The Valleyist Papers
A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS WRITTEN IN FAVOUR OF THE IMPROVEMENT OF STEPHENS VALLEY
Author – William Ray
Edition 3. Issue 08.
Easter Egg (or Lagniappe) Walks About SV
We’ve said some of this before, but now we are saying it again. SV is purposefully designed to be a pedestrian-centric community. The sidewalks, the walking trails, the amenities, the architecture of the homes, which mostly include spacious front and side porches, all are there to encourage interaction between the residents which leads to deep friendships and rewarding relationships. Now, what can we do better to see that this vision comes to fruition?
The much balleyhooed SV Town Center would be a big reason for more people to exit their homes through the front door and walk to retail shops, but, well, the residents have zero power to bring the Town Center to reality. We are dependent on Rochford Realty and Construction for that incentive. However, there are other ways to get more people out on the sidewalks – things we can do on our own, without counting on the developers.
We all know what a conventional Easter egg is, but we aren’t talking about an annual event for children. Outside of the conventional Christian meaning, another kind of easter egg is the occasional special gift, joke, message, and other items intentionally hidden in various media. Couldn’t that media include our sidewalks and front porches? Many SV residents are from Cajun country. To them, a special gift, or a little something extra, is known as lagniappe. For this discussion, it seems okay to use easter egg and lagniappe interchangeably. What we are suggesting is that more SV pedestrians would show up during the witching hour, just before sunset, if there were the prospect of lagniappe along the way.
Easter eggs are already being offered along the sidewalks in front of our homes. Water bowls for the friendly dogs going by – that's an easter egg. Dog treats being offered by nice residents sitting on their porches waiting for nice dogs to come by – that's lagniappe. Making a fresh batch of cookies and offering them as treats to the nice humans coming by, that would qualify as an easter egg too. Then there is music. There are already a couple of residents who come out on their front porch, or balcony, and play music for the enjoyment (well maybe sometimes it sounds more like an annoyance) of the residents walking by. That’s lagniappe in my book. There is soon to be a little library installed somewhere along our sidewalks, and a little library is certainly an easter egg! Speaking of books, someone who is a big poetry fan might decide to conduct dramatic readings of their favorite passages from their front porch too. That would certainly be an easter egg!
Would you see an evening walk around the neighborhood in a more positive light if there were the prospect of finding an easter egg? Surely, we all would, so let's amp up our efforts to provide some lagniappe for our neighbors! We can do this.
We have hardly scratched the surface of what we might do to create easter egg walks through SV. The more we get residents out walking, talking, seeing, and learning about the other residents, the more we are all going to do our part toward realizing the dream of what SV can mean to us all. For my part, I’ll just quote John Sebastian, from an easter egg heard recently from a SV front porch...
“Well, there's sixteen thousand eight hundred 'n' twenty oneMothers from NashvilleAll their friends play music, and they ain't uptightIf one of the kids willBecause it's custom made for any mothers sonTo be a guitar picker in NashvilleAnd I sure am glad I got a chance to say a word aboutThe music and the mothers from Nashville.”
Now that we know more about creating easter egg walks through SV, here is the updated list of upcoming cool regional events:
July 27 Bluegrass Along the Harpeth Downtown Franklin Square
August 7 John Fogarty First Bank Ampitheater
August 14 Lovin’ Spoonful Franklin Theater
August 16 Full Moon Picking Party https://warnerparks.org/events/category/benefit-events/full-moon-pickin-party/
August 23 - 25 Cheekwood Songwriters Under the Stars https://cheekwood.org/calendar-events/songwriters-under-the-stars/
August 24 Apple Pie Festival At The Little Red Orchard Apple Pie Festival - Rickman, TN (stepoutside.org)
August 24 Chicago Tribute Show Williamson County Performing Arts Center
August 25 Songs of 74 Show Franklin Theater
September 6 Bluegrass Under the Stars with Sam Bush Cheekwood https://cheekwood.org/calendar-events/bluegrass-under-the-stars/
September 7 Middle Tennessee Fried Pickle Festival https://allevents.in/murfreesboro/200025664344834?ref=sharer
September 6 Cheekwood Bluegrass Under the Stars
There are a lot more, but the links get a little iffy, further out than this. Stay tuned to upcoming issues of The Valleyist for updates to the list of entertainment opportunities right here in our state and neighborhood!
.jpg)