WHAT’S HAPPENING: Birthday celebration for Marines; St. John’s Bazaar | Entertainment

Willow Creek Bazaar to be held

MARTINSVILLE — The annual Willow Creek Cumberland. Presbyterian. Church Bazaar and Soup Day will be on Friday, Nov. 5, in the Martinsville Community Center.

This year the Bazaar will be held in the Community Center basement. The doors will open at 9 a.m. and will feature crafts, snacks and baked goods including cakes, pies and breads. Persimmon pulp will also be available.

For only $7 patrons will get their choice of chili or vegetable soup, along with a chicken or ham salad sandwich, your choice of homemade desserts, and water. Serving is from from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Take out will be available. To pre-order for pick-up, call or text Norma at 713-865-0022. Be sure to provide your name, contact number, and the time you’d like to pick up the order. Also, include the number of meals, including the kind of soup (chili or vegetable) and kind of sandwich (chicken salad or ham salad). You will be able to select your desserts when you pick up.

Coles County Marines to celebrate birthday

CHARLESTON — Coles County Marines will be celebrating the 246th birthday of the United States Marine Corps on Friday, Nov. 5, at the Charleston VFW. The celebration will start at 6 p.m. with a cash dinner and a cake cutting. All Coles County Marines and their guests are invited to attend.

Embarras volunteer conservation day

CHARLESTON — The Embarras Volunteer Stewards will hold a workday from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 6, at Reasor Park in Charleston. Park at the south end of Reynolds Drive.

All are welcome, and no prior experience is necessary. Sturdy footwear and gloves are recommended. Tools are provided.

Visit www.embarrasstewards.org for more information.

Ladies Aid of St. John’s to hold bazaar

MATTOON — The Ladies Aid of St. John’s Lutheran Church, 200 Charleston Ave., Mattoon, will hold their Bazaar on Saturday, Nov. 6, from 8 a.m.-noon.

Christmas items of all kinds will be available, as well as jewelry and small like-new gift items. Entry is from the Broadway Avenue parking lot.

The Ladies Aid has sponsored seminary students through their fundraisers for many years. Organizers recommend wearing a mask inside the Fellowship Hall.

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.

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