A long, long time ago, probably before Findlay’s gas boom of the 1880’s and definitely before I went to college there…
…the back end of the city’s development was marked by Back Street.
But now that the city has gone through so much in its 200 years (Happy Bicentennial!) and it has grown long beyond Back Street (now called West Sandusky Street)…
…the Hancock Historical Museum can get together…
…and celebrate those earlier days through a festival.
The festival did what it could to bring history back…
…thanks to the showing of really old bikes…
…really old motorcycles…
…and a lot of really old cars…
…many of which where fun to admire.
Time even turned back long before Findlay’s history…
…thanks to photographer Jon Stealey…
…who replicated Thomas Jefferson’s Camera Obscura…
…and even created a free-standing one in that tent…
…where this white disk…
…became a screen revealing outside activity.
Festival activities were much more modern…
…with a jump house for the wee ones…
…face and nail painting for the slightly older tykes…
…and a free walking tour for adults.
The tour led you down the once-opulent Back Street…
…and helped you imagine how big people lived during the gas boom of the past…
…while reminding you that things weren’t so opulent today.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Back Street Festival was the museum’s way of raising funds for operations…
…because even though they sold Dietsch‘s ice cream floats (hosted by Univ. of Findlay)…
…the only other food (a chicken dinner) served here…
…was obtained though by pre-sale tickets.
And when you add this to the raffle…
…museum admission…
…and open gift shop…
…it made me think that the museum didn’t only have the past in mind…
…they were also planning for their future.