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Chagrin Falls springs back to life
(by Barbara Christian - April 09, 2009)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Chagrin Falls springs back to life
Ah, spring! We come creeping from our homes, blinking at the sun and then at the ground to see what the cruelest season has deposited in our gardens. Ah, discovery! Such exotica.
Like the open beer can with the Japanese characters on its label. We'd like to think the prevailing winds from the Pacific Rim brought it to us, but its being there is probably due to the prevailing beer party on South Franklin Street. Never mind.
The beer can reminds us of the fishing floats brought on the Japanese currents to the Oregon coast, which we prowled when we were young. Those floats now rest on our kitchen windowsill. Our mind wanders, because that's what minds do in the spring. They even have a name for it. Spring fever.
The beer can is quickly discarded with the twigs and Wendy's hamburger carton and the other winter clutter. But for all the rubbish, this is truly a sweet time of year. Thoughts turn from rakes and debris to shirtsleeves and lilacs. Pity those who flee winter, for they cannot know spring.
And there is that unfolding bud of something in us only at this time of year. It makes us think about renewal and the circle of everlasting life. "Sunrise, sunset quickly flow the days." Someone please cue the musicians?
There are other palpable signs that we are entering the sweet time. All is truly well with the world. Just look around our town for proof. It's in the baby strollers out and about on a warm afternoon and the motorcycles parked in front of Starbucks. All are back as surely as daylight-saving time.
Hope comes with the season. Those long empty stores, like the former Cottonwood furniture business on North Franklin Street, are filling again. Its plate-glass windows are covered with white paper as the new Kraftmaid cabinet showroom unfolds inside. The big story here is that Kraftmaid is a Middlefield company. The cabinets are made in America by Americans. What's not to like?
Another empty store, where Tonic Home once held forth on North Main Street, is now the new ground-floor home of Chentini Gallery, which last month moved from a less accessible second-floor walk-up space up the street.
Now Cuffs men's store on East Orange Street has announced its new Gallery space. Owners Patty and Rodger Kowall say they will continue to set the stage for original paintings by prestigious American and European artists, as well as "renewed emphasis on exceptionally talented local artists." Good.
New restaurants like Umami Asian Kitchen and the Fresh Start Diner have been up and serving for weeks. Now, celebrate Jekyll's in the onetime Blake's Seafood Grill. It opened last week, bringing action and the familiar valet parking conundrum back to River Street. A commerce-driven traffic jam on River Street sounds pretty good about now, though, doesn't it?
And the good-guy Jekyll's owner, Joseph Saccone, plans to open his new place on April 19 for a benefit for his front-door neighbor, the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre. CVLT will take the opportunity to announce its coming 80th -- count 'em -- season. Just $25 gets you in the door, eats included. Call (440) 247-8955 if you want to be included in what will be a fun afternoon.
Ah, spring in Chagrin Falls! It just doesn't get much better, does it?
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