Christmas Parade extra: The beat of a different Purdue drummer
Christmas Parade extra: The beat of a different Purdue drummer
Plus, coming up this week: Former President Bush at Purdue. West Lafayette’s panhandling ordinance. The county needle exchange’s renewal. And next up in ‘MitchFest’ on campus
Thanks to the Haan Museum, sponsor of today’s edition. Visit the Haan Museum between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, and leave with the holiday spirit. The trains are always a big hit as they travel the world at the museum, passing landmarks in London, the Colonial states, and other American cities. See how many Lafayette landmarks you can identify. Ride in a sleigh behind two (stationary) reindeer. Trees, Santas, garland, Nativity sets and other displays add to the Christmas spirit. Come and experience different cultures as you visit a room decorated for Kwanzaa by the Tea Ladies, and rooms decorated by Purdue’s Asian American Center and the Latino Center. Holiday hours are 1-4 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. (Closed Dec. 24, 25 and 31.) Tickets at the door are $15 for adults 18 and over, $7.50 for youth 5 to 17, and free for children 4 and under. E-mail the museum at info@thehaan.org to schedule a special tour for your family, church, school, assisted living or other groups. Visit thehaan.org/holidays/ for more information, or to purchase discounted tickets in advance.
Just a few things at the start of the week …
AT THE LAFAYETTE CHRISTMAS PARADE … AN UPDATE: Standing near the corner of Ninth and Main streets Saturday night, I started to wonder. The Lafayette Christmas Parade organizers had flagged for people that, for the first time in ages, the Purdue All-American Marching Band would not lead the Santa float down Main Street. The Purdue band, of course, would be in Indianapolis for the Boilers’ Big Ten Championship game. Fair enough. Local parade organizers would pick a high school band to take point for Santa.
So, there went Lafayette Jeff’s band, early on. And then McCutcheon. And Faith. And Harrison. And even St. James School, on a float. Who was bringing Santa down Main Street?
And then … then came the drum line.
The Boiler Beats Drumline.
Lafayette City Clerk Cindy Murray, who helps organize the parade, said Purdue called and offered up the drumline, when it was clear the All-American Marching Band had other obligations.
According to Purdue, the Boiler Beats Drumline serves as a tailgate and special event corps, making the rounds through the Ross-Ade Stadium lots on game days. It was their first shot at the Lafayette Christmas Parade.
“They need to be in the parade every year,” Murray said. “They were so good.”
They did nail it. And Santa got his proper, Purdue escort down Main Street.
FOR MORE: For a look at the Lafayette Christmas Parade, here’s a collection of shots from Lafayette photographer Vincent Walter, published Sunday in Based in Lafayette: “Scenes from the Lafayette Christmas Parade.”
COMING UP IN THE EARLY PART OF THE WEEK …
Tippecanoe County commissioners on Monday will consider another two-year authorization for the county health department’s Gateway to Hope program. First approved in 2016, the program offers clean needles and kits to drug users in hopes of keeping hepatitis C, HIV and other communicable diseases in check. Commissioners last renewed the program in 2020, on a 2-1 vote, with commissioner Tom Murtaugh voting against it. Tippecanoe County’s syringe exchange program is one of eight county-run operations in Indiana. Austin, a city in southern Indiana, also has one, according to the Indiana Department of Health. The commissioners meet at 10 a.m. Monday in the County Office Building, 20 N. Third St. in Lafayette.
The West Lafayette City Council is scheduled to take final vote on an ordinance that would impose fines of $50 on anyone sitting, standing or moving in a road or median within 50 feet of those intersections while soliciting, peddling, advertising, asking for donations or selling goods. The proposed ban of panhandling in traffic came after West Lafayette police report problems in the past six months, particularly near the intersection of Salisbury Street and Sagamore Parkway West, of people trying to collect donations as traffic stopped for red lights. The council gave unanimous initial approval in November, over the objection of those who said the proposal didn’t do anything to deal with the root causes of poverty and reasons why someone would panhandle. Also on the agenda: What’s next for the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house, once up for demolition that drew the ire of Purdue University and local preservationists and now up for an adaptive reuse plan at Fourth and Russell streets. The West Lafayette City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at city hall, 222 N. Chauncey Ave.
As part of what’s been dubbed “MitchFest,” a series of events meant to honor outgoing President Mitch Daniels, Purdue will host the “Freedom of Inquiry and the Advancement of Knowledge” symposium, 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5, Stewart Center’s Fowler Hall. The free event, moderated by Steve Schultz, Purdue’s general counsel, will include a panel on free speech. Among those on the panel: Keith Whittington, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University; Nadine Strossen, the John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, Emerita at the New York School of Law and former president of the American Civil Liberties Union; and Glenn Loury, a Paulson Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of Economics at Brown University
George W. Bush. (Photo provided) .
Tickets at Elliott Hall of Music were gone in less than an hour for this one. Former President George W. Bush will be on campus Tuesday evening, as guest of Daniels, his first White House budget director from 2001 to 2003. The final installment of Daniels’ Presidential Lecture Series, the conversation with Bush is being billed as “a discussion of leadership in challenging times and the responsibilities of an informed citizenship.” Purdue was telling people with tickets to get there early to get through security checks before the 6 p.m. event at the 6,000-seat Elliott Hall of Music. Meanwhile, a protest and march against Bush – in particular, his role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – will start at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday at the Purdue gateway near Stadium Avenue. Organized by the Purdue YDSA and the Greater Lafayette Democratic Socialists of America, the march is billed as a “protest against the attempted rehabilitation of George W. Bush at Purdue.”
AND FINALLY …: So, after a season that included a trip to the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis – Saturday night’s 43-22 loss to undefeated Michigan – it’ll be LSU in the Citrus Bowl.
Thanks, again, to the Haan Museum for sponsoring today’s edition.
Tips or story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com. Also on Twitter and Instagram.