A couple of friends are gone!
On Thursday, I rode by the City Market Place near my parents' home in Palm Coast. During my past few visits to PC, I've stopped by the Market Place to see an old friend:
but I found this:
an empty lot where they "rode"!
I am trying to find out what happened to Wes Cackler's "The Race". I'm guessing--and sort of hoping--that it was knocked down in recent storms and will be reinstalled on that same site, or somewhere else.
During the past seven years, I've come to Palm Coast, Florida a dozen or so times. On each trip here, I've done a few bike rides. As a result, I've seen much of this town and its surrounding area.
One of the few places I've never explored is The City Marketplace. There's a good reason for that: From the road, it's completely nondescript and half of its offices and stores seem to be vacant at any given moment. Today, after the rains let up and I had lunch with a friend of my mother's, I took a short ride. I passed the Marketplace and took a detour through the parking lot behind it, which I had never before seen. A surprise awaited me:
This is Wes Cackler's "The Race", installed for the Gargiulo Foundation's bike and poetry show in June 2012. (I wish I'd known about that!) The photo was taken when the show opened.
Of course, no bike--or human--remains in "showroom condition" for very long, especially if left outdoors in Florida rain and humidity:
Part of the reason for that is, as you might expect, the town has practically no arts budget, and ten different organizations share what little money is allocated. The irony is that the bicycle sculptures are in such a sorry state (and the sign in front of it has faded as well as rusted, rendering it unreadable) in a place with an extensive network of bike lanes.
Does anyone make Gore-Tex bike shoes?
Who needs gloves?
Looks like the chain needs replacing, though!
