"Lets Hang Out At The Park"

   They built it, they came and they came and they came and they will keep on coming.  What is it?  Why it’s Prospect Park. And if you are not doing anything this Sunday the 14^th from 1pm to 6pm, you should make your way to the pavilion, in Prospect Park, for what hopes to be the first of an annual event.  The “Ida Hill and Prospect Park Memories Reunion.”, a brain child of Herb Hyde, author of, “College and Eighth”. 

    Growing up on Ida Hill certainly created many memories.  So, Herb felt it would be great to get the folks together that grew up on Ida Hill, as well as all the others that enjoyed  the park for cookouts, hangouts, basketball, swimming, walking and well you name it, to share stories, photos and just some good old fun.  I certainly don’t need to tell you that Mount Ida has taken on many changes through out the years and is currently undergoing what appears to be a monster change in our appearance.  What Herb and other organizers, Bill Carney, Karen Flynn Caola, as well as many others, would like to do is just share, build and strengthen a community that has been slowly dwindling and now rapidly changing. 

    Ida Hill was a very strong, self supportive, neighborhood. It was, and is so, because of the people that reside here.  Remember when you were a kid and you did something stupid and your parents found out before you even got home?  When you needed something and Mom and Dad were up against it, but one of your mom’s friends, your neighbor, saw to it you had what you needed?  In today’s words, “that’s how we roll, up in here!”  We played together.  We worked together. We fought together.  We rose and fell together, but we were together.  Now, I know we all didn’t get along all the time but we were a neighborhood.  We worked within our means to get things done.  In doing this, there were many stories and memories created.  Things that shaped you and your family into what we are today.  So, come on down and share your photos, your stories and your memories.  And by all means bring your family.  That’s what it is all about, neighbors, family, friends and relatives.  I am so pleased that my dad, Otto Madsen Jr., will be up from Florida and he is very eager to bump into some old neighborhood pals and share stories and a few laughs.  Through the years, I heard Dad tell stories of the crazy things he and his buddies, the Cleland’s, the Murray’s, and his best friend Eddie Collins got themselves in and out of.  I don’t think I could hear them enough.

    Rain or shine we will be there.  I do hope you join us.  Come on down to the pavilion at Prospect Park, this Sunday the 14^th, from 1pm -6pm.  There is no fee to attend.  So bring your family, your photos and your memories. Pack your lunch, your dinner or just a few snacks and some cool beverages and join us for what promises to be a great time.