Like The Song Says, the Livin’ is Easy

Summertime, and the living is easy, according to Porgy and Bess and Mr. Gershwin.

For the regular 20 to 30 (my numbers are skyrocketing!) who read these scribbles, you may recall that I hate cold and love summer. So the other day, while happily sweating under a hot July sun, I was daydreaming about how good life can be . . . and truth to tell, it’s not bad. Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s not popular to think that way. We’re supposed to be all up in arms with the latest drama and mean-spirited vitriol.

Sorry. I’m switching gears. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite things about right here in good, ol’ Hamilton County US of A.

Downtown. I love downtown Noblesville. From back in the ‘70s when we used to cruise from Jim Dandy to the east to Pizza Hut to the west. Back and forth, over and over. Everyone in the car tossed in a buck for gas (which was thirty-some cents a gallon) and we were good for the whole night. On the rare occasions we were not, we sat on the small concrete wall that runs around the courthouse and watched the world go by.

Courthouse. How can a building mean something? I don’t know, but it does. Seeing that courthouse always means home to me. For a journalist with worn-out Weejuns who has lived from one coast to the other, that courthouse looked better every time I saw it. True story, a few years ago for Christmas I asked my very talented art teacher / artist daughter for a painting of our courthouse. I proudly have that in my possession today.

Growth. Speaking of back in the ‘70s, the Noblesville Daily Ledger ran an editorial cartoon of a bulging Hamilton County with the caption – I’m really busting at the seams. It was the first time Hamilton County was ranked as the fastest growing county in the state. Still have it in a frame in my office. A lot of us who have moved away have talked about how growing up in Noblesville during that time helped us a lot. I’m not sure how to describe that really, and I’m way too cheap to pay someone to let me sit on their couch and figure it out. But we came from a small town that had big ideas. Somehow that helped us.

Small towns. OK Fishers and Carmel used to be on that list; not so much anymore. Ditto Westfield. But places like Sheridan, Arcadia, Cicero, Atlanta that help make up Hamilton County’s nearly 400,000 people are a gem. Yes, I will hate school consolidations that took much luster away from many small communities. But they are still great places to visit, or if you’re really lucky, to live. Wouldn’t a lot of us say the world is moving too fast, and perhaps not always headed to the best place? That never seems true in Sheridan or Arcadia.

Music. We’ve listened to some great music here, haven’t we? Of course we have multiple festivals and events – including Deer Creek, uh, Klipsch, er, Ruoff Music Center that brings in world-class shows. But we are home to Steve Wariner, country & western superstar and one of only 75 current living members of the Grand Ole Opry. Think about that. There are only 75 members in the entire world and one of them comes from right here in Nob City. How cool is that.

High schools. No, this is different than the small towns because this involves the big boys as well. And when it comes to Indiana, who has more big’uns than good, ol’ Hamilton County. From my alma mater – Go Millers – to Carmel to HSE, to Fishers and now Westfield, we have the best of the best. Conversely, Sheridan has historically shown us what state championships are all about as well. When’s the last time Hamilton County did not win a high school state championship? About half a century ago. How many counties can say that?

Summetime, and the living is easy . . . especially in God’s country

Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically in The Times. Timmons is the chief executive officer of Sagamore News Media, the company that owns The Noblesville Times. He is also a proud Noblesville High School graduate and can be contacted at ttimmons@thetimes24-7.com.