Tipp Talk – December 15

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From Greg Enslen.com:

Events, activities and other hometown items going on in and around Tipp City, Ohio

By Greg Enslen

Downtown Partnership Seeks Ideas and Input

The Downtown Tipp City Partnership, a group of business owners, government officials, and residents interested in promoting our downtown, will be holding their regular monthly meeting next Tuesday morning, December 21, at 9 am at the Tipp Monroe Community Services building.

The DTCP is looking for input and suggestions as they plan a series of events for the spring months in Tipp City.  If you have ideas or just want to get involved in a great organization that sponsors programs such as the Tippecanoe Canal Jumpers, Tippecanoe HarvestFest, and the Facade Improvement Program, please drop by.  We love guests and welcome any new faces!

Chamber of Commerce Holiday Gala

Even though the weather outside was frightful, folks were all smiles inside Club 55 last week as the Tipp City Chamber held their Holiday Gala on Wednesday, December 1. Business owners and local residents gathered to celebrate another year in the Miami Valley and to honor the accomplishments of several local businesses who had done outstanding work in the past year.

For Small Business of the Year, the winner was Tipp Cyclery, located at 122 West Main. If you haven’t had a chance to visit this great little shop, take a minute to drop by and peruse their excellent selection of bikes and bike accessories.  We’ve bought bikes from the shop for every member of the family except for Katie, and she’s only a year old. Her turn will come soon enough.  Ezio and Carol Miconi also run a great bike repair business—we’ve have many flat tires and squeaky breaks repaired there.

My friend and co-host of the Get Social Show, Mike McDermott, won the award for Young Professional of the Year for his outstanding work both in the community and with his fledgling and Tipp City business, Bash Foo.  Mike specializes in social media, websites, and search engine optimizations. In other words, he helps businesses develop new and improved websites, and helps them get involved in social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  Business of the Year went to Hickory River Grille. I can’t tell you how many great meals I’ve enjoyed there, so it’s nice to see them getting the recognition they deserve—both for their strong business and for their involvement in the community.

With that in mind, I’m going to take a moment to remind folks that we need to support our local businesses—and not just with awards, though the recognition is great.  If we want our businesses, large and small, to remain successful and stay in our town, we need to support them with our dollars every chance we can.

Christmas in the Village and Holiday Home Tour

A dusting of snow greeted visitors to Tipp City’s Christmas in the Village celebration, making the December 4 series of holiday activities even more festive for the estimated 800 guests.  I was checking out all the pictures on Facebook and was a little saddened that I missed the big event—it looked like a blast!

From what I hear, the houses on the tour, all located on First Street, were decorated beautifully, and musicians on many different instruments, including handbells, violins, guitars, dulcimers, harps, and fiddles performed at the Hotel Gallery and in some of the homes. The Hotel Gallery also displayed a collection of gingerbread houses—cute!

Downtown, shops and restaurants were decorated for the holidays and holding sales and specials. On Friday night, Mayor Dee Gillis turned on the lights on the community Christmas Tree in front of the Zion Lutheran Church downtown. Afterward, the Tipp City Community Band performed in the church.

Planning for Tippecanoe Christmas in the Village had been going on for months by a team of volunteers led by Heather Bailey, and each person handled specific details of the event, including homeowner relations, tickets, entertainment, and flair. Sam’s sister was part of the team that helped homeowners decorate—sounds like one of the best volunteer jobs ever! Money raised from this event went to support the TMCS and the DTCP’s façade improvement program, which helps rehabilitate or improve building facades in the downtown historical district.

Heather says that in future years, they’ll try to continue the pattern of grouping the houses on the tour as close together as possible, as they did this year. Sounds like making the tour more easily walkable was a huge success—kudos to everyone who worked on this project.  Great job!

“Tippi-Leaks”

Should I change the name of this column to “Tippi-Leaks?”  With all the hubbub surrounding the latest Wiki-leaks release of classified information related to the U.S. State Department and embassies, it seems that gossip columns are finally here to stay.  I wonder—is anyone out there in Tipp sitting on some explosive secrets that would blow this town wide open?  There are some serious questions that I’d like to know the answers to, such as:

  • After the flood of 1913, why didn’t they rebuild the half of Tipp City east of the canal that was destroyed? Was there some kind of conspiracy?
  • What happened to the mailboxes downtown at Third and Main, where used to drop off outgoing mail?
  • How much longer before the town can finally get back to being called “Tippecanoe?”
  • What color is the very top of the Tipp City water tower?
  • What is that thing that lives in the sewer under the United Methodist Church? An opossum?
  • What do they put in the French Toast at Tipp of the Town to make it so tasty? Is the substance addictive?
  • What happened to the sandpit and the silver slide at the City Park? Were they taken by aliens? Were they looking to seize our advanced sand-crane technology?
  • Why is the Roundhouse at City Park called “round,” when it’s actually hexagonal? Was the term “Hexhouse” too creepy?
  • I heard they serve mead with every meal at SpringMeade. Could that be true?

I’m hoping some investigative reporter out there can uncover some of these Tipp City mysteries and send along the information to me.  Your identity will be protected . . .

Hear something interesting for “Tipp Talk”? Visit my website at www.gregenslen.com and use the “Contact Me” page to let me know what you’re thinking.  And don’t worry – I won’t quote you unless you want me to!