GUEST COMMENTARY: Season’s Change Sparks Memories Of Springdale

By Lovella Fern Allred Rush

Posted: November 30, 2009 at 4:12 a.m.

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I can remember the first time I saw Springdale. I was 5 years old. My parents had just moved here from Alpena. We were what some people would call hill people.

My dad took me to see my first Christmas Parade on Emma Avenue. I was sitting on my dad’s shoulders, watching it snow. And then came Santa Claus. Oh, the wonder of it! I think I fell in love with Emma Avenue on that day.

Then came high school. My friends and I would walk down Emma Avenue after school, stopping at the bakery to get a wonderful roll, then to find out what would be showing at the indoor movie house (we saw the first Elvis movie there). We used to sit in the ice cream parlor watching all the people walk by and try to guess where they would be going if they left Springdale.

Then came 1957. I am still walking down Emma Avenue to go to Ryan’s Clothing Store to buy a simple dress to get married.

Things are changing. There are stores that are closing. But it is still the wonderful street that I loved so much.

Then, late one night it was snowing a lot, my friend and I (both going to have babies) wanted to walk Emma Avenue. We walked from one end to the other. It was the first snow of the season, so fresh and clean, with only our footprints in the snow as we walked. It is hard to explain the beauty of it all.

Then we moved to the country, out near Kelly Creek. Our neighbor’s name was “Kelly.” Fate brought her to me, I am sure because of the love I have for my hometown. She would tell me all about the work, sweat and love that people had put into Springdale, to make it the town that it had became.

Now I am an elderly lady. My husband has passed away. My children are all grown. I still love to take the grandchildren to the Christmas Parade, hoping they will see the magic that the little girl sitting on her dad’s shoulders saw on Emma Avenue when she was 5 years old.

When it comes the first snow of the season this year, I want to be able to walk and see the new high school sitting so high and proud on Emma Avenue.

I am proud of Springdale, and the people who made it so wonderful. As my husband would have said, “Springdale, Arkansas, I salute you.”

Lovella Fern Allred Rush is a longtime Springdale resident. Got something to say about Springdale? Write it and send it to us at rturner@nwaonline.com.

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