First off: How's about a thrillin' new name for this periodic feature? In the past it's been called "Around Our Town," but that suddenly struck The Planet as about as fresh and snappy as that casserole with green beans, canned fried onions and cream-o-something soup that people make for Thanksgiving and then say--every time--"I thought I'd try something new and unusual this year." What TG feast hasn't got the green bean gop, and what media outlet hasn't got a feature called "Around and About" or "Around Town?" The Planet is different!
So The Planet considered something a bit more planetary--"The Elliptical Orbit?" "The Trenton Rotation?"--but dismissed those as a trifle oblique. Finally The Planet fixed not on the chief Trenton physical feature but on the chief Trenton issue at the time The Planet came into existence (winter of 2016): "The Trenton Roundabout!" Which was almost perfect. Trenton does not really have a roundabout yet, but the possibility of one still looms above the town like the Sword of Damocles clenched in the iron fist of GDOT.
But finally, for that extra zing! of local flavor, The Planet remembered with the fondness the pronunciation of that traffic feature as it had oft been rendered in county and city commission discussions, and thus proudly renames this feature:
The Trenton Runaround!
The Trenton Runaround, like Around Our Town before it, will feature sundry interestin' but smallish snippets of news The Planet has picked up in its revolutions around the town. Shall we begin on this week's edish?
First of all, The Planet learned a fairly earth-shattering snippet last week: That one of the anchor businesses on the Trenton town square, Ann-Other Flowers is fixin' to up anchor and move off the town square.
That's big news because the Ann-Other building is an old one that is practically always depicted in historic shots of the square. Note the shot below of the building, courtesy of the Dade Historical Society, featured in the Dade Public Library's Captured exhibition earlier this year.
Ann-Other owner Cheryl McGee is moving her shop out of its present location and two buildings north, to the building currently tenanted by Ken's on Main. Relax, Ken's is going nowhere as far as The Planet knows; the building has two storefronts and the flower shop will occupy the one on the south side. The Planet couldn't get hold of Ms. McGee but her employees say the move is two or maybe even three weeks away.
The move was necessitated, said one employee, by the building owner's plans to turn the shop's slot into additional apartment space. Drivers may have noticed that the rear part of the building bears the name "The Lineman Inn."
All of this was a fascinatin'
enough snippet on its own, but between the time The Planet snapped the above shot of the building on Saturday, and its next elliptical orbit around Trenton on Sunday, notice what had happened to the building! High winds and heavy rains in Saturday night's storm had collapsed the awning and knocked down the Ken's sign (right).
An employee at Ann-Other said it was a minor setback, and repair work would begin straightaway.
While on the square, The Planet seized the opportunity to update its readers about the vacant lot adjoining the square that Trenton and Dade County purchased from Case Hardware for $50,000 in July 2016. The photo at left was taken on Sunday. The one below was taken last summer. Readers, compare and contrast.
In point of fact, the main difference in the two photos seems to be seasonal;
the trees have lost their foliage. As for the lot itself, the main feature of the $50K parking lot remains the NO PARKING sign on the fence that keeps anybody from doing so.
A shop owner on the square told The Planet that in fact the parking lot is badly needed and that the merchants are constantly agitating for the lot to be opened. When will it be? The Planet will continue to monitor the situation.
But if the city mills grind slow and exceedingly fine on parking lots, it's pretty chop-chop on Christmas decorations. The weekend before Thanksgiving, snowflakes and reindeer already adorned the north part of town.
Now, a major piece of alimentary news: Lynda Ditmar, the culinary artiste who brought Trenton Jo Mama's Wraps, is now dishing up the same sandwiches, wraps and homemade lemonade from a smaller storefront on Crabtree (below).
The "Lil Chicken Coop" started as a lunch trailer on Jacoway, which Ms. Ditmar moved to the parking lot of the old Morningstar Cleaners, when
her husband, Zach Ditmar, reopened it as Mountain Valley Cleaners, a business that offers men's formalwear rentals, alterations and a laundry service as well as dry cleaning. The new Chicken Coop location, adjacent to CBT and the new courts facility, is open for lunch and catering 11 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays.
Trenton Tree City is wrapping up its frenzied fall pansy-planting, and The Planet popped by Jenkins Park on Saturday to observe Joy Golden (left) and Tree City President Eloise Gass in action.
While thus popping, The Planet could not help noticing an unusual planter by the old Scout Building beside Tree City's beds: Apparently
when the Scout Building got new bathroom appointments, said Ms. Golden, the youthful gardeners of one Girl Scout troop decided to repurpose one of the old ones into something that reminds us of the peculiar relationship between flowers and a substance more commonly associated with the fixture: Flowers, which smell sweet, thrive on the aforementioned substance, which does not.
And if the autumnal manifestation is nothing to write home about, Ms. Golden thoughtfully provided a snap she had taken in the toilet's glory days, which The Planet duly passes on, at left. Thanks, Joy!
Finally, The Planet reported in a previous article today of a tractor-trailer truck catching fire early this morning. The Trenton Fire Department and the Dade County Sheriff's Office responded, and Sgt. Chad Payne, information officer with the DCSO, provided the interesting detail that the tractor trailer was carrying elephants, which were evacuated without harm. He had no pictures then, but Deputy Dustin Coffman was since able to provide the dramatic if blurry photo below. Reckon there were some early-morning drivers suspecting they were experiencing a drug flashback to their misspent youth? Thanks, Sgt. Chad and Deputy Coffman!
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