WHAT’S HAPPENING: Strasburg Celebration planning session; Mattoon Car show and more… | Entertainment
Marshall City band concert
MARSHALL — The Marshall City Band will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, July 15, on the Clark County Courthouse lawn under the direction of guest conductor Austin Spillman.
The concert will open with “The Minnesota March”, selections from “Encanto”, “A Festival Prelude”, “Fantasy On A Russian Air”, “March: Grandioso”, selections from “The Greatest Showman”, “March On An Irish Air”, “Flight Of Valor”, “Americans We”, and end the concert with “The Stars-Spangled Banner.”
An ice cream social will be held in conjunction with this week’s concert along with popcorn from the Lions Club popcorn wagon.
The Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce will be holding its Farmers Market from 4 to 7:30 p.m. around the courthouse square.
Grief Share Loss of Spouse Memorial event set
MATTOON — Broadway Christian Church in Mattoon will host a free Grief Share Loss of Spouse Memorial event from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, July 16.
The program will include a question and answer session with Lisa Fryman Trueblood, an insightful video on dealing with the challenges of losing a spouse, a free book, a take home craft, refreshments and a discussion time.
The event will close with a launch of biodegradable balloons in honor of those who are gone but not forgotten.
You may go to Broadway cc.org/Events to pre register which is strongly encouraged to be sure enough materials are available. Support persons are welcome but must be included in preregistration. For more information, contact 217-235-4009.
4th Annual Car Show and Blessing of the Cars to be held
MATTOON — Broadway Christian Church’s 4th Annual Car Show and Blessing of the Cars will be held from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday, July 17, at South 9th Street, Mattoon.
The event is free, but donations are welcome.
The first 50 registrants will receive a dash plaque. First- and second-place trophies will be awarded for each class and one vehicle will be chosen for the Minister’s Choice Award. Judging begins at 12:30 p.m. with awards given out at 1 p.m.
Concessions will be provided by Kep’s Cooking and SweeTea’z Traveling Tea Trailer.
Strasburg seeking volunteers to help with celebration
STRASBURG — The Village of Strasburg will be celebrating their 150th Anniversary in 2024. A planning organizational meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 21 at the Strasburg Community Center. All village and country residents are invited to attend.
If you do not wish to be on a committee but would still like to help with the upcoming festivities, organizers still encourage you to attend, or let them know how you would like to help by contacting Linda D. Oakley at 217-644-3007 or at info@strasburgil.com.
My Town: Clint Walker’s memories of Coles County as pulled from the archives
Cosmic Blue Comics

From the Nov. 22, 1992, Journal Gazette, this photo of Cosmic Blue Comics in Mattoon; where I spent virtually every Saturday afternoon for about two years. That small back room you see just off to the right of the Coca-Cola sign was where they kept the many, and I mean many, long-boxes of back issues. I still own my bagged copy of “Tales of the Beanworld” issue No. 1 that I found back there. Sadly, this location is now just a “greenspace”.
Mattoon Arcade

Pictured, Shelbyville’s Bob Murray from the June 2, 1982, Journal Gazette, displaying his dominance over the TRON arcade game at the “Carousel Time” arcade at the Cross County Mall, later to be the Aladdin’s Castle, soon thereafter to be not a thing anymore. I spent just about every Saturday at that arcade, perhaps with that exact same haircut. No overalls, though. I was more of an “Ocean Pacific” kind of kid.
Icenogle’s

Pictured, from the Nov. 28, 1988, Journal Gazette, Icenogle’s grocery store. Being from Cooks Mills, we didn’t often shop at Icenogle’s…but when we did, even as a kid, I knew it was the way a grocery store is supposed to be in a perfect world, and that’s not just because they had wood floors, comic books on the magazine rack, or plenty, and I mean plenty, of trading cards in wax packs.
Cooks Mills

I had long since moved away from Cooks Mills by the time this Showcase item about Adam’s Groceries ran in the June 13, 1998, Journal Gazette, but there was a time when I very well could have been one of those kids in that photo; for if it was summer, and you had a bike, and you lived in Cooks Mills, that’s where you ended up. At last report, they still had Tab in the Pepsi-branded cooler in the back. I’m seriously considering asking my money guy if I could afford to reopen this place.
Mister Music

Pictured, from the July 16, 1987, Journal Gazette, this ad for Mister Music, formerly located in the Cross County Mall. I wasn’t buying records at that age, but I would eventually, and that’s where it all went down. If you don’t think it sounds “cool” to hang out at a record store with your buddies on a Friday night, a piping-hot driver’s license fresh in your wallet, you’d be right. But it’s the best a geek like me could do. Wherever you are today, owners of Mister Music, please know that a Minutemen album I found in your cheap bin changed my life.
Sound Source Guitar Throw

Portrait of the author as a young man, about to throw a guitar through a target at that year’s Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest, from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette. Check out my grunge-era hoodie, and yes…look carefully, those are Air Jordans you see on my feet. Addendum: despite what the cutline says, I did not win a guitar.
Pictured, clipped from the online archives at JG-TC.com, a photo from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette of Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest winner, and current JG-TC staff writer, Clint Walker.
Vette’s

Here today, gone tomorrow, Vette’s Teen Club, from the June 20, 1991, Journal Gazette. I wasn’t “cool” enough to hang out at Vette’s back in it’s “heyday,” and by “cool enough” I mean, “not proficient enough in parking lot fights.” If only I could get a crack at it now.
FutureGen

FutureGen: The end of the beginning, and eventually, the beginning of the end, from the Dec. 19, 2007, JG-TC. I wish I had been paying more attention at the time. I probably should have been reading the newspaper.