of thin and the lines weren’t that long for the first day of free Cherries n’ Cream ice cream. But with all of the chatter and children’s voices, the “royalty,” the horse and buggy riding in constant circles, a pink cow, and the sound of girls from Mount de Sales’ choir singing “There’s a somebody I’m longing to see,” it almost felt a little like a scene out of a movie. All that was missing was a little sunshine, a lot more blooms, and a little charismatic C. Jack working his way through the crowd. I can almost hear the scene’s director, Chip Cherry, yelling “Cut! That’s a wrap!”
I really enjoyed everything, but I do have a couple of recommendations for next year’s Third Street Park festivities. Instead of just Cherries n’ Cream, next year let’s have Chocolate n’ Cherries ice cream — now that’s yummy. Also, we need some actual food vendors out there in the park. We don’t need a lot, just a few will do. Since I don’t go to work until late afternoon, I had time to stay and eat lunch at one of the downtown restaurants if I wanted, but many people might be coming for about 30 minutes on their lunch break and not have time to grab food and ice cream quite as easily. Having vendors in the park would put everything together in one central location. Even a little Adrianna’s stand selling sandwiches just outside the restaurant would have been perfect. Mmmm … Adrianna’s and ice cream … .