Iconoclast View

Oral history may not be entirely true, but it makes a good story.

A couple years ago The Icon flirted with the waters of Bluffton oral history. Some claim we fell head-first into the National Quarry, while walking around it.

Either way, we surfaced with a lung full of stories placing them in a book. Appropriately called “A Good Place To Miss: Bluffton Stories 1900-1975,” it is now out of print.

Here’s a Bluffton fish story you’ve not heard, but if you are old enough, you’ve witnessed.

While in my backyard on Sunday afternoon, I’m convinced I heard Arden Baker’s distinctive voice speaking over a World War II-era PA system. The voice came from the direction of the Buckeye.

Anyone who knows Arden’s voice identifies it immediately. That PA system he spoke into, the loudest in Bluffton, is stored on the second floor of the town hall – maybe the third.

It's supposed to be in the 50s this weekend.

In the meantime, we are shoveling snow from our driveways and sidewalks. We are canceling events and wondering if winter will end.

Here's a photo essay of what we hope is winter's last blast in Bluffton. The photos offer a combination nasty winter photos plus an artistic look at winter. The photos were taken during the height of the March 12 snow.

Please give the photo collection a moment to open.

The Circus Tent

By Paul Klassen

Yes, I remember, it happened in  our town.
Almost everything I remember from those long years ago
happened in our town.  There was no other place to be.
No other place to go.  We were always there.  Stuck you might say.

And so the word got out.  The circus was coming to town,
And tomorrow would be the day.
But they were here already, setting up at the edge of town
In the empty field on Vance Street.