A Beautiful City
www.abeautifulcity.org

For quite some time we’ve been using an anti-spam plugin which prompts readers to input a specified word prior to submitting a comment. The plugin can be customized with unique words and we’ve tried to incorporate some local flavor into the list. For example, rather than typing “toast” you might find words like “Zestos” or “Maumee”.

We thought it might be fun to ask our readers to offer suggestions for the custom list. What word would you like to see become a part of the anti-spam plugin?

For everyone who enjoyed our up close and personal photo of the butterfly at Lakeside Park, here is another from the same visit to the Rose Gardens. 

Pretty flower…just don’t touch (at least until the bee flies away).

No backstory.  No profound meaning.  Just a really pretty picture from the rose gardens at Lakeside Park.

Photo Credit: Robert Pence

Photos from the 2008 Maumee Valley Antique Steam & Gas Association annual event are now available online courtesy of Robert Pence.  The event was held from August 14-17 at the Jefferson Township Park east of New Haven.

We spent some time this week showing you around the baseball stadium under construction at Harrison Square.  In the interest of equal time we thought it was only right to give some face time to that “other” downtown venue just about to open in Indianapolis - Lucas Oil Stadium.

The stadium opened for public tours on Saturday and at least 100,000 people were expected to roam the concourses and the field before the day was over.  Personally, I thought there were that many people on the tour I attended, but if they say it was less, I’ll take their word for it.

Here are a few of the sights inside the Colt’s new home field.

When you hear the word , “Takaoka,” as a Fort Wayne resident you might think of the local restaurant, but Takaoka is one of three sister cities that Fort Wayne has ties to.

Tim Lindenschmidt took this photo while passing through Takaoka with the Tateyama mountain range looming above the city. The tallest peak you can see is Tsurugi-dake at 6,414 feet. Tim said, “I’m not a mountain climber, but people I know who are tell me that Tsurugi-dake is the dream of every mountain climber in Japan. All of them want to scale Tsurugi-dake one day.”

Last week, I got the chance to see downtown from the roof of One Summit Square, Fort Wayne’s tallest building.  That trip fulfilled my tongue-in-cheek goal this summer of scaling all of Fort Wayne’s tallest peaks, including Lincoln Tower and the National City Bank Building. 

It’s an impressive sight, to say the least.  According to my tour guide, you can see all the way to Decatur from the summit of One Summit on a clear day.  Enjoy the view!

Over the summer, we have shown you a couple of aerial views of Harrison Square as the stadium and parking garage have begun to take shape.  This week, A Beautiful City had the chance to tour the stadium itself and bring you these panoramic views of the interior.

Construction at the site is progressing rapidly.  The grass field is expected to be installed in September.  Brick work on the stadium’s exterior began this week.  The stadium is scheduled for completion in March with opening day planned for April 2009.

The view from the stands behind home plate

From the suite level looking east toward the downtown skyline

Standing atop where home plate will be, with the right and left field stands framing downtown

From the right field side, looking across the outfield

Take a look around some evening if you are out around sunset and notice how our beautiful community takes on a whole new look.

Just before nightfall, when the sun is a brilliant orange ball on the horizon, everything takes on a wonderful new look. The barns and corn fields you drive by every day and ignore suddenly look like works of art. The bean field across the street is so green it almost hurts to look at it.

This is the time of year when everyone should be able to see that we are surrounded by beauty. Enjoy a few pictures from around northeast Allen County from late last week.

Just twenty miles northeast of Fort Wayne, St. Joe, Indiana watches as it’s population swells six times as they welcome visitors to the annual Pickle Fest.

“We’ve had great community support, a good turnout … it’s grown every year. I can’t believe that people plan their vacations around it!” - Chairperson Paula Roberts

Here you will find pecks of pickled peppers paired with pickle ice cream, pickle sandwiches and deep-fried pickles. They even sell pickle t-shirts to commemorate your visit.

Roberts recently told the Journal-Gazette that her favorite event in the three day festival is the Friday evening Blue Light Parade, a sunset parade of fire department, EMS and law enforcement units that crawl slowly through town to the cemetery, running their blue lights.

“The reflection off the tombstones … as they pause at the top of the hill to remember a fallen firefighter … it’s just fantastic,” she says

Pickle Fest is held every August. This year, the 12th festival, was from August 7-9. I think the entire town is already anticipating next year’s event!

Believe it or not, there are moments on a hot summer day when someone is not playing in the fountain at Headwaters Park.  That is when you can see things like this, captured at about 10:15 a.m. on a clear day.

The sequence of thumbnails belows shows how the rainbow appears out of nowhere as the fountain runs through its program.  Who says you need a storm to find a rainbow?

This is a composite of two images, taken Friday afternoon (August 8th) from the roof of One Summit Square, showing the progress of construction at the Harrison Square baseball stadium.

The picture below is a wider view of the site, including the rapidly growing parking garage.  For a taste of how the project has progress over the past several months, check out posts from May 29th and July 18th.

I had the opportunity this afternoon to visit the roof of One Summit Square, Fort Wayne’s tallest building.  Being one to never say “No” to an elevated perspective on downtown Fort Wayne, I gladly went along.

I knew the sights were going to be spectacular, but I never expected to see this - one of the pair of peregrine falcons that call that particular rooftop home.  While we were touring the rooftop, checking out the skyline and the progress on construction at Harrison Square, the falcons (named Roosevelt and Freedom) were circling overhead, chasing off the occasional intruding bird.

I got off exactly one picture as this one buzzed us and headed for its nest.  I’m sure this was just the falcon’s way of saying, “Hi!  Why don’t you relax and stick around for a while.”

Click here to read more about the falcons from American Electric Power, which cares for the birds and has its offices at One Summit Square.

I’ll share more soon of the view from Fort Wayne’s highest peak.

Not far from our beautiful city you will find the Vandolah Nature Preserve with 47 acres of trails that cross ravines and old fields to a bluff with views of Cedar Creek. There’s a marsh with “apparently decent birding and spring wildflowers.”

From Fort Wayne travel north on I-69 to exit 116 (SR 1/Dupont Road). Turn left (west) onto Dupont Road and then right (north) onto Auburn Road. After 4-½ miles, Auburn Road swings toward the interstate and Vandolah Road branches to the right (east). Follow Vandolah under the interstate and immediately turn right (south) up Tother Road. Look for the ACRES parking lot at the top of the hill.

The photo above was taken by John Gevers of New Media Brew (to see more of John’s Vandolah photos, visit his Flickr photosream where he has a set of Vandolah photos).

Last month the City of Fort Wayne unveiled new amenities along Calhoun St. near the Fort Wayne-Allen County Convention and Visitors Bureau. including these chairs designed by Philippe Starck.

An aerial view provides a slightly different perspective.

This green spiraled bicycle rack was also installed on Calhoun.

Hat Tip: What’s Going Down(town)