It's spring! And at the center of the universe, things are opening back up and teeming with life--which you may have noticed if you've driven by the Lily Pad on North Main lately. The Planet habitually keeps its keen reportorial eye trained in that direction in the interest of apprising Dade of the Nude Garden Statuary Outlook (see numerous earlier Planet stories on Nekkid David). Lately, though, The Planet's eyes linger on the Pad even to the detriment of oncoming traffic because they can't help it! The venerable former gas station has blossomed overnight into full-frontal vernal splendor. Note new gazebos and the plethora of plants as the little fruit stand transforms into a full garden center.
If it's plants you're after, you'll also be glad to know that Glass Farm is back in business. This seasonal nursery on Highway 11 between Trenton and Rising Fawn, which supplies Dade gardeners everything from poppies to peppers to potash in the spring, and everything from pansies to pumpkins to pulverized peat in the fall, has been open since mid-March and is now seriously pumping out the peonies, parsley and portulaca
. And if you're up on Lookout Mountain, plants can also be had at the Lookout Trading Post at the Highway 136/157 intersection. So can ice cream, handcrafted pottery and a variety of work by local artists, as well as that scarcest of mountain commodities, the rare and coveted Sunday lunch! After a break for the winter, the Lookout Trading Post resumes serving Saturday and Sunday lunches this weekend. The Sunday local farmers market the Post began last year in its parking lot will resume in May.
April is also time for spring term in Dade Superior Court. Civil trials were last week. Today juries heard two drug cases, and a variety of other criminal cases will be heard later this week. The Planet will report details as they emerge. The highest-profile case, that of former Dade Sheriff Patrick Cannon, will not be heard until May at the earliest.
A propos of nothing, The Planet was delighted to see at
the recently-opened Fred's "supercenter" a new place to pick up an old-fashioned commodity, the Chattanooga newspaper. Lest we forget, newspapers--present company included!-- keep the world safe for democracy, but these days the hard-copy version can be hard to track down in Trenton, especially later in the day.
Here's another increasingly rare machine, the pay phone. This one is at the Citgo station just north of Trenton City Hall and The Planet regrets to inform readers that it is little more than sidewalk decor. The store clerk reported it had not been functional for the three years she has worked there. She said her 6-year-old daughter had asked her, puzzled, "But how do you text on it?"
Cellphones not withstanding, Trenton is a deeply conservative town where people and especially institutions seem to resist change monolithically. Thus it may surprise you that one staid and stalwart stanchion of the status quo has modernized radically enough to boast: a new sign.
But look! Here's one new-fangled thing The Planet could get used to: Margaritas in Trenton! Tres Amigos on North Main is now serving wine-based Margaritas. They don't pack that tequila punch but the taste is right, the color is festive and the salt around the rim gives one that little Margarita frisson that made the depicted anonymous diner say, "Ole!" Restaurant employees report that Dade is mad for Margaritas and they are selling like hotcakes. "Unfortunately, we can't advertise them," said a staffer. Really? How sad. The Planet hopes the word will get out somehow.
Let's end this news roundup as it began, horticulturally, noting that evening primroses, the winsome wildflowers so prevalent in Trenton as to be its unofficial mascots, are back in town, crowding every untended sidewalk with handsome pink colonies.
But at last week's city commission meeting, Mayor Alex Case said another unofficial symbol of the town--and of spring--the towering Bradford pears visible outside City Hall in this spring 2016 snap of Case and Police Chief Sandra Gray, will have to go. The much-maligned Bradords are causing structural damage to the building, said the mayor.
Streets Commissioner Monda Wooten wondered if Tree City President Eloise Gass would defend the trees. For that, and other equally vital tidings, stay tuned to The Dade Planet's highly irregular news roundups!
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