sidewalk chess anyone !

with 10,000 chess lessons, open evenings, a new entertainment / learning option


welcomes visitors Wednesday sept 5 th , downtown bloomington. 409 n main st



colleykitson@gmail.com

kitson chess academy opens downtown bloomingotn next door to the coffee hound.

tony .. what hours are you going with


colley .. i work full time at sf as a tech analysis, and will be open 5-9 plus weekends.


colley is a fide instructor one of only three in the country. currently colley teaches chess at 6 area schools, such as metcalf.

reachable at 824-5701

colley will offer classes for groups or individuals, 90 minute classes are $10 per student for group lessons.

many fine wood chess boards are on display signed by some of the most famous chess players of our time. colley tells me, bloomington normal has a huge chess player base, and he considers the market to have a very high per ca pita player ratio, even rivaling new york.

million dollar condo downtown bloomington il.

Saturday morning downtown bloomington is coffee club heaven



harry dunham .. heartland college .. reflects on registration.

tony ... harry tell me about heartland, whats going on.

harry .. well we have his and her soccer teams playing games

tony... have they got a locker room.

harry... no, they wont have a locker room for two years.

harry is a regular downtowner on Saturday mornings with a great table full of people that i refer to as the coffee club. meeting on a regular basis at the the coffee hound is a good way to ease into the weekend after a good weeks work. one member comments, computers and credit cards are the worst thing that ever happened to this country, another is enthused with her flower purchase, now a center piece, at our table. harry has his eye on his planned entertainment for later in the day at Peoria's blues fest. and then there is me who shows up asking questions.



tony .. harry what happened at heartland during back to school that was memorable.

harry .. well we did have a super smooth enrollment process this year. we used mentoring assistants to walk around with them that made data and numbers quicker and the whole thing ran more efficiently.

































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downtown bloomington's million dollar penthouse ... vip tour planned for 9/15

public open houses soon after. surely to be announced, stay posted.


Today ward waller is busy showing foot traffic from a very busy farmers market some of the floor plans for condos for sale. with 4 families living in the property, and 3 more in 30 days, ensenberger condos wont be available long. run don't walk, there are still 19 of 28 units available.




tony... how many sq. ft. are in the penthouse.

ward... the million dollar unit is 3200 square feet, and the other one is 1800 s.f., and it is $750k.

tony.. is that finished.

ward ... yes that is turn key ready to live in.





http://www.wallerhomes.com/ , ward@wallerhomes.com, ph. 829-7979. ward is showing by appointment to maintain his showroom hours and coordinate accordingly.












as ward shows floor plans to condo shoppers, some refer to Sarasota's condos that are experiencing prices from $500 to $1,000 per sq. ft. . ward explains parking options to the condo shoppers. ward says they will have 20 spaces next to the building, it is gated i notice. the other parking space needs will be in either of the nearby parking garages.

tony ... didn't you have plans for parking in the basement?

ward ... yes and after support systems were designed the basement roof height was not lending its self to be the best options.


they have a 1450 sf unit priced at 350k and a 800 s.f. unit priced at 180k.

tony ... so your at about $200 per square foot on these units.

ward ... yes that is right.

i will be taking some interior photos of model units hopefully next week. i would think that many other building property owners are holding their breath for the sell out of the wallers condos and calculating their new net worth.

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harold gregor, long an art world superstar. has a store front gallery now for all to enjoy. harold has had national galleries representing his work in Chicago and other major markets for many years. open by appointment or during random openings, wrapping into special events. the community can view many of his works ranging in prices from $2500 to over $30,000 for originals.


















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farmers market goes off bright and early.

downtown barely rests 4 hours, from friday night bar parties to farmers setting up at 5 a.m.

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artist alley leg of farmers market lets the talent out.

amreen khan shows works from her collection as well as representing other artists at many farmers market and artist alley events.

tony ... what is your technique. amreen ..

amreen ... acrylic abstracts.

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loft alert .. front street, contact kellys bakery and cafe

business f/sale .. winnies mens wear is for sale

help wanted .. photographer ... do you have a digital camera and would like to freelance taking some location shots, posed, candid, images reflecting the energy of downtown into the wee hours. let me know. gosaluto@bellsouth.net


coming soon .. a normal resident will be featured on hgtv in october

visualize highland park golf course as homesites.

party patrol , shot on site images, at some of
downtowns high energy late nite hot spots.



your news wanted , e mail info and or pictures to gosaluto@bellsouth.net

your events, dinner specials, music line up, if you got a fresh shipment of glassware i pretty much want to know about it ... gosaluto@bellsouth.net

food fest goes off like a rocket.

food fest turns main st downtown into "great party"




















by anthony saluto

I sat sipping my coffee hound latte, the town’s best, as well the best I’ve had anywhere, ever. While reading my New York Times I watched the Tent Company erecting a rather large tent spanning a good part of the 400 block of North Main Street downtown Bloomington, Saturday morning. It was in fact a beautiful morning. It’s about 8 am. Watching the tent going up inspired me to want to come back and check it out around start time.

So, I decided to take a swing by uptown to check out the Corn Fest. I can’t find parking, and a little hip pain suggests I blow off the shuttle routine and all that. So I am back at downtown and things are ready. Saving my appetite I go directly to Lancaster's for duck wrapped with bacon, I think they were 2 bucks. I love duck. Then a few crab rangoons hit the spot and I head for the tent for a draft.

Not bad, some music, food, familiar faces, I really like the cocktail height black draped stand up tables spread all over under the big tent. I sip a beer with Doug Hanson, can’t wander too far as the beer can’t leave the tent. I guess I can focus on the beer and then the food, and then some more beer. Sounds great.

I pop in on a friend to find myself on beer garden at show time. Now it’s four girls and me. More live music there. Great time of day and the weather was perfect. Ok, back to the tent, with four girls comes a few guys I hadn't seen for awhile. Lots of boomers are giving the food fest a shot. Surely they know all too well, hey let’s go and they will keep doing it. Maybe the timing was right for many who had just situated kids back in classes and felt well deserving of some relaxation and entertainment. And hey you've got to eat. I pretty much closed the place down at 11 pm. Having drank way more beer than I normally would I managed to stumble home my block and half.

















The India folks had their own activities going on too at city square. In brightly colored flowing dress, they had music on another stage and some food too. From what I hear, the organizers are scrambling with ideas on its success to apply to next year’s food fest. That is good news for you, if you missed it. Perhaps by reading about it, you’ll check it out next time.

Next time, or next year, hmm Farmer’s Market is nice but I don't cook. Some would say do this every month or week. Well there are many events in the pipeline, I can’t keep up with them and that's a good thing. Talented hard-working people catching a break is good stuff. So I strolled the hill pretty much from 8 am to 11 pm in downtown Bloomington. Imagine that. Nothing new really I have been doing it since 1995. Live and work downtown, a great lifestyle for singles and families alike.

More people, more money, more revenue flowing all around, is what makes it all go round. for more on participating in downtown events, you should contact: http://www.downtownbloomington.org/



photography copyrighted, anthony saluto , usage and or prints, gosaluto@bellsouth.net
news tips, downtown trivia, gosaluto@bellsoth.net
advertising information: gosaluto@bellsouth.net
Copyright 2007 Anthony Saluto Productions P.O. Box 3425 Bloomington il. 61702
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