Gearing up for the Strawberry Festival

The following was submitted by The View staff reporter Jerry LaVaute:

Out of the frying pan, into the fire – just got done with the rush of an early deadline, focusing on Memorial Day-related observances and some very fine people in our community, and have begun to get ready for Belleville’s 34th annual Strawberry Festival.

In the 1990’s, as a parishioner of St. Anthony Parish who lived across the street from the church, I not only had a bird’s-eye view of much of the activity at the festival, I threw myself into it – I made cotton candy, I played accountant, I worked the casino.

Now, I will report the events leading toward the festival, and the festival itself – a little like coming home.

Toward that end, I met yesterday with Joan Bodnar, the festival’s executive director, and got to know her and her job a lot better.

Earlier that afternoon, I interviewed Jan Oliver, a dance teacher in Belleville who will hang up her dancing shoes on Saturday, retiring after 54 years. What a story.

Last week, I interviewed Tim Marsh, a Belleville resident who will be the featured artist at the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair in July.

One in awhile, you meet someone in an interview, and the exchange of words and ideas just flows. I spent two hours with the man, and really enjoyed getting to know him.

There was an interesting comment the other night in the board meeting from Van Buren Township resident Larry Fix, on the condition of Haggerty Road in the township.

I agree with him – it is atrocious in the stretch of Haggerty north of I-94 , but Larry said that the improvement plans are about three years off - a tough pill to swallow for someone like me who travels the road a few times each week. It’s become a washboard surface that is a jarring experience – I wince and grimace as I hit each “ripple” in the road. What causes those, anyway?