Back to the Fifties Festival
Rooster and I traveled to the Back to the Fifties Festival to catch a blast for the past. We spend an exciting afternoon looking at old cars and listening to good music. #Izzy & Eddy’s.#Tipton #Indiana #Lebanon #Cushman motorcycle #Back to the Fifties Festival # Ford Edsel #Terri Lee & the Rock-A-Boogie Band #Circle City Sidewalk Stompers #The Rigby’s
I was born in 1956. My memories of the 1950s are reserved to a dim recollection of watching Howdy Duty, I Love Lucy and The Lawrence Welk Show on the television. My family tuned into those shows on our black and white TV every week. I have no early memories of a young Elvis Presley, Dion, or Fats Domino. The music of my childhood was The Beatles, Diana Ross, and the Supremes, the temptations, and the Jackson 5. I was more a bellbottoms baby than a poodle skirt-wearing kind of girl. When we came across the Back to the Fifties Festival, I thought it would be an interesting way to spend a Saturday afternoon. A chance to revisit an era in history, I only had a vague recollection of living.
Izzy & Eddy’s
Rooster and I rode the Indian over to Tipton, Indiana, and ate breakfast at Izzy and Eddy’s. The restaurant is under new management. We were told they reopened the previous week. We ordered the standard bacon and eggs type of breakfast popular in these home cooking style restaurants. The meal was filling if not inspired. Rooster and I plan to make a return trip once they have been open for a little while. They should have all the bugs ironed out by then.
A plethora of old cars at the Back to the Fifties Festival
The car show caught our eye as soon as we entered The Back to the Fifties Festival in Lebanon, Indiana. September is car show season in Indiana. At every event, you’ll find car enthusiasts bringing their restored vehicles to be put on display for an admiring public. The car show extravaganza will culminate with The James Dean festival at the end of the month. Rooster and I walked through aisle after aisle of antique vehicles.
My husband fell in love with the Cushman motorcycle display. He said of all the vehicles there he would pick one of the Cushman’s motorcycles because they were unique, and you didn’t see them around very often. The vehicles brought back a lot of memories for Rooster. He would have brought home one of the beauties if he had some spare money lying around to play with.
The Edsel
We even ran across an old Edsel. I don’t know why people didn’t think they were cool back in the day. The Ford Edsel was a giant flop back in the 1950s, even though it was supposed to be the car the American public would be motivated to have in their garages and driveways. It was all the hype leading up to Edsel’s launch and the high sticker price, which led to the car model’s downfall.
Once we finished looking at the cars, we moved onto the Antique Bicycle Club’s display. They had a wide assortment of bicycles in their collection. We saw everything from a unicycle to the first attempts to motorize these two-wheeled contraptions. I loved the old Schwinn’s they had on exhibit.
The Music at the Back to the Fifties Festival
Terri Lee & the Rock-A-Boogie Band played an assortment of 50’s rock and roll as we did our wandering. As soon as they left the stage, the Circle City Sidewalk Stompers conducted a strange second line through the fairgrounds. The entire ensemble was dressed in clown outfits. The children following behind them were also dressed in clown attire.
The Rigby’s took the stage as soon as they moved their equipment into place. They are a Beatles tribute band who performed their own twist to the original songs. None of them looked a thing like George, Ringo, Paul, or John, but the sound The Rigby’s created was amazing. The Beatles didn’t have much to do with the 50s, but the rock-n-roll artists of that era influenced their music. Without Chuck Berry, there would have been no Rubber Soul or Revolver.
Champion Gym at the Back to the Fifties Festival
Rooster and I found a seat on a bench and sat in the shade while we listened to the performance. Over to our right, the kids from Champion Gym were performing their moves. A lady from northern Indiana sat down beside us. The Rigby’s were playing Twist and Shout. I told her I couldn’t believe I did the twist when I was a kid. She admitted she’d done the dance too. Her sister threw her back out, making the dance moves. We both agreed we had the best stuff when we were kids. She told us all about how she and her husband RVed to Arizona in the winter. Indeed, Rooster became interested in the idea. He’s been trying to convince me I’d enjoy living in an RV after we retire. I’m still not sure I like the idea, but it would make up the material for many interesting adventures.
By early afternoon, Rooster and I decided we’d had enough of the fifties. It was time for us to get some wind in our hair. The thing about living in Indiana is all roads have a tendency to lead to Indianapolis. We decided we weren’t in the mood to travel on the freeway.
RV adventures may be in our future
Traveling the back roads until we ended up in Broad ripple with the wind in our hair and Saturday afternoon traffic create a pleasant ride. We planned to enjoy a cup of coffee at the Monon Coffee Company before we headed home. Rooster was sure we’d never been there before. It turns out we’d visited the place and did some writing there sometime last winter. The second visit was even better than the first. I highly recommend this coffee shop and the Broad Ripple community. There is always something interesting happening there. Once we left the coffee shop, it was time for us to head back to 2019. It was a nice adventure into the past, but the present was calling our names.
Who is Molly Shea?
Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana, who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh. To read more of her short stories and adventures click here.
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