...And
That's My Opinion©
By Sandy Goldman
(Another
in the series of Rogers Park yesteryears)
We had just finished, in 1979, a cantankerous,
acrimonious, malevolent Mayoral and Aldermanic political campaign (sound
familiar?). Jane Byrne slid past
Michael Bilandic in the Mayoral primary and David Orr slid past Homer Johnson
to be elected Alderman of the 49th Ward. Slid is the operative word
as the winter of 1978 was the year of the Big Snow and Mayor Bilandic’s total
lack of control or knowledge of the issue.
After the election a small group met to forge some
community melding (some thought gelding would have been more appropriate). They
met in the office of the Rogers Park Community Council (RPCC). They were not,
however, a committee of the RPCC or, for that matter, were many of them even
members. They were a politically, economically, ethnically diverse group who
decided to have a street fair on Morse Avenue on a Sunday afternoon.
Some of the popular pundits prophesied that the
committee would become a political ploy for one side or the other (they never
said which) to gain control of the fair as a means of keeping their position or
names in the public eye.
In addition to some
non-political volunteers (yes, they did exist in those days), the committee was
composed of a high-ranking former campaign worker for David Orr, the former
campaign manager for Homer Johnson and a person who would later announce her
candidacy for Alderman of the 49th Ward, among others.
But I can tell you from
first-hand experience that if there was such a plan it did not work. Other
committee members and cooperative community participants prevented any kind of
political perverseness. The committee just wanted to provide fun in Rogers Park
and they did so for four years. In present times street fairs happen all over
the city. They used to happen here
The first Rogers Park
Art and Music Street Fair was introduced on Sunday Sept.14th, 1980
on Morse Ave. The streets were closed from Ashland to Lakewood including Morse
and Lunt. There were 28 business donors
who contributed from $10.00 to $100.00 to be used as seed money. Another source
of revenue was ads sold on the give-a-way programs in additions to small fees
paid by vendors and exhibitors. All the monies were used to stage the event and
cover expenses. There were twenty Rogers Park artists exhibiting, sixteen food
booths, three variety stages, a children’s area, a wandering balloon man and
roaming street performers completed the configuration. It was great and work
began almost immediately for the next year.
The second Annual Art
and Music Street Fair took place on Sunday Sept. 13th, 1981. Although there was a governing and planning
committee the program said, “Organized by the citizens of Rogers Park”. There
was not a scintilla of political overtone in evidence (I’m not sure if that was
the melding or the threat of gelding).
Now, there were five
stages including a family stage featuring puppets, kids performing acrobatics
and various song and dance performers. The senior stage presented speakers
dealing with issues that interested seniors. Music stage #2 at Glenwood and
Lunt featured a new, young, local folk singer named Tom Dundee who would
eventually become internationally known. Music stage #1 featured the jazz
interpretations of Linda and Tommy Ponce. Tommy and I went to Lake View H.S.
together. Sometime later he and his sax
would tour the world with several well-known jazz bands. At Music stage #3, in
addition to Jim Hobson’s Disco Party there were two performances by Sophia the
Belly Dancer. Jim Hobson later finished
a tour as supervisor of Kiwanis Park on Ashland Ave. north of Howard and then
became the supervisor of Garfield Park where he turned the park from a zero to
a ten.
There were forty artists
and twenty-two food vendors including a beer garden and twenty community
information booths scattered around the area. Every imaginable food was
available from apples to tamales and the entire alphabet in between. The city
donated the Jumping Jack and the Bookmobile. One of the highlights was a Dunk
Tank, which featured community leaders and local politicians (I suppose that’s
better than gelding). It was a VERY
popular attraction!!
The second year was
judged to be better than the first year.
To everybody’s pleasure
Port-a-Potties were added to the third Annual Street Fair which took place on
Sunday, September 12, 1982. Also, to everybody’s delight Jim Hobson’s Disco
Party occupied it’s own special stage with two performances: 11 AM to 1 PM and
2 PM to closing. Other additions were the St. Jerome Adult Theatre group, the
Greenleaf Dance Company, the Unicorn Dance Studio and the Police Department
canine and mounted police units, as well as the distribution of emergency I.D.
bracelets at the Senior Stage. The Jewel Food Stage introduced a little-known
Rogers Park harmonica player named Corky Siegel. Years before I had contracted
with an aspiring Corky Siegel to do a fundraiser for the Sullivan H.S Parents
Athletic Assoc. While he would become a
world famous impresario of the harmonica, he never forgot Rogers Park. There
were twenty-four food vendors and forty-six artists, ranging from bonsai tree
creators, to knitters, to potters, to photographers, to stained glass creators.
In the last two hours of
the fourth and final fair on Sunday Sept 11,1983 only a torrential downpour
staved off the gathering clouds of a potential gang rumble. Various gangs
assembled at the corners of Morse and Ashland and waited or wanted action. But Mother Nature intervened—the rains came
and the gangs fled and the fair was over.
Sad to say—the high cost
of liability insurance, the fear of gangs, concern for personal safety and
changing neighborhood demographics made it impossible to continue. The Rogers Park Art and Music Street Fair
was no more. It became a part of
history. There never was another.
More’s the pity!
...And that's my opinion.
And I'm Sandy Goldman
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me your e-mail address or those of others who would be interested and I'll add
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