METAL SPIDER: The mystery of the giant metal spider posed in
‘RTS several days ago has been solved. The spider, along with other
large metal creatures, calls Griffis Sculpture Park in Ashford
Hollow, N.Y., its home.

Joe Kuhaneck of Bradford was the first to call, noting that the
park is worth the visit for anyone who has yet to see it.

For our readers in Wilcox who originally wanted to know how to
get there, Sally Demellier writes, “Take U.S. Route 219 North to
Ashford Hollow. Then go left onto Ahrens Road (Carson’s Ashford
House and Griffis Park signs on corner).”

Many of the park’s works were done by Larry Griffis, but the
exhibition does include more than 200 works by other artists – all
displayed in 400 acres of meadows alongside miles of intertwining
hiking trails. It opened for the season Friday, so it sounds like a
perfect destination for families with restless children.

“Take your grandchildren and a camera,” Shirley Clark from
Rixford said. “They will climb all over the sculptures, and there
are ponds and benches. It’s just beautiful.”

BRADFORD MALL: It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 40 years
since the former Bradford Mall in Foster Township became part of
the local retail landscape. On May 8, 1969, the JCPenney store
opened its new department store and auto center, officially
launching the mall’s debut.

An official ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the event, attended
by store officials, State Assemblyman Victor J. Westerberg and
other local government officials.

The Bradford Era’s account of the event said only a conflict in
scheduling kept founder James C. Penney himself from attending the
ceremony.

In remarks made at the ceremony, which was broadcast by Radio
Station WESB, D.V. Seibert, vice president and director of catalog
sales and operations for the national department store chain,
acknowledged his more than four years of work in Bradford’s old
Penney’s store on Main Street in a debt of gratitude and predicted
that the new store would “grow and expand here apace with the
progress of the area.”

Those of us who remember the old store on Main Street saw the
new store as a modern shopper’s paradise – all 83,000 square feet
of it.

After Penney’s led the way, the mall filled up with numerous
stores, including Woolworth’s and its Harvest House coffee shop, a
favorite stopping-off place for tired shoppers.