Once a month in the summer, Mike Ruby organizes Wallingford Walks, each of which has a theme that introduces strollers to an aspect of the neighborhood. Thus far this year, they’ve toured Craftsman architecture and visited Wallinfordians who keep chickens and other fowl and bees.
Yesterday’s walk was a tour of some local art and and a chat with a longtime Wallingford resident and writer, Bharti Kirchner, who has penned four cookbooks and four novels. One novel, “Pastries,” is set in Wallingford. We met Kirchner at University House on Stone Way, which houses a large art collection.
The art tour stopped at the year-old ornate Boys and Girls Club fence that was created by metal artist Mimi Riley and glass artist Rodman Miller.
Next up was a work in progress: the 46th Street Mural, which we viewed from the Wallingford and Fremont sides of Aurora Ave., as well as from Aurora itself.
The tour, which clocked in at under two hours, ended at Ronald Petty’s “Animal Storm” totem pole in front of Wallingford Center. The 18-foot statue depicts all the animals that call Wallingford home.
See more photos from this walk on Stacey Wedlake’s Flickr page. Many thanks to Stacey for letting us use her photos in this story.
Next month’s Wallingford Walk, on August 21, will focus on solar energy installations in Wallingford; it’s cosponsored by the Wallingford Solar Initiative and the Wallingford Community Senior Center.
