Mondays with Mike: Sunday in the park

A view of the park from our unit. The trees at the top are hiding the fountain.

When we moved into our condo in Chicago’s Printers Row neighborhood in 2004, there was a mangy little parking lot just to the south of our building, immediately below our window. But a mangy little parking lot was OK. Some of our neighbors bought a place with a view only to have it blocked by new hi-rises. Before we moved here, some developers had proposed a hi-rise on that space, but a group of committed neighborhood residents fought it and won. As a result, our unit still has a nice little view.

In 2009, the Chicago Park District, which bought the mangy lot, combined it with a tiny little plaza to the south that was the site of a decorative fountain. The result: Printers Row Park. In fact, it’s more of a plaza. It’s got benches and a little green space and some greenery and its landscape architecture is a clever homage to the days when the neighborhood was home to printers and adjunct businesses. Plus, the Park District refurbished the fountain—which had seen better days, and that alone was quite an improvement.

The park has always been a welcome addition–on Saturdays in spring, summer and fall, it’s the home of a farmers market. Beth and I have always been regulars at the market, but otherwise, she and I mostly walked by it rather than stop and sit and use it.

Until the pandemic lockdown. Then it became an oasis for us and our friends. With camp chairs and portable tables and maybe a festive beverage or two (it’s technically not allowed in parks), we’d gather for outdoor get togethers. We weren’t alone—groups regularly gathered with lawn chairs—it was a social oasis.

The fountain.

It didn’t stop when winter arrived—more than once we put our down jackets on to meet with friends at the park.

If we got one good thing out of the pandemic, it was a change in habit. Now we regularly use the park for get togethers. For some of us, that’s out of necessity. Two couples have to essentially act as if the lockdown is still on. One friend has two transplanted lungs and a transplanted kidney. He’s vaccinated, but vaccines are less effective in folks like him who take immunosuppressants. The stakes are high, so he and his wife have to be more careful than the likes of me a Beth.

Same goes for another friend, who is being treated for cancer, and her husband.

With very specific exceptions, we only see these people outdoors, and the park is a godsend. Last night was a summer potluck with a gourmet green bean salad, a caprese salad, fresh fruit, cheese, and salami.

Oh, and wine.

Beth was pouring herself a glass of white when one of our friends said, “Uh oh. There are two cops headed straight toward us.”

Beth said out loud, “Oh, I gotta put this away quick…”. As she scrambled to put the bottle back into her bag, one of the officers, a barrel-chested guy, said, quietly, “Not quick enough.” (He seemed to get a chuckle out of it.) But he and his partner walked right by us toward a group of kids who were doing skateboarding tricks on a ramp they’d set up. They were videotaping each other’s feats. The cops politely broke it up. (Lest you think it was heavy handed, there’s a very cool skateboarding park nearby. And the kids use one of the benches as a prop, scraping it up.)

As they walked past us back to their cruiser, the same cop said, “You’re gotta to be quicker next time,” with a smile on his face, and they got in and drove away.

P.S. The Printers Row Fountain needs another round of cosmetic and mechanical restoration. The Printers Row Park Advisory Council, a group of local citizens, is raising money to help with the costs. If you’re a local, or if you just like fountains, you can chip in here.