There are weeks when editorials come easy. There’s something that nags the editors about a story they’re writing, an opinion that easily flows alongside a story in the pages or something out further than our local community deserves to be noted.
Then, there are weeks like this one, where we’ve already finished the congratulations to area graduates, commended our athletes and schools in the past few months… And two issues at Lisbon and MV council we’re still percolating opinions on to see how things are potentially resolved and opinions seem a little hasty to jump into now.
And then, Thursday evening (May 23, 2024) the news editor received an email about ZIP Code Day’s 10-year anniversary and the photos here on this page. It’s a festival in the community that precedes the current editor by at least two years, but gets mentioned enough in passing in this community of “look at this thing we accomplished that still lives in the minds of citizens here.” These four youth took time to restage a photo they took almost a decade ago of them climbing the hill to First Street and the festival happening uptown for this festival (and for Landon Grosse, time on his birthday to do just this).
That’s modern history right here in this newspaper. A lot happens in a decade in these small towns. Mount Vernon’s second bypass was finally finished after being discussed for almost a decade itself. Two brand new auditoriums were built at our area schools, as were state of the art tracks. Two new recreation centers (one at the city and one at Cornell College). New mayors, new councils, new superintendents, new school boards. The merger of the Mount Vernon and Lisbon Police Departments. New businesses in the uptown, other infrastructure improvements made to make these cities better. And kindergarten students are now looking at starting their junior years in the fall at Mount Vernon.
But for these youth and their parents, that festival and memory is something they remembered or were reminded to share this photo of them 10 years later and let us all relish an anniversary of one of the festivals that always comes up in this community as one of the coolest things the community has done.
Last week, our front page spoke about the 15th annual Chocolate Stroll (which is coming up this very weekend). Perfect chance for you and your families to remember what you liked about previous Chocolate Strolls or make brand new memories at festivals, just like the ones here on page. You may have your own “hey, remember when we took this photo?” memory to share as well.
Sun Editorial – ZIP Code Day celebrates 10 year anniversary
May 30, 2024