July Updates

Shop n’ Style

There’s a new Shop for browsing on Main Street in downtown Garland. Trims and Treasures has opened in the 600 block, at the former Lemmonde’s location. While you’re waiting for your hair to be cut and styled you can wander through the antiques and unique items on display in the former salon. Sheila will be there to serve her clients, while the rest of the Lemmonde crew are now ensconced in their new digs just a block away at 704 Main Street.

The longest parade west of the Mississippi

The Noon Exchange Club of Garland is inviting all who wish to participate in the Labor Day Parade on Monday, September 7 and/or the festival in the downtown square following the parade, to go online for details and to sign-up at www.garlandlabordayevent.com (The event will be similar to last year’s event, though the parade will take a slightly different route.)

Theatre On The Move

The Garland Civic Theatre has vacated their offices in the downtown square and rented new space on National Drive.

the City of Garland owns the empty building and we’re hoping they’ll repair the broken windows and do something to improve the appearance of the building, as the property is seriously suffering from neglect. Since the downtown square is considered by many to be the “Heart of Garland”, and City Hall is around the corner, maybe maybe our city administrators will take notice and action.

New Biz at Centerville and Broadway

The new Maxx Save store specializing in overstocks and returns from Cosco and Kirkland’s continues to attract bargain hunters who watch for their daily additions to inventory.

This new business is located on Broadway in South Garland, adjacent to the indoor soccer facility. Soon to open on the other side of the indoor soccer building is Victoria’s Restaurant. Next to Victoria’s is UFit, a work out/exercise facility, and a new electronics store is soon opening at end of the strip mall. The large space that was formerly the location of a sporting goods store, remains vacant. Councilman B.J. Williams is insistent that the new businesses be quality enterprises and he’s working to achieve that goal.

Volunteers Making A Difference

The GRM wants to thank James Hart, editor of our do-it-yourself feature, for supervising the Boy Scouts in Troop 100 in the sanding and priming of the benches in the Garland

Downtown Square. The benches were installed in the 70’s and have not had so much as a good cleaning ever since. The 6 benches on street level will be rid of splinters and safer and hopefully more appealing to those who may wish to sit and rest aspell. There are a total of 20 benches in the square, and perhaps we’ll be able to freshen all of them, but it was quite difficult to get the City to give us the go-ahead on these first few. At this time, we are planning to refurbish those facing out at street level.

An Impromptu History Lesson

David Baker, owner of Baker’s Main Street Furniture, is the third generation in his family to do business at that downtown Garland location. He recently took a group on a tour of the historic building that was once his grandfather’s hardware store. He told us that grandfather Augustus Baker boasted about being the first to introduce wringer washer washing machines to the households of Garland, and later the first black and white television sets. Augustus also added a third story to the building at 624 Main Street. The history lesson also included a tour of David’s own music recording devices, starting with the tube record created by Thomas Edison and on up to the present day jukebox that plays music recorded on cd’s.

Downtown Garland was the business center for the area at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. At its center is the downtown square at Main and Sixth Streets.