Sunday At G's, pt 3

Part 2



Well now, I sure hope you had a good time hanging out at Starbucks, drinking coffee and talking to some of the locals. I do apologize for leaving you by yourself while I had to finish up some personal business, but now I'm back to continue with the tour. The picture that you see here is the local branch of Congregationalist Church. It's also the home of Boy Scout Troop #355. And to show you how much this intersection has changed, right where you see that line of cars waiting at the light, there used to be a huge patch of ground in the shape of a triangle (and contained a small tree) that marked where cars had to make a left turn from route 175.

This is another shot of the same intersection, only this is looking south. That triangle I described in the first picture was located some twenty feet off to the right of that crosswalk apex that you see. The "Do Not Enter" sign that you see is at the end of the parking lot to what passes for downtown Newington. Contained in that little plaza is a Carvels, two jewelry stores, a bicycle store, a florist, three nail salons, three restaurants and the local chamber of commerce.

This is the first of my two destination stops when I'm doing my Saturday morning errands. Interesting note about this particular business. I came to this bank not of my own free will, but as an acquisition. To whit: I started at a bank called "Burritt Savings" and when I came back from vacation in 1992, I found out that the bank was seized by the FDIC and I became a depositor of "Derby Savings Bank". That lasted until about 1996, when that bank was acquired by the bank you see pictured here. Interesting thing about this particular branch, was that I used to be a depositor of the previous tenant, "Federal Savings Bank", who was acquired by the bank pictured above. Isn't capitalism wonderful???

This is a shot looking eastward down the other well known downtown area called "Market Square". One of the more interesting things about this street (and for those readers from my neck of the woods, you're probably aware of this annual event) is that every year they hold something called the Waterfall Festival. The close off the road, set up booths manned by local businesses, borrow a large stage from Wethersfield for music, have some games and rides, and the centerpiece of the festival (which I will try in the fall to get pics of) are the chalk drawings/renderings that are done on the street by the local artists. Last year, I believe that they had about 25 participants for it.

And finally, this is a shot of the local CVS (doesn't everyone have a CVS?) I don't remember what the trees are called, since they're now completely green, but they were blooming when these were originally taken (April I believe). The red building in the foreground is the original firehouse for the town (there are now four stations in town: the newer version about a half mile from this; one about two miles from where I live near the West Hartford border; one near the southern end of town, and one tucked way in the back straddling the Newington/New Britain border), and it currently houses an antique firetruck that is hauled out every Memorial Day weekend for the parades.

I think now is a good time as any for another pit stop. I have to run another errand, but the CVS will be a decent place to grab something cold to drink and a small snack. There is a very nice wall just off to the side and I'll meet you there once I'm finished. In all seriousness, it's a pretty quiet parking lot since it's directly next to the lot is the local funeral home. But it can also be a bit boisterous as well, since directly behind the CVS is the local Masonic Temple.

Hope you enjoy this latest tour stop and hopefully, there won't be a two month gap in between stops.