New Bloomington business: Era Vintage Photos invites downtown visitors to dress up for fun

From left: Madison Morgan, Cayla Cloke, Ashley Barron, and Rynn Zimmerman of Era Vintage Photos.

From left: Madison Morgan and Rynn Zimmerman, who work for Era Vintage Photos.

Cayla Cloke, owner of Era Vintage Photos.

Hours of operation for Era Vintage Photos on Walnut Street in downtown Bloomington.

Looking east across Walnut Street. The red arrow points to the Era Vintage Photos storefront. The image is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.

At 6th and Walnut streets in downtown Bloomington, the storefront next to the old Subway sandwich shop is no longer shuttered.

Tuesday was opening day for Cayla Cloke’s new photography-based business called Era Vintage Photos.

On Tuesday afternoon, employees Madison Morgan and Rynn Zimmerman sauntered about on the sidewalk, modeling some fancy renaissance attire and Old West garb, talking to passers-by about the new business.

Cloke told The B Square it’s not just the photographic prints she’s selling—it’s the experience of dressing up in clothes from a different era, and maybe in a whole different guise. “We encourage gender swapping,” Cloke said. She continued, “We also include all sizes, all orientations—you can mix and match how you want.”

For visitors who might feel more comfortable as fairies, Era Vintage Photos has pointy ears on hand: “We don’t just do humans, we also do fae folk as well,” Cloke said. Continue reading “New Bloomington business: Era Vintage Photos invites downtown visitors to dress up for fun” →

Photos: Measuring out the Alexander Memorial, as new panels get installed

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Work on the restoration of the Alexander Memorial at the southeast corner of the courthouse square continues.

On Thursday morning (April 21), the first of the newly milled limestone panels were put into place by the crew from Wells Masonry.

It is tedious work. The tolerances are small, and the stone is heavy.

The rounded corner panels weigh around 1,400 pounds. The square center panels weigh about 3,500 pounds.

On Thursday, two of the rounded corner panels were installed. Two more remain. Between the corner panels, four square panels will be installed. Based on the pace of Thursday’s work, the installation of the remaining new panels will take at least another week.

The 35-foot-tall Alexander Memorial was built in 1928 to honor Monroe County’s veterans of all wars. Continue reading “Photos: Measuring out the Alexander Memorial, as new panels get installed” →

Midnight work on courthouse square part of routine meter upgrade by Bloomington utilities

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When a city of Bloomington utilities (CBU) crew is out around midnight busting up a street with heavy equipment, it often means there’s been a water main break.

But on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, it was some routine updates that brought the CBU crew out to the west side of the courthouse square on College Avenue.

According to workers on the scene, confirmed on Wednesday morning by CBU communications manager Holly McLauchlin, Tuesday night’s project involved upgrading the water service to the building on that side of the square. Continue reading “Midnight work on courthouse square part of routine meter upgrade by Bloomington utilities” →

Column | The calculus of a great local business: Function Brewing changes owners

I will miss Steve and Arlyn Llewelyn as owners of Function Brewing.

A pint of Theorem at Function Brewing on Jan. 14, 2022.

It’s the brewpub downstairs from my 6th Street apartment in downtown Bloomington, Indiana.

They have sold the business to Endeavor Hospitality Group, a Bloomington firm that owns several other local restaurants.

Sadie Clark, director of operations at Endeavor, confirmed the acquisition in an email to The B Square on Wednesday.

Function Brewing joins Southern Stone, Grazie Italiano, Garnish Catering, Underground Bakery, The Owlery, Feast, Market and Cellar, The Fresh Fork, The Court Room, Beaumont House, and Wagon Wheel Meats as part of the family of businesses that Endeavor has acquired.

On Friday, the official publicity came in the form of a personal message from Steve and Arlyn on the brewery’s Facebook Page.

Steve and Arlyn launched the brewery in 2014, right around this time of year. Their message posted on Friday reflected on those eight years: “The last eight years have been full of joy but also deeply exhausting. Owning a business is hard; and this past year, in particular, has been brutally hard. Honestly, we just couldn’t do it any longer.”

About the new owners, the message adds, “We are thrilled and relieved to hand off our business to a local company with more energy and resources than we have, that can take our little brewery and grow it in ways that we could only imagine.”

What is great about Function Brewing? For one thing Steve brews great beer.

But I am not an aficionado of beer—I cannot tell you the difference between a stout, an ale, a lager or a porter. I had to look up “kinds of beer” on the internet in order to type out that list. Continue reading “Column | The calculus of a great local business: Function Brewing changes owners” →

Column: “Every song’s a piano tune!”

On Friday evening, towards dusk, on the northeast corner of the courthouse square, Kid Kazooey was tickling the keys of a console piano and Ross Martinie Eiler was brushing out the rhythm on a snare drum.

Playing a set a bit earlier was Eiler’s trio, Martini’s Boogie Three, which adds a saxophone to the mix

I take it as an unmistakable sign that the pandemic is waning: Busking near the corner of Walnut and 6th in downtown Bloomington has returned. I can hear it from my apartment a half block east on 6th Street.

Earlier in the week, two young men, one on banjo and the other on guitar, launched into their rendition of “Folsom Prison Blues.” It’s the Johnny Cash tune that starts: “I hear the train a comin’, it’s rolling round the bend / And I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when.” Continue reading “Column: “Every song’s a piano tune!”” →

Square Meals: Cooper’s hawk snacks in downtown Bloomington

For a couple hours Saturday morning, a winged creature as big as maybe five robins smooshed together into a single bird perched on a branch outside the window of The Square Beacon’s headquarters on 6th Street in downtown Bloomington.

Cooper’s hawk on 6th Street in downtown Bloomington on Jan. 16, 2021. (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)

Even though its leaves have been dropped for the season, the city of Bloomington’s tree inventory makes the tree easy to identify as a littleleaf linden.

The bird was identified by reliable sources on internet social media as a Cooper’s hawk.

After a while, the hawk began feeding on what looked like a small songbird it had brought along as a snack.

If the hawk had chosen a tree just a half block west, where the streets make a regular four-sided polygon around the county courthouse, the songbird could have counted as a square meal. Continue reading “Square Meals: Cooper’s hawk snacks in downtown Bloomington” →

Woman arrested as driver of car that injured two people after Monday’s demonstration against racism

Two people were injured by the driver of a car after an anti-racism demonstration that took place on the courthouse square in downtown Bloomington on Monday night.

Booking Photo — Booking photo for Christi Bennett, who was arrested for three alleged offenses in connection with the injuries to two people after an anti-racism demonstration Monday night.

In separate press releases on Thursday morning, the city of Bloomington and Bloomington Police Department (BPD) announced that 66-year-old Christi Bennett of Scottsburg, Indiana, has been arrested as the driver.

The Monroe County prosecutor’s office told The Square Beacon late Thursday morning that information on charges is expected to be released sometime late afternoon on Thursday.

Bennett was booked on three alleged offenses: criminal recklessness; leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious bodily injury; and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in bodily injury.

What brought out anti-racism demonstrators at 5:30 p.m. on Monday were some events that took place over the weekend. Continue reading “Woman arrested as driver of car that injured two people after Monday’s demonstration against racism” →

Demonstrators call on Bloomington, Monroe County electeds for action, not words on racism

Indiana University professor Amrita Myers

Monroe Democratic Party Chair Jennifer Crossley

On Monday evening at the southeast corner of the Monroe County courthouse in downtown Bloomington, Jennifer Crossley introduced herself to a gathering of around 400 people. She used her community leadership credentials: She’s the chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party.

But she told the group she wasn’t going to talk about that role. “Before I am a leader in this community, I am Black,” she told them.

The demonstration was pulled together on short notice. What brought out demonstrators at 5:30 p.m. on Monday were some events that unfolded over the weekend that showed racism is still deeply rooted in the Bloomington community.

On Sunday, Vauhxx Booker, who is an activist and a member of Monroe County’s human rights commission, posted to Facebook a video showing parts of an incident at Lake Monroe on July 4. The video shows him being held down against a tree trunk by a white man who would not let him go. According to Booker, the man told his comrades several times to “get a noose.”

Signs and chants, “Erika, do your job!” identified one elected official from whom the demonstrators wanted action. They want Monroe County prosecutor Erika Oliphant to prosecute those who assaulted Booker. [Updated at 1:45 p.m. on July 7. The latest word from the prosecutor’s office as of 1:37 p.m. is: “The Indiana Conservation Officers continue to conduct interviews and collect evidence related to this case. They have been providing us with regular updates on the progress of their investigation. We anticipate receiving the case soon. As soon as that happens, we will thoroughly review all of it and determine what charges are appropriate.”] Continue reading “Demonstrators call on Bloomington, Monroe County electeds for action, not words on racism” →

Photos: “Enough is Enough”

On Friday, June 5, 2020, a peaceful protest against police brutality, organized by Black student leaders at Indiana University, wound its way from Dunn Meadow westward to the courthouse square. Demonstrators numbered in the thousands. Here’s a mosaic of images from the event, which was promoted with the slogan “Enough is Enough.” (Click on any image to enlarge and start a slideshow through the rest of the images.)

Photos: June 5, 2020

Police killing of Black man in Minneapolis sparks protest in Bloomington, Indiana; march and call for action planned for next week by others

cropped 2020-05-29 protest IMG_1084 — Protesters take a knee in the middle of College Avenue next to the Monroe County jail on Friday evening and observe “seven minutes of silence.” The seven-minute period was chosen to match early media reports of the timespan during which the Minneapolis police officer had pinned his knee on George Floyd’s neck, which killed the 46-year-old Black man. The officer has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)

The killing by Minneapolis police of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, along with other recent police killings of Black men and women, has sparked protests across the country.

Floyd died on May 25 when a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, pinned him down with a knee-on-neck hold, an incident that was caught on video. Chauvin, who is white, has been fired and is now charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Locally, the initial reaction played out in the form of a demonstration Friday evening, when a group of around 150 protesters gathered at the southeast corner of the courthouse square in downtown Bloomington. The gathering looks like it was spurred by a more-or-less impromptu call to action on local social media websites.

Protesters eventually moved one block ~~east~~ west from the intersection near the Alexander Memorial, to the corner anchored by The Tap. They later walked two blocks north. They wrapped up the roughly 90 minutes of protest in the middle of College Avenue, across from the Monroe County jail.

An event scheduled for next Friday, June 5, led by Indiana University Black student leaders Selena Drake and Salina Tesfagiorgis, is planned to start at Dunn Meadow, and make its way to the courthouse. Drake is studying law and public policy. Tesfagiorgis is a masters student at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. Continue reading “Police killing of Black man in Minneapolis sparks protest in Bloomington, Indiana; march and call for action planned for next week by others” →