The milkman and Tuesday news

A common discussion topic going around Facebook these days is, name something that was a defining part of your childhood, but which people younger than you would not be able to relate to. I never could come up with a good answer. Video games and electronics were always in the front of my mind, but kids younger than me would have had those too.

Then yesterday, I saw a discussion on Twitter that led me to the answer. People were discussing “the milkman” who would deliver to your home, and saying that’s not a position that has been around since refrigeration became common about 70 years ago. Actually, that’s not true.

My mom had a notepad supplied by Coleman Dairy over in Little Rock. Once or twice a week she would check off the products she needed – milk, cheese, eggs, ice cream. Coleman also offered products like buttermilk, half-and-half, cottage cheese, and yogurt. I would help my mom fill out the notepad, and I think it may have actually been one of the reasons I learned to read when I was only 3. We’d tear off the note sheet, put it on the front door, and the milkman would show up between about 6 and 8 AM and make the delivery.

My favorite time of the year to see the milkman was December. During that month he had Christmas-themed ice cream on a stick: Green ice cream with sprinkles in the shape of a tree, and pink and white ice cream in the shape of Santa. I always asked my mom to order an extra box of the ice cream treats. I was an only child, and only children usually get their way, so she did.

I remember eating Coleman Dairy products delivered by the milkman as I watched Dialing for Dollars, the noon news show on a Little Rock TV station. I remember eating Coleman products as I watched hearings full of men in suits. My grandmother, who babysat me during the day, told me that the president had done something really bad and that was the reason for the hearings. I remember watching the Mike Douglas Show as I ate Coleman products. Except, one week my grandmother wouldn’t let me watch the show because “drug heads” were guest hosting it. Many years later I learned that the guest hosts were John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

One day not long after I turned 5 the doorbell rang and my mom went to answer. After a couple of minutes she came back and told us, “The milkman won’t be coming anymore.” It wasn’t a big deal, because we had a Safeway half a mile away that sold everything the milkman did. But until yesterday, it never occurred to me that I am among the last people to know what it’s like to have a milkman.

New Wing Order, the multi-time Southern Hot Wing Fest champions who are opening up a new food truck, have announced the date for their Downtown debut. On Saturday, September 8, they will be parked outside the Ghost River taproom from 4 to 8. Come enjoy some wings and great craft beer. I previewed New Wing’s offerings back in March.

South Main is celebrating Elvis Week early for Trolley Night this Friday. Come down to the arts district, where most of the shops and galleries will be open until 9 or later that night. The South Main Stage at Main and Talbot will be rocking with live music, games provided by the Downtown Memphis Commission, and beer by TapBox.

There will be a public meeting at the Majestic Grille at 6 PM tomorrow night, July 25, to discuss a request from Belz for a zoning variance to allow an expanded parking lot at the former Tri-State Bank location at Main and Beale.

Reminder: Opera Memphis will perform, and their CEO will speak, at the monthly Downtown Memphis Association meeting tonight on Felicia Suzanne’s patio. 5:30 social and performance, presentation at 6 PM.

If you get a chance this week, stop by the pop-up shop on the ground floor of Peabody Place, facing Main Street, in the old Life is Good location. Artist George Hunt, designer of many of the Memphis in May posters over the years, and a partner are making a push to establish a National Blues Art Museum. George has many of his works on the walls and they will tell you all about what they want to do.

Pints for Pits, the annual fundraiser for Memphis Pets Alive, is moving to a new venue this year. It will be at Crosstown Brewing Co. on the afternoon of Saturday, October 20.

I saw an El Camino hearse yesterday driving down Monroe. Wonder if it’s going to be the Halloween raffle prize at Bardog this year?

High Ground News has a great interview with Libby Campo, owner of Your Inner Yogi yoga studio at 10 N. Second. YOGA!

High Ground also interviewed some of the elders of Uptown about the changes they have seen in the neighborhood over the past 50 years.

There’s an Event Services Coordinator position open at the Liberty Bowl.

And that’s it for now. Back tomorrow.