Starting this weekend I noticed that my fall allergies started cropping up. I used to be a major allergy sufferer, but in recent years it’s been fairly light unless the ragweed or mold was up. Well, that’s the case.

[Dr. Anne] McLaughlin’s latest tallies show ragweed at 149 grains per cubic meter of air.

That’s high, she says. It’s in the orange range, the next-to-worst designation on the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology’s five-band, color-coded scale.

Her latest mold spore count, a reading of 25,700 spores per cubic meter, is also in the orange range.

Dr. McLaughlin suggests limiting the time spent outside as a way to cut back on the allergens. I guess hanging out at the Sterling Brewery followed by a Labor Day picnic yesterday wasn’t the best idea. Excuse me while I go sneeze 20 mores times. Ugh.

photo courtesy of clairity

In between all the pancaked students and various other hit & runs in town recently, there’s been some actual legitimate stuff happening. Let’s wrap it up.

• Holiday World is expanding by adding the world’s tallest water ride. The Pilgrims Plunge will descend 131 feet at a 45-degree angle, which will make a big splash and give you a bad hair day. Also, please tell me the video above was made using Rollercoaster Tycoon.
• The EVSC loves the environment and is disposing of their out of date computer equipment properly. Don’t just toss that old CRT into the dumpster, people.
• If your car is set on fire in the next week, it’s most likely a copycat because the EPD arrested the guy who set the previous 20 cars on fire. He was apparently a mild-mannered guy who worked at Pearl cleaners. No one would suspect him to be a total pyro.
• If you protesters want to assault the I-69 offices in the future, take note that they have moved

In a somewhat abrupt announcement, the Freedom Festival board of directors voted to relinquish their responsibilities for organizing the annual downtown festival and boat race. The board feels that a group of full-time, paid committee is necessary to put on future editions of the summer festival.

The show must go on, however. WFIE confirms that The Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville organization will take over operation of the Freedom Festival going forward. WFIE is also reporting that the boating docks used for Thunder on the Ohio are up for sale, so even if GAGE is taking over the organization of the street festival, we might have seen the last of the hydroplane race itself.

Looks like I may need some new bingo squares for 2009.

Here’s the full release:

Evansville, IN - The Freedom Festival Board of Directors has voted to relinquish the organizational responsibilities for Evansville’s annual signature riverfront event.

The board held considerable discussion in order to reach the decision to end its role in planning and presenting the Freedom Festival. They carefully weighed the increasing demands of securing adequate sponsorship funding and handling the extensive planning details for the event that has gained national attention and attracted tens of thousands of people to Evansville each year. The all-volunteer board, each with full-time jobs and family obligations were assisted by hundreds of volunteers who helped stage the annual event.

“Putting on a quality event of this size with the type of attractions that the public expects simply proved to be an enormous challenge for a relatively small group of very dedicated volunteers,” said Scott Hinton, the 2008 board president. “The Freedom Festival has grown to the point that full-time planning and staffing is needed and we realize as an all-volunteer board, we can no longer effectively meet the obligations,” added Hinton.

photo courtesy of Sierra Koch

• Evansville has been voted the best place to live in July’s Kiplinger’s magazine. The typical reasons were given: low cost of living, quality of life, etc.

• More news on the Sir Beef front. The current operators have gone missing in action. The owner hopes to get someone in there to take over. I’m sure one of you fine readers would love to be in the roast beef business.

• Remember when the city announced they would turn the McCurdy building into apartments last summer? We’re still working on that.

• You have to be pretty ballsy to rob a gun store.

• And from a bit up north, here is video of a scaffolding rescue from downtown Indianapolis yesterday afternoon.

photo courtesy of Sierra Koch

• Looking to party? IU is the 14th best party school according to Princeton Review. Purdue didn’t make the list.
• METS has already run out of money in their fuel budget. Shouldn’t affect anyone yet.
• If you se a guy running around with almost 4000 lbs of copper bars, please notify the authorities.
• The downtown meter maids have had to hoof it lately because their parking ticket mobiles are producing too much carbon monoxide. Your odds of getting a ticket for parking 4 hours in that 2 hour spot are now much less.
• Indiana Senator Evan Bayh is apparently on Obama’s short list for VP. I don’t see it happening.

photo courtesy of SierraK

It’s Evansville is a little over a year old and has grown and evolved from what I originally envisioned the site. I’ve stripped most of the local entertainment/News4U type stuff and instead focused on food, news, movies and local culture (both good and bad). I think it’s been a good transition, but I want to grow the site a bit more.

I’ve got a few ideas of new types of content to put on the site that I’ll be hoping to implement over the next few months. The first I’m looking for someone that is interested in writing about sports. If you’ve got a passion for pro and college sports and a knack for writing, I’d love to feature your work on It’s Evansville.

I’d like to focus on regional teams, but there’s certainly room for talking about larger national and world topics in addition. It’s presently a non-paying gig, but it is a great way to get your opinion in front of thousands of people in the tri-state area.

If you’re interested, over the age of 18 and can contribute once or twice a week, shoot me an email (justin at itsevansville dot com) with a few writing samples.

photo courtesy of Ed Dame

Huffington Post has the listings of all 600 Starbucks stores that will be closed. Only one store in Evansville is on the list and it’s the one on the west side. I never went to the West side Starbucks much, but I’m sure it will be missed.

Are there any decent coffee joints on the West side that Starbucks people can migrate to?

I got up this morning around 6AM to pick up my iPhone 3G. I promised I would wrap up the news before taking it out of the box, so here goes…

• USI still hasn’t decided if they are going to allow benefits for same-sex couples. It’s 2008. How about we allow any couple to benefits, straight or gay.
• Speaking of USI, they just broke ground on a new $32 million engineering and business building. They have to be running out of space at this point.
• Horse Racing at Ellis Park begins at 2:40PM this afternoon. Place your bets, people.
• Obama is opening 6 offices in Indiana, including one in Evansville. After his vote on the FISA bill, I can’t say I’m too excited about it.
• Toyota has decided to move production of the Tundra from Princeton to Texas. Don’t fret. We’re getting Highlanders.
• Mesker’s new Amazonia exhibit is set to open August 4. Where’s my invite to the ceremony?

photo courtesy of shareatt1

It’s a busy day for me today, so I’ll just redirect you over to Courier & Press for all the details.

The track, which was to open a 44-day meet on the Fourth of July, will start racing on Friday. Thirty-nine days are scheduled, ending on Labor Day. Some lost races could be recouped by expanding daily cards if feasible.

Call your bookie. Horse racing starts July 11.

When it rains, it pours. Tons of fun stories in the past few days. Let’s highlight:

• If you see a guy swerving in a Toyota Avalon with the license plate UE 1, it’s quite possibly UE president Stephen G. Jennings. He was picked up last night on a DUI. Toga! Toga! Toga!
• There is a super secret invitation only groundbreaking for I-69 set for the week of July 13. After the last few weeks, organizers won’t give a specific date and location for the event. Cowards. Let the (peaceful) protesters show up and voice their concern.
• After the complete trainwreck that was the Kelvin Sampson era, IU is now also giving up 2 scholarship spots on their mens basketball team for the upcoming season. Even with all this adversity, I’m sure Crean’s head will be demanded if he doesn’t make the NCAA tournament next year.
• Gas prices are up, and so is shoplifting.
• Now that Greyhound has moved over to the METs station downtown, an architectural firm is trying to decide what to do with the old greyhound station. Please do not turn it into yet another downtown office building.

photo courtesy of erickp5