Join Master Gardeners for a fun morning of door prizes and engaging speakers both beginning and expert gardeners will enjoy.
The new year seems to be going by fast and I realized this week that the 12th annual Spring into Gardening Conference is just around the corner.
The University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners of Coles, Cumberland, Douglas, Moultrie, and Shelby Counties will present this conference from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, March 5, at Broadway Christian Church, 1205 S. Ninth St., in Mattoon. The doors will open at 8 a.m. for check-in. The cost for the workshop is $30 per person.
YARD AND GARDEN: A gardening project for February
This event is planned and presented each year by the master gardener volunteers in our area to serve two purposes.
First, the conference is designed to provide a continuing education opportunity for gardeners, homeowners, and landowners in East Central Illinois.
Secondly, the revenue from the event helps support the local outreach efforts of University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener volunteers, bringing you workshops and learning opportunities throughout the year.
Last year, master gardeners offered a fruit tree pruning workshop, a guided park walk series, a “How to Grow Potatoes in a Bucket” workshop, and much more.
At Spring into Gardening, educators from Extension will share their passion for growing plants, attracting pollinators, and composting how-tos. I think you will find the 2022 Spring into Gardening event topics very informative and entertaining.
Horticulture Educator Ken Johnson will present information on how to use raised beds to maximize your space and produce your favorite vegetables. Ken will discuss where to place your garden and proper plant selection. Horticulture Educator Jennifer Fishburn will explain pollinator plant options that will produce a beautiful and fruitful space important to creating a habitat for pollinators. Energy and Environmental Stewardship Educator Duane Friend will talk about how to produce high-quality, nutrient-rich compost by selecting the right mix of materials to add to your compost.
In addition to this great lineup of speakers, the Master Gardeners will be offering a silent auction and delicious refreshments throughout the morning. Garden novelties will be available for purchase and resources are included with admission.
If you are interested in attending the 2022 Spring into Gardening event, keep in mind that registration closes on February 21 or when available spaces have been filled. To register visit go.illinois.edu/SPRIG22.
For more information or for assistance registering for the event, call the extension office in Coles County at 217-345-7034.
My Town: Clint Walker’s memories of Coles County as pulled from the archives
Cosmic Blue Comics
From the Nov. 22, 1992, Journal Gazette, this photo of Cosmic Blue Comics in Mattoon; where I spent virtually every Saturday afternoon for about two years. That small back room you see just off to the right of the Coca-Cola sign was where they kept the many, and I mean many, long-boxes of back issues. I still own my bagged copy of “Tales of the Beanworld” issue No. 1 that I found back there. Sadly, this location is now just a “greenspace”.
Mattoon Arcade
Pictured, Shelbyville’s Bob Murray from the June 2, 1982, Journal Gazette, displaying his dominance over the TRON arcade game at the “Carousel Time” arcade at the Cross County Mall, later to be the Aladdin’s Castle, soon thereafter to be not a thing anymore. I spent just about every Saturday at that arcade, perhaps with that exact same haircut. No overalls, though. I was more of an “Ocean Pacific” kind of kid.
Icenogle’s
Pictured, from the Nov. 28, 1988, Journal Gazette, Icenogle’s grocery store. Being from Cooks Mills, we didn’t often shop at Icenogle’s…but when we did, even as a kid, I knew it was the way a grocery store is supposed to be in a perfect world, and that’s not just because they had wood floors, comic books on the magazine rack, or plenty, and I mean plenty, of trading cards in wax packs.
Cooks Mills
I had long since moved away from Cooks Mills by the time this Showcase item about Adam’s Groceries ran in the June 13, 1998, Journal Gazette, but there was a time when I very well could have been one of those kids in that photo; for if it was summer, and you had a bike, and you lived in Cooks Mills, that’s where you ended up. At last report, they still had Tab in the Pepsi-branded cooler in the back. I’m seriously considering asking my money guy if I could afford to reopen this place.
Mister Music
Pictured, from the July 16, 1987, Journal Gazette, this ad for Mister Music, formerly located in the Cross County Mall. I wasn’t buying records at that age, but I would eventually, and that’s where it all went down. If you don’t think it sounds “cool” to hang out at a record store with your buddies on a Friday night, a piping-hot driver’s license fresh in your wallet, you’d be right. But it’s the best a geek like me could do. Wherever you are today, owners of Mister Music, please know that a Minutemen album I found in your cheap bin changed my life.
Sound Source Guitar Throw
Portrait of the author as a young man, about to throw a guitar through a target at that year’s Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest, from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette. Check out my grunge-era hoodie, and yes…look carefully, those are Air Jordans you see on my feet. Addendum: despite what the cutline says, I did not win a guitar.
Pictured, clipped from the online archives at JG-TC.com, a photo from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette of Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest winner, and current JG-TC staff writer, Clint Walker.
Vette’s
Here today, gone tomorrow, Vette’s Teen Club, from the June 20, 1991, Journal Gazette. I wasn’t “cool” enough to hang out at Vette’s back in it’s “heyday,” and by “cool enough” I mean, “not proficient enough in parking lot fights.” If only I could get a crack at it now.
FutureGen
FutureGen: The end of the beginning, and eventually, the beginning of the end, from the Dec. 19, 2007, JG-TC. I wish I had been paying more attention at the time. I probably should have been reading the newspaper.