You’ve heard of saying “Fiddle Sticks.” It’s a dismissal, part of a long linguistic tradition of saying things like “Aw Fiddle” (or “Fiddle-Dee-Dee”) to express disappointment. Unlike modern violins and bows, old time fiddles, fiddlers and fiddle sticks were considered pretty worthless.

Willow sticks, on the other hand, are NOT worthless –at least, not to us. Sure, they look very much like any wayward stick found after a storm. But stab a willow stick into the earth and it grows into a full-fledged willow tree.

Plans for the Scioto Mile include driving a collection of willow sticks into the ground to provide a little natural support for the River’s Edge. While rip rap and four feet of topsoil provide the foundation, the willow roots build frameworks to stabilize the riverbanks.

That’s how Mother Nature does it, and that’s good enough for us.

Once the willow sticks take root, natural tall grass will be planted to provide more greenery at the River’s Edge. Beyond that, gorgeous green lawns will host the Scioto Mile’s many visitors and events.

Things are starting to take shape down at Bicentennial Park, literally speaking. It’s beginning to look a little like a Greek ruins with giant naked columns looming on the landscape.

Reaching toward the sky, these columns are the beginning of the Bicentennial Park Bandshell and Cafe

The Scioto Mile project has entered a new dimension, literally speaking. It started as a flat, two-dimensional idea on paper. Then came the three-dimensional architectural computer models. Fueled by the hard work of a construction team, the Scioto Mile’s structures are now really-real, with real physical properties. It’s something you can touch and feel, if you could get past all of the orange fencing.

We’ve been pining to see our riverfront come to life, this scene feels like something from a fairy tale where creatures jump from the pages of a book.

In real life these structures do have some pretty otherworldly characteristics.  Uncommonly strong, the café columns are designed to support a poured concrete roof, with beautiful curves and lines. And that roof itself will have features you won’t find in just any regular ol’ conventional rooftop –it will be home to solar panels that will help power the Bicentennial Park fountain, and the café.

And are the structures magical too? We think so. Wait ‘til you see the magic they bring to the Downtown scene . . .

Now thats some BIG Rip Rap

You’d think a term like Rip Rap would have an interesting origin, but even in the days of Google and the Internet, it’s still a puzzle. Developers refer to “Rip Rap” as the stones that are laid in a river to build up a riverbank. Our best guess is that it comes from the term “riparian,” which describes the zone between a body of water and land.

In any case, we’re all about the Rip Rap these days on the Scioto Mile.  Bulldozers have been shoving giant boulders into the water to help build the new riverbank.  There are actually three kinds of Rip Rap: the biggest boulders go in first, then medium sized, followed by pebbles.

Rip Rap forms the foundation of the River's Edge

It all works to make a steady foundation along the new route of the Scioto River.  It’ll take a little time for the rip rap to settle in, but by next fall it will be covered with soil and will be the makings of a beautiful green space.

Yeah, it’s a rocky way to start . . .

CAUTION: Protect these trees!

Developers aren’t conventionally described as Tree Huggers, but maintaining the trees and the natural landscape is actually very important to the Scioto Mile Project.

So when a bulldozer accidentally nicked the roots of a giant sprawling tree, it was time to call 911: Bring in the arborists, STAT.

The good news is that the tree was saved. The mending process is interesting: generally speaking, when working with trees, the best approach involves using an Air Spade (like a pressure hose) to blow dirt away from the roots. It makes it easier to see how the root system works, without risking damage to the tree. Once assessed, it’s a balancing act of trimming the roots and the branches to help the tree thrive in its environment.  

Part of the follow-up care involves covering up the exposed roots and using dirt as protection from the elements. With a little help from some Tree Huggers, that tree will still stand tall at Columbus’s Bicentennial in 2012 . . . and beyond.

You never know what you might find while digging in the dirt. A guy in England just uncovered $1.9 million in gold coins. Dinosaur bones and fossils are often unearthed in other parts of the world. It all pales in comparison to what we’ve found at the Scioto Mile . . .

It’s a 14-foot wide sewer pipe –that’s a big one. According to MSI project manager Darren Meyer, it’s big enough to drive a car through it.

So, what do you do with a 14-foot pipe (besides drive the minivan through)? Well, this pipe’s going to be extended and rerouted to better conform to the evolving shape of the Scioto River. Then, like all good treasures, it’ll be buried again.

The pipe work is being laid for the Bicentennial Park Fountain

While the sewer pipe is designed to move storm water back to the river, there’s plenty of other pipe news in the Construction Zone. Down at Bicentennial Park, on view are literally miles of piping: power line pipes, supply water pipes, return pipes, overflow pipes and even fog pipes. It’s an astounding maze of connections forming the foundation for the fountain and the park’s amenities, and the spaghetti-like network lies exposed until the next phase of construction.

Sure, it’s not as massive as the sewer pipe, but this little pipe network will make a mighty impact on the downtown landscape.