God Bless the Soles

 June 8, 2022

Today I GET to visit a childhood favorite of mine Riverside Community Park in Greenville, PA. This tableau is named "God bless the soles left behind" and was inspired by the fact that I saw many shoes left behind throughout the park (odd, I know, right!).

There is a kayaking company, Carried Away Outfitters, within the park, and I noticed water shoes left behind near their home base which is understandable, but I also found child size croc-type shoes by a picnic pavilion. Although it is my policy to take out the garbage I find, I did leave all these "soles" where I found them. My justification was... what if the owners came back for them? My son once left a very expensive pair of cleats at a park and when I returned, they were gone. Who knows? someone may return for these "poor soles". I have used some filters to give them a life beyond abandonment (Can't help it... I felt sorry for them).

When you enter the park, you enter through an arch that was renovated in 2009. I am so glad to see it kept its charm and was not completely replaced. 

Growing up, I lived not even a mile from the park. I would come here, swim, hangout and go to the Rec Center which has been repurposed since then. I attended kids day camps, was a counselor for one year,
and attended my High School Senior Party there, so you can see I have a lot of ties to this park! I would take this path (definitely the road less traveled then which is much more traveled now). 

One of the other major changes is the renovation of the amphitheater of which I have many more childhood memories. This public theater made of stone is FANTASTIC. It now has a "real" covered stage (believe me that was not the case growing up). The stone stairs/seating has been repaired, but again (kudos to the park), they retained the rustic, original beauty.

When I moved on to the playground, I saw many, many more improvements. When I used to play on the playground, we were greeted with rusty swings (I have my tentanus shot, right?), aluminum slides that could melt butter (and "buns"), and a sandbox that many animals found to be a pleasant litter box! It is now a fully upgraded and safe playground. Some of the playground features are sponsored by local businesses which are also replicas (okay, replica is a strong word) of them. I know the owners of Fresh Grounds (high school friends and fellow church youth group members).

In addition, the park has many ball fields for community sports. I didn't take any photos of those. They were working on the lower and upper fields at the time, but they are, well, ball fields. The other feature which is absolutely awesome is the nature trail. I spent a lot of time growing up on the trails, but I did not GET to take any hikes on this visit (This was a spontaneous GET, so I didn't have the right shoes. Ironic, I know, since some people left theirs behind). Even if you don't want to go for a hike, the view of Little Shenango is fantastic.

I met two couples coming off the trail that allowed me to document their day with a photo, which I sent to them via email. I discovered it is hard for people to believe that I don't have an ulterior motive (thank you 2022) for taking their photo except to share the memory with them (for free - all memories should be free). If I did happen to run into you on this day, let me assure you this is what I do... nothing more. And to those two young couples, thank you for letting me give you a piece of your day which wasn't a selfie!

The last thing I would like to document is the wildlife that you can see scurrying about the park. If you know me or have read my posts, you know I have an unusual fascination (complicated) with squirrels. Squirrels, birds, geese and butterflies were aplenty on my visit. Here are some of my squirrel favs! I have added some filters to my furry "friends".

I tried to get a pic of the geese, but unless I make some money at this hobby, I am stuck with my non-telephoto lens, so they were not so cooperative the closer I got. My only comment about the geese (except don't get too close - they can be mean) is watch out for poop! I thought it was ironic there were lots of signs reminding you to clean up after your dog. My question is... who is going to clean up after the geese?

Overall, this park is extremely clean and very relaxing! If you visit (which is open to the public), please pick up after yourself. There are many trash receptacles around, so you don't have to go far to throw away your trash. The trash featured in my tabelau was mainly from parking lots and at one of the pavilions (they had McDonald's, chicken, Wrigley's gum, and some confetti). Even with the few remnants left behind, it was very, very clean! You can contact the park to reserve a pavilion for your next event or just spend the day hanging out enjoying all the wonderful benches, playground, scenes, wildlife, and of course, the Little Shenango. 

And, if you happen to see a woman with a camera who wants to take your picture and email it to you, she just wants to give you a FREE photo to help you document your day at Riverside Park!