Saturday, July 4, 2009

Kearsley Park on the 4th of July


I usually spent the 4th of July in Kearsley Park when I lived in Flint. My grandparents' house was around the corner on Illinois Avenue, and we'd all head over to the park with blankets and sparklers. I took these photos a couple weeks back just after a torrential downpour that temporarily turned Kearsley Park Blvd. into Lakefront property.



If you look hard enough, you can almost see Safetyville.



The steps down to the park near the intersection of Kearsley Park Blvd. and Olive Street. Gypsy Jack lived just a few blocks north.



6 comments:

  1. I grew up not too far from there. The Flint Symphony would set up a pavillion and play revolutionary war era or big band music until it was time for the fire works. We would just lay on our blankets on the hill at the perfect angle to watch the fire works

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  2. I hope Susanne Grundison has made it out here from BC by now, and enjoyed her visit.

    Things may be a little rough in some parts of town at the moment, but that'll be temporary. History always wins out in the end.

    Maybe Susanne will end up wanting to use her, ex-Gypsy Jack's, home as a cottage. Just the thing for when BC gets same-old-same-old and it's time to get away for a while.

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  3. The last time I was around that part of town, it wasn't bad. This would have been '97-'98. I lived in an apartment complex at the corner of Illinois and Cronk, which interestingly, isn't there any more. It's just a grass lot now. Completely demolished and filled in.

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  4. the symphony...the fireworks...the memories...ooooh! aaaaah!

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  5. Although I grew up in the Potter Elementary area, I had a friend that lived on Kearsley Park. We spent many a Fourth of July watching the best fireworks around. Spectacular is an understatement (I still remember the Niagara Falls fireworks). In the morning, there were tons of firework casings scattered all over the area.

    Then there were swim lessons at Kearsley Pool and open swim. Come winter, tobogganing down the run on a 8??? person toboggan. Those were the days.

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  6. Funny thing, I had a dream a couple of nights ago where I was in the pavilion, telling someone about back in the day when we would swim in the pool, and I looked out over where the pool used to be and behold, there was a new pool there, square in shape, brand new, and people all enjoying the water! A vision of the future? Hope so.

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.