Downtown Junkie

I love the holidays!  Starting with Halloween, I get so excited for the holiday season.  It is absolutely my favorite time of the year.  I love cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my family, and then sharing the blessings of that day together, I love decorating my house for Christmas, and I EVEN love Christmas shopping!  I don’t mind getting out there with the crowds (as long as everyone is nice and plays fair…which I know doesn’t always happen). 

In addition to your family’s traditions during the holidays, and events going on all over the area, I thought I would share with you some of the happenings downtown.

CHRISTMAS AT THE MANSION - Museum of the Southwest, November 23-December 30, 2008

On Monday, November 24, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, the Museum will be hosting its Public Open House for Christmas at the Mansion.  This has become a tradition with my daughter.  The Museum serves free refreshments, the entire Museum is decorated for Christmas, the Southwest Train Depot begins operating, and best of all children get to visit with Santa Claus (great photo op, parents)! 

The Museum is truly magical at this time.  Skilled decorators work for weeks to make sure the Museum is decorated beautifully for Christmas, weekends are filled with local entertainment to entertain guests, and it is the only time the Southwest Train Depot opens its doors and runs!

I’ll be going Monday night to the Public Open House, so I’ll have pictures ready Tuesday to share with everyone!

23rd ANNUAL HOLIDAY BUSINESS BASH -Midland Center-December 4th

The Midland Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the 23rd Annual Holiday Business Bash (formerly known as Rock in the Holidays) on December 4th, at Midland Center, from 5:00 to 8:00.  Tickets to the event are only $15 and can be purchased at the Midland Chamber of Commerce (109 N. Main).  Entertainment will be provided by The Shades. 

“2008 Christmas from the Heart of Midland” Midland Christmas Parade - December 6

Starting at 4:00 on Saturday, December 6, the Downtown Midland Christmas Parade will begin at the intersection of Baird and Illinois  The parade route will then head west on Illinois to “A” Street, turn south on “A” to Wall Street, east on Wall to Baird, and then head north back to the parade starting point.  If you’re not so good with directions, like me, look for the floats and people!

After the parade, the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony will be held in Centennial Plaza. 

CITIBANK 2008 JINGLE BELL RUN FOR JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF WEST TEXAS - December 6

The 5K Run/walk and Kids’ Fun Run will meet at Loraine and Illinois, with registration beginning at 11:30 am.  The Kids’ Run starts at 1:00 pm, and 5K starts at 1:15.  Registration and information is available by calling (432)682-4966 for at http://westtexas.ja.org.  Happy running!

So, this is just a start… no excuses that there is nothing to do downtown during the holidays.  Hope to see everyone out at some of these great events to get us in the Holiday mood!

If you haven’t gone to the Downtown Farmers’ Market, time is almost up.  At the end of November, they will be closing up and not returning until April.  For those of us who make this a Saturday ritual, it will be missed.  There is something so fulfilling about buying locally grown produce and feeding your family.  Since this is fall, my favorite is the different types of squash I can get. But you don’t have to be a gourmet cook to enjoy it.  If you want to try or experiment with something different, many of the booths have recipes available for you to take. 

As always, here is Farmer Matt’s weekly email of what will be out there tomorrow:

I’ll be brief today because I’m late sending this out. I hope this note finds you happy and well.

Come to the Midland Downtown Farmers’ Market.

As always, Liz will be serving freshly brewed organic fair-trade coffee from Big Bend Coffee Roasters. We will also have teas and hot chocolate.

Local produce from Wholistic Gardens: leeks, tomatoes, winter squashes, tomatillos, radishes, greens and so much more.

Grace returns from Nigeria and will have hydroponic heirloom tomatoes.

Westbrook farms will also have tomatoes.

YT Beef will have longhorn cuts and jerky. They also have plenty of pecans for sale.

Granny & Grans will have Zesty and sweet relishes.

Miss Bunny’s Bake Sale will have excellent breads and cookies.

Earthy Essentials with body care items and gift baskets.

Bridges of Hope will offer hand-made African jewelry and crafts.

Chad will return with hand-made wooden toys and crafts.

Moments in Time will have memory quilts, birthday flags, and some Christmas and Thanksgiving surprises.

Angie Eppinger will offer decorated pots w/ cactii.

There will probably be more vendors so come to the Midland Downtown Farmers’ Market.

Forward this message to those close and far.

Come to the Midland Downtown Farmers’ Market.

Saturdays 9a.m.-1p.m. April - (THE END OF) November @ 501 W Texas Ave. (under the green).

Did I mention that you need to come to the Midland Downtown Farmers’ Market. We need more people to be there to generate heat and keep us warm, so come to the Midland Downtown Farmers’ Market.

Regards

Farmer Matt

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That has to be one of the coolest things I have ever seen… or will ever see.  I’m sure everyone that braved the cold weather this morning would have to agree.  In about 20 seconds, you heard the first boom of explosives, and then the building was down!  Wow! 

We viewed the implosion from the top of Centennial Building’s parking garage.  We could hear the party going on over at the Hilton, and could hear the speeches Mayor Wes Perry gave throughout the “festivities.”  But I wouldn’t have traded our spot… its was great!  Our corner of viewing was the area of the building that started crumbling first.

I brought my daughter out to watch it.  She was quite the trooper (getting up at 5:30 so that we could be out there by 6:15), handling the cold as you would expect most 8 year-olds to.  But she pretty much freaked out while the explosives were going off.  I wanted to watch the building and take good video for the blog, but she was really upset and I ended up squeezing her and trying to console her.  She started crying, and afterwards, ran to the car.  Its taken her all afternoon to let the shock wear off and finally admit how cool this was.

Because all I have is one sloppy video, I’m not going to post it.  But the pros were there, and will do it justice.  Admarc had a crew out there to film the implosion for the Live Midland website in HD!  Apparently, Discovery Channel (who was on the roof of the Centennial Building filming) heard that we were doing HD, and agreed to share their video with us, if they could get the HD also.  I feel redeemed!  My video is bad… but rest assured, it will be better!

Take a look at what the Midland Savings Building looks like before it all comes tumbling down…..

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Well, its been a long week.  My daughter has been sick (you know they’re really sick if they don’t want to go out Trick or Treating on Halloween), and I’ve been somewhat recuperating from a very hectic October.  Now, though, things are back to normal. 

It looks like from just driving around downtown that there are a lot of projects in the works.  The coffee bar across from the Courthouse looks like it is close to opening, and I can’t wait to be one of their first customers.  Also, the old Pudgees has been painted pink!  I’ve heard rumors that this is going to be an upscale martini bar, so if anyone can confirm, I’d love to know.

The big surprise was on Main Street.  On the corner of Main and Texas, across the street from First United Methodist, there is a sign that reads “Coming Soon - Lofts on Main).  Apparently the project will be three industrial type residential loft spaces, and construction will start in the next few weeks.  Estimated end date is in May.  How exciting!  If you have more information on this project… please share!

If you have any information about any other upcoming projects in downtown, please let me know!

As for everyone anticipating the implosion of the Old Midland Savings Building, its still on for this Saturday and will occur between 7:00 am and 8:00 am.  Just two words to everyone as the mother in me comes out… Be Careful!

Have a great day!