'Frog and Toad' hop onto the Corn Stock stage

When one hears a show title “A Year With Frog and Toad,” it is natural to think it’s a play for children. Indeed, it is a play derived from a series of Frog and Toad children’s books.

But that is certainly no reason to dismiss the idea of going to the next offering of the Corn Stock Theatre 2014 season under the tent in Upper Bradley Park, said director Nate Downs. While children will certainly enjoy the show, “there is plenty here for adults, too. I promise, they will enjoy it,” he said.

“A Year With Frog and Toad” opens Friday at 7:30 p.m. and continues each night through Aug. 9 at the tent. Tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for students. They can be purchased online at www,cornstocktheatre.com or by calling 676-2196.

“I like to describe the show as having the cross-generational appeal of the Muppets, with the absurdity of Monty Python and the charm of Peanuts,” Downs said. “The story is very engaging for adults and kids.”

Part of what is engaging, especially for children, is the magic that is performed as part of the show. Downs said he couldn’t reveal it “but I can tell you we will wow people, especially the kids, with some of these tricks.”

Downs said the musical is based on several books, written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel, so it is largely vignettes that follow Frog and his friend Toad through a year, including all four seasons. Characters sled and swim and fly kites and do all sorts of activities regular children do.

The real premise, however, is not like anything most deal with today  ̶  snail mail. Literally.

At the musical’s start, Frog writes a letter to Toad because Toad says it makes him sad that he never receives mail. Frog gives the letter to the mailman character Snail. All the while until the letter is delivered nearly a year later, Frog and Toad do things to have fun together. When the letter finally arrives … well, it all ties together.

Joel Shoemaker and Adam Windish, both veterans of Corn Stock and other community theatre stages, portray Frog and Toad, respectively. Beth Ann Evers portrays Snail. Birds are portrayed by Emily Hardesty, Nicole Ferree and Nyk Sutter (who plays several other characters) and Mariah Thornton is Mother Frog.

Shannon Orrill is the choreographer and Amanda Bach directed the eight-piece orchestra playing the music written by Robert Reale (with lyrics by Willie Realie).

Songs in the show include the title song, “The Letter,” “Getta Loada Toad,” “Alone,” “He’ll Never Know,” “I’m Coming Out of My Shell,” and “Merry Almost Christmas.”

“A Year With Frog and Toad” broke new ground in 2003 when it became one of the first to bring children’s theatre to Broadway. It was nominated for three Tony Awards that year, as well.

A central Illinois native, Frank Vlastnik from Peru, was part of that original Broadway cast, portraying Snail and several other characters. He visited the Corn Stock cast during a rehearsal last week.

“It was a lot of fun having a professional theatre actor who was in the original cast come see our rehearsal. He’d never seen the show done on stage by somebody else. He couldn’t stay to see any performances, though, because he had to prepare to audition for Stephen Spielberg,” Downs said.

A Bridge to the Future: New trail bridge open to the public

Dedication ceremonies for the Peoria Park District Rock Island Greenway Knoxville Bridge were deliberately designed to span future and past.

Kids first.  

"Come on. Sit down. Sit. Sit," former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood told a couple dozen youngsters as they scampered forward and plopped beside him. "You're all going to be on TV."

A key speaker at the July 24 grand opening ceremonies, LaHood had invited children and bicyclists to join him at the podium. A crowd of at least 150 people had assembled on a picture-perfect morning at Junction City. It included all current members of the park board, a sprinkling of former park board members, a hefty chunk of the staff and a sizable number of local dignitaries.

But LaHood said he wanted to emphasize the folks who are going to use the hiking/biking trail more than those who built it, including himself.

"These young people and these cyclists and all the people who are on the trail now: That's who this dedication is about today," he said.

Not that anyone forgot the trail travails.

Building what was long called the Rock Island Trail has taken decades of patient land acquisition and persistence in the face of apparently endless legal and bureaucratic entanglements. The 13-mile greenway through Peoria may have been one of the trickiest parts. It has been 21 years since the City of Peoria asked the Park District to help find money to build a trail on its Kellar Branch rail line. Even when grants were acquired, hurdles were raised to using them. The battle worked its way through the federal Surface Transportation Board and required the formation of a not-for-profit entity called the Kellar Branch Corporation to broker a deal.

Even then, the long-planned access beneath Knoxville Avenue required adjustments. Utility lines prevented a tunnel beneath the street. Park District Executive Director Bonnie Noble decided to go over, instead of under, with a bridge. Such a switch is easier said than done given grant and funding requirements.  

“Time and time again, I said, ‘This isn’t going to go’,” said Park Board President Tim Cassidy. “Bonnie just kept going forward.”

Noble has been involved with the park district  ̶  and the trail  ̶  for more than 40 years. She served as a park board member and president even before she became executive director.

“My first meeting at the park district, it was about buying the tunnel under Route 6,” she said. “We actually paid like $40,000. That was sort of the kick off to the whole thing.”

Yet she said she could not improve upon comments made by former Peoria City Councilman Bruce Brown. The chef/owner of Paparazzi in Peoria Heights allowed his restaurant to be used for countless trail meetings when business was officially closed to other customers. Like Noble, he is one of the few people left alive who have been involved in this effort since the beginning. And he was near tears offering a tribute to the past, particularly the late Bill and Hazel Rutherford, and their dog Frosty.

Shortly after the Bicentennial in July 1976, Brown said, the environmentalist Rutherford asked him to go out to Alta and consider the idea of a linear park. Eyeing a decrepit bridge that “would have collapsed” beneath the weight of a quarter, Brown asked Rutherford how such a mammoth undertaking could be accomplished.

“ ‘Councilman Brown, we’re going to do this by force of will and content of character’,” he quoted Rutherford. “ ‘Will you help us?’ ”

To summarize the ensuing struggle of near-Biblical proportions, Brown paraphrased the Book of Isaiah, referring to various trail obstacles and triumphs. The Lord, he said, “makes the Surface Transportation Board and corporation counsel and sometimes strip club owners as nothing.” The Lord, he said, “shines His light upon park district executives.” As a result, he said, those who wait on the Lord rise up as eagles.

“They shall walk on the trail and not be weary,” Brown said. “They shall run on the trail and not be faint.”

Actually, they’ve already started. The bridge, which spans Knoxville Avenue just south of its intersection with Prospect Road, was completed about three weeks ago. It was placed here, one of the busiest and most dangerous spots along the trail, for the safety of its users. 

As he spoke to the crowd, LaHood gestured at those walking and cycling on bridge arcing behind him. Then he focused on the children seated around him. A few of them were grandchildren he shares with Noble, since their children are married.

"This bridge will be here for the next 100 years," LaHood said. "One day, one of these young people will be standing here holding the microphone."

Terry Bibo can be reached at terry.bibo.freelance@gmail.com.

A trip through civil history

I love history; I should say that right away. In fact, with my MA in History earned from Western Illinois University in 2006 I have the proud title of being a historian. So it should come as no surprise that when I go on vacation, I usually stop at historical sites on the way. 

Every few years I will do a longer type vacation where I have a theme and this past July I had the opportunity to do this type of vacation again. 

My first stop on this vacation loop was to Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis is famous for many things from Elvis to the beginnings of rock and roll to BBQ. There is however, one more spot that tourists come to as well: the National Civil Rights Museum. Located downtown at the historical Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, the museum tells the story of the African American experience with its focus on the Civil Rights Movement.

Interactive exhibits include one of the Montgomery buses from the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1954. Here visitors can climb on the bus and if they cross a certain line the bus “driver” will tell them to go to the back of the bus or he will call the police. Another exhibit that I found of interest was being able to look into the exact room made up in the same way that Martin Luther King Jr. was in minutes before his assassination. The museum also includes the boarding house where James Earl Ray stayed, allowing visitors to look not only in his room but also in the bathroom from where he made his infamous shot. 

While that was an interesting place to visit, I found that parking was a problem and I think the city of Memphis should consider opening another parking lot or building a parking garage to help as there were many people at the museum.

Sadly, parking was not a problem at my next place I visited. I love the Civil War so I decided the best place to go after Memphis was to head slightly east about two hours to Shiloh National Battlefield. Shiloh was the first major battle in the west during the Civil War and it is one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Urban sprawl has not hit the area yet and because of this the federal government was able to buy much of the battlefield along with the Civil War Trust and it is well preserved.  

Highlights of the battlefield included the Tennessee River, which runs along one side of the battlefield, and the Confederate Monument, which celebrates the victory the south had on April 6 and mourns the loss of April 7. Other highlights include Bloody Pond, where both sides came to drink during the battle that, since they were wounded, became red with their blood, and finally being able to stand in the exact spot where General Albert Sidney Johnson of the Confederate States Army was shot and killed on April 6. 

Next, I turned southwest and drove for Vicksburg. While this was an important battlefield during the war, I would not recommend driving there from Shiloh as it was a six hour drive. Anyone who follows in my footsteps might want to go to Vicksburg first then Shiloh the day after even though that would mean going backwards.

I did have a major problem with Vicksburg National Battlefield in that there was not, to my eyes, good interpretation. The visitor drives down a road that leads past the Union lines, then over to the Confederate lines, which means that they have to really understand the battle and the siege in its entirety before visiting. 

A highlight for me at the park was the remains of the USS Cairo. The USS Cairo is only one of four remaining Civil War era ironclads in existence. It was sunk by a mine in December of 1862 and discovered again in 1956. Raised in 1965 and towed to Vicksburg National Military Park, it was preserved and in 1980 was opened as an outdoor museum. The boat has a vast treasure trove of artifacts from weapons and ammunition to personal gear of the sailors who served on board her. Sadly it is the only ironclad that is still outdoors and over the years the exposure to the southern heat and humidity, bird droppings, and vandalism have hurt the ship and caused it to degrade. Perhaps in the near future funds raised for the purpose of preserving her indoors can be put to good use and she can be moved and kept for future generations. 

My next major stop on my tour of Civil War-era America was Andersonville National Park.  Andersonville was a major Confederate POW camp for Union soldiers. It was empty of visitors when I was there but that could be because it was the day before Independence Day.  Andersonville has an excellent museum dedicated to POW life not only in the Civil War but in all wars from the American Revolution to Vietnam. The park itself is small, consisting of a replica of a stockade one can stand inside and imagine what it would have been like to be a prisoner there, to the land itself with various holes that were either wells or marked as attempts at building escape tunnels. It is a sad place but one I believe everyone should visit at some point. 

After Independence Day I turned northeast and came to the realization that urban sprawl has hit the major Civil War battlefields here. My first stop was Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, which has been preserved as a small park. The park itself has beautiful views from the cliffs if one is brave enough to climb them but more tourists are interested in exploring the caves or other sights of the area.

Next I ended up in Lexington, Virginia and I highly recommend this place for everyone to visit.  Lexington is a nice town and it was unfortunate that I did not have time enough to visit everything I wanted. Lexington is not only the home of the Virginia Military Institute, but it is also where General Robert E. Lee is buried, on the grounds of Washington and Lee University, and where General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson lived and taught before the war and where he is buried.  

From Lexington I drove to Harper’s Ferry National Park where the raid of John Brown took place in October of 1859. The park is the headquarters of the Appalachian Trail so there are many hikers in the park. The park preserves the original building where John Brown held off the U.S. Marines for 72 hours, although the building itself was moved after the war. It also preserves many of the fine buildings from the era. The tourist trap stuff, while there, is hidden along side streets so one is not bothered by this much. 

Later that day I drove over to Antietam National Battlefield. This battlefield was the site of the bloodiest day of the Civil War and it is well preserved despite being only hours away from Washington, D.C. and the urban sprawl of the eastern coast. The battlefield takes the visitor from the start of the battle and then allows them to move south as the battle progressed.

My only complaint about this battlefield was that at one of the most important battle sites, Burnsides Bridge, the bridge was being repaired making it one way for the walkers. Since there were a lot of visitors this meant one could not really stop and just breathe in the history and quiet of a place where thousands died at one point. I personally think that while the bridge needs to be preserved, it could better be done in the fall or spring when there are fewer visitors.

My final stop of this trip was at Gettysburg National Military Park. I have been at this park before so this time was a quick drive; I was only able to hit the highlights of the battlefield because a storm blew in toward the end causing me to hurry.

The battlefield itself, of course, is extremely famous as the place where the south was turned back on its second and final invasion of the United States in July 1863. My suggestion is that one should either watch the entire Gettysburg movie that was filmed on site in 1993 or at least highlights so that they can get a sense of the battle. I also suggest paying the money not only to see the Cyclorama film but also to get a self-guided CD tour that will help the visitor by letting them know what is going on at each stop and along the way. 

In the end I managed to drive 3,000 miles and I enjoyed much of this trip. I recommend anyone who is reading this to go to these sites, although you may want to try and hit only one or two at a time to better enjoy them. But you should go because these places are sacred ground; they are part of our history.

Yes, history many be ugly, but history good and bad should be taught and understood. One cannot get that from a textbook in high school; instead one needs to stand on these sites and breathe in the history.

Consumer spending increased in June, report shows

The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index reversed course in June, showing an increase for the month, according to the index that tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.

"Strengthening home prices in May and a drop in unemployment claims put the Index in positive territory, showing a consumer's ability and willingness to spend," saidDaniel Bachman, Deloitte's senior U.S. economist.  "Although wages are down slightly, there are enough indicators showing the labor market is back, which should offset the wage component's impact on household spending."

The Index, which comprises four components – tax burden, initial unemployment claims, real wages and real home prices – increased to 3.78 in June from 3.67 in May.  

"Consumer sentiment is on the rise due to positive unemployment numbers and the so called 'wealth effect' of the stock market, and retailers should look to capitalize," saidAlison Paul, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP and retail and distribution sector leader. "As retailers' marketing campaigns go into high gear during the back-to-school season, they will use attractive offers, distinctive events, and promotions to drive traffic.  They should similarly ramp up their analytics capabilities to keep track of where families are shopping and the hot items they buy.  As expected, consumers will use their electronic devices as personal buying assistants, so retailers should also link their marketing messages across mobile and social channels to increase foot traffic and keep that momentum going through the summer."

Highlights of the Index include:

Tax Burden: The tax rate is holding steady for the seventh straight month with a marginal decrease to 11.7 percent. 

Initial Unemployment Claims:Claims – at 313,000 – declined 8.5 percent from the same period last year, and 2.4 percent from the prior month's rate of 320,000.

Real Wages: Real hourly wages were up 0.5 percent from this time last year to$8.81, but slightly down by 0.2 percent from the prior month's reading of$8.82.

Real Median New Home Price: New home prices rose 4.2 percent from the prior month to$119,000.  Over the past 12 months they have risen 2.6 percent.