By Joe Bullick

This month was named for Augustus Caesar.  At one time this month was known by the Anglo-Saxon name of weod-monath, or “weed month,” which seems very appropriate to me, as I’ve often had to take care of a garden, keep it free
of weeds.

If you were born between July 23 and August 22, your zodiac sign is Leo.  Your birthstone is peridot and your flower the poppy.  As a boy, I realized that by the time the middle of the month arrived, summer was changing. The nights became cooler and there was a shift in the quality of the light.  At night the crickets took over, reminding us not to take these summer days for granted. 

My dad always liked August and we went to a lot of baseball games during the month.  We also visited many of the local clubs, which in those days offered good Sunday meals.  We went to the German Club on the North Side; they always had a great band playing and served plenty of beer. 

West View Park was always a great place to go to on a Sunday.  It was sad when it closed in it closed in 1977.  The park opened in 1906 by the great roller coaster builder T. M. Harton.  By the 1960s, it had grown into one of the country’s largest amusement parks.  However, it started to decline in the 70s.  In 1973, a fire destroyed its famous ballroom, Dance Land, which hosted many fine musical groups.  As Kennywood increased in popularity, West View Park could no longer hold on and closed.  It sat shuttered until 1980, when it was leveled for a shopping center. 

I have great memories of the park.  For we kids who lived in the country, we could “thumb” and get there in no time.  Kennywood was just too far for us. 
Many things have happened in August.  Musician Louis Armstrong was born.  I can still hear him singing Hello Dolly.  A man that I love, journalist Ernie Pyle was born in August.  He wrote exceptional stories during World War II.  It was in August that the Brooklyn Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals tried using a yellow baseball for better visibility.  That happened August 2, 1938.  If you are a basketball fan, you may be interested to note that the National Basketball Association was formed on August 3, 1949. 

I hope you enjoy these dwindling summer days.  I leave you with some old sayings:  “If the first week in August is unusually warm, the winter will be white and long” and “Hard work spotlights the character of people.  Some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses and some don’t turn up at all.”

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Joe welcomes any ideas, suggestions or interesting stories.
Email him at northcon@nauticom.net. Please put "Town Crier" in the subject line of your email.

To contact Joe to schedule an appointment to tour his museum at McKnight Elementary School, call the Northern Connection office at (724) 940-2444 or email northcon@nauticom.net. Please put "Museum Tour" in the subject line.

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