SIMPLE FUN: Bill Robertson of Duke Center writes, “I’ve been
reading with interest the tales of old ponds found recently in
Round the Square. The pond I hung around most in my youth was found
in the center of Lake Circle Drive in Kenmore Acres. There was fun
to be had there in every season of the year.”
“During the spring, we’d roll up our pants legs and catch
pollywogs, salamanders and frogs. Then, we’d catch heck when we got
home and our moms found out we were splashing around in ‘sewer
water.’
“Bright orange carp would appear in the summer in Lake Circle
Pond and reminded us kids of submerged light bulbs as they swam
about.
“We were also fascinated by the dragonflies and would tell the
younger boys they better watch out or those darting insects would
fly over and sew their lips shut! Yes, and the winter was an even
better time to congregate at this pond.
“After the surface froze over, we spent countless hours ice
skating, playing hockey with a crushed tin can and homemade sticks,
or playing fox and the geese.
“Another of our favorite winter amusements was ‘the whip.’ That
game involved forming a long line of skaters who would be whipped
around in a circle by a bigger kid wearing boots. You either got
snapped off the end to fly 90 miles an hour across the ice or piled
up with the other skaters after many minutes of dizzy flight.
“Of course, our mothers wrapped us up in so many layers of
clothes we couldn’t have gotten hurt no matter how hard we fell on
our butts. Where do you think they got the idea for the bundled-up
turtle boy in ‘The Christmas Story’?
“That was back in the late Fifties and early Sixties when there
was still such a thing as simple fun!”
MORE CONCERTS: Thom Shannon writes a question we can answer.
“Has anyone mentioned that around 1969 that Jay and the Americans
played a concert at BAHS? Or was it another band, maybe 1910
Fruitgum Company?”
“I went to the concert just can’t remember who it was. It seems
that BAHS brought a few popular bands in to perform,” he says.
We have it on very good authority that, yes, it was the 1910
Fruitgum Company.
