Ahhh, there's nothing like small-town traditions. Ravenna in May brings post-season high school tournaments. Prom & graduation day. Getting the clubs out and playing the Creeks. Yardwork and the fresh smell of manure wafting through the air.
For about the last 10 or so years, another tradition unlike any other (TM) has taken hold of Ravenna---DUMP DAY. To the untrained eye, Dump Day would simply be a chance for the village residents to throw out anything that they don't want that they garbage man won't take--washers, furniture, roofing tiles, you name it.
That, however, would be selling the night short. What Dump Day provides, besides the ability for people to throw out anything and not feel bad about overloading the Muskegon County landfill, is the chance for "normal" people to file thought people's junk and add to their own personal junk piles.
And don't for a second get a picture in your mind that the Dump Day shoppers are the unwashed types. There are many college graduates living in the greater Ravenna metro area who enjoy trolling the mean streets looking for anything that they might use. My sister was on the lookout for a "3-legged chair, a mattress without springs, or a table with no legs" for my next birthday present.
My mother, on Sunday, was a bit depressed after this year's Dump Day, as her junk was actually rejected by the garbage men. It wasn't that it was junk that wasn't good enough to be called junk, but rather she found out that they wouldn't take her half-used cans of old paint.
Helly and Al went out on the town on Friday night and came back emptyhanded, but Jason had a great theory regarding DD07, "It was a down year. I think everyone's pile was the stuff that they had taken from everyone else's piles over the past few years, so we need a year to recycle that stuff out and get some fresh stuff out there for next year."
That incredibly warped logic (which I understand completely) is what DD is all about--you gotta get out there and put in the leg work to fully experience what the tradition is all about.
Pistons-Cavs open tonight. Time for 2 solid weeks of me talking about how much I detest Varajeo and Damon Jones. Bring on the worst offensive sets in the NBA dressed in the ugliest road jerseys!
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DD07 was a smashing success for this guy. While we didn't find any junk worth taking, and we decided not to throw ceramic trolls off the train tressel, over 90% of my junk was gone when Al, H & I returned from BP's house. This haul included a 30 gallon water tank, a washing machine in 6 pieces, and an 8 foot denim couch. So we fulfilled part 1 of dump day (get rid of as much junk as possible and get other people, rather than the garbage truck, to take it) but we fell short on part 2 (find other people's junk which you can sorta talk yourself into taking, then take it home and put it in your garage or basement and don't use it for 2-3 years before junking it again). Overall, I would say, I can't wait for DD08.
Oh I forgot the part where people were taking Al's stuff before he even got it all unloaded. And where one of my family members came strolling down the street and told me that he basically picked a fight with his wife so he could drive through town looking for junk instead of going to the movies. Good times indeed.
Did you take the denim couch in order to make some jeans?
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