Last Thursday was the first Thursday in June. That means it was the first Sounds & Sights of 2015! The beautiful weather brought a cheerful crowd to downtown Chelsea.
Once again, Thursdays in June are featuring comedy on the library lawn.
Perennial crowd favorite Creole du Nord was on South Street.
The kids in the crowd were having fun dancing to Creole du Nord’s music.
One of the major attractions of Sounds & Sights is the deliciously portable offering from Smokehouse 52: the Piggy Parfait.
The Monitor Base Ball Club opened its 2015 home schedule by welcoming Northville to town.
In the above photo it looks like it was raining. That’s not rain in the air. That’s spring in the air.
Northville has fun hats!
Vintage base ball is back! The Monitors started their 2015 season with a trip to Port Huron (alternate name: Almost Canada).
Before we headed to the match, we made a quick stop at a park to enjoy the view of the water and (a tiny bit of) Canada.
On to the match!
What do you do when you score a run? You ring the bell!
Live music at the Chelsea Alehouse is always fun!
In 2014 I took a few photos of some stuff. Let’s take a look at some of the photographic highlights!
Winter on Main Street (2 January)
Snow accumulation on a Park Street bench (2 January)
Snow-covered bushes on Jackson Street (2 January)
Chelsea girls basketball (10 January)
Chelsea boys basketball (10 January)
Chelsea boys basketball (10 January)
Chelsea hockey (14 January)
Chelsea hockey (14 January)
Chelsea hockey (14 January)
Chelsea girls basketball (17 January)
Chelsea basketball student section (17 January)
Chelsea Chiefs youth hockey exhibition between periods of a Chelsea varsity hockey game (22 January)
Chelsea held its Christmas celebration a couple weeks ago. In contrast to those of the past few years, the 2014 events were not held in frigid temperatures and snowstorms — a welcome change for my fingers!
Friday’s fun kicked off with the tree lighting ceremony.
A choir from CHS led the crowd in a few Christmas songs…
…the fair queen threw the switch to light the tree…
…and then some guy with a lot of facial hair and a distinct fashion sense showed up to address the crowd.
After the tree lighting ceremony, the Common Chords bell choir played its annual show at the Chelsea Library.
They always draw a good crowd.
On a beautiful fall afternoon, the Merries closed out their season with a trip to Detroit.
The Merries’ earlier trip to the city had taken them to historic Fort Wayne, but this trip took them to a different historical site: Navin Field, the site of Tiger Stadium. (You may recall the Monitors played at Navin last year.) The stadium has been gone for years, but the field is still maintained by the Navin Field Grounds Crew, an industrious volunteer group that keeps the legendary field playable and open to all.
The site wasn’t the only notable aspect of this match. For the 2014 season, there were three ladies’ vintage base ball clubs in the state of Michigan — Detroit, Chelsea, and Benton Harbor — and because two of the three clubs were started this year, this was the first time they were all together! The clubs introduced themselves to the crowd and got the match started.
(L to R: the Lil Fillies of Benton Harbor, the Detroit River Belles, and the Merries of Chelsea.)
Both the Monitors and the Merries had a busy day on this Saturday back in August: after walking in the Chelsea fair parade, they each played a match. The Merries played the River Belles and the Monitors played the Early Risers, both from Detroit. (You may recall these clubs from Chelsea’s visit to Detroit’s Fort Wayne early in the summer.)
The Merries started the doubleheader.
Before the Chelsea fair parade takes over Main Street, the Run for the Rolls sends runners of all ages on a one-mile route from downtown Chelsea to the fairgrounds. It’s a great part of a festive day in Chelsea: the run raises money for local organizations, the runners get to enjoy support from the large crowd gathered for the fair parade, and the winner of each age group receives (DELICIOUS) rolls from the Common Grill.
This runner decided to have a little fun:
The Run for the Rolls attracts participants of all ages.
The run even includes a few passengers!
The Monitor Base Ball Club of Chelsea traveled to Flint to play the Lumber City Base Ball Club. The trip marked two firsts: it was the first time Chelsea had played in Flint, and it was the first time the Monitor roster included a thoroughly bearded gentleman who goes by the name Stagecoach.
The Monitors brought an enthusiastic crowd with them to Flint. One was both vocal and musical in her support.
The umpire had a megaphone so the crowd could hear him.
If you’re wondering why he’s not speaking into the megaphone…well, it’s not the megaphone that was important. They set up a loudspeaker, and the megaphone had a microphone in it. He used the system to call out the names of the strikers as they went up to bat and to explain the rules when they differed from modern baseball.
The Monitors struck first, and they put up three runs.
Here’s Stagecoach in his first action with the Monitors:
One of the best ways to look like you belong on a vintage base ball team is to have a beard like that!
Three runs seemed like a good start…until Flint put up 12 in the bottom of the first. It was a rough half inning!
Things didn’t look good for the Monitors after the first, but they kept hitting well. How well? They scored at least three runs in six of the first seven innings, including nine runs in the sixth! Not only that, but the defense recovered and held Flint to only one more run through five innings, at which point the Monitors had gained a lead they wouldn’t surrender.
As with most vintage base ball matches, there were some humorous moments. Here’s the aftermath of one:
They got tangled up on a play at first and ended up on the ground in a heap, accompanied by plenty of laughter. As I recall, the Monitor base runner — Caveman — was safe.
On one play, Stagecoach established himself on third just before the third baseman could corral the ball.
The Monitors ended up with a big 35-23 victory!
Huzzah!
When the teams were gathering for the postgame photo, Pepperbox tried to turn the tables on me. I was ready.
If you’re in the Chelsea area and you’d like to see just how much fun a Monitors match can be, you have one more chance this season! The Monitors will be playing their final home match of 2014 this Sunday, September 14 at 2pm at Timbertown. Join us for a fun afternoon of base ball!
