The stillness of October gold / went out like beauty from a face.

~ E. A. Robinson

Welcome to mid-October Saluda notes and notations! Crisp fall days and sweet apples, high blue sky…dry maple leaves rustle along Main Street as folks sun their faces on warm afternoons on sidewalk benches.

A Saluda landmark and icon, Robert Pace, 87, of the historic M.A. Pace store down on Main Street passed away October 1st. Robert was most often found tending the old cash register, regaling folks of times gone by and coal-engines pulling up the Saluda Grade. He never met a stranger; Robert was one of my first friends in Saluda; he had answers to many questions about the old days, and knew about blackberry winter, trains, mule and wagon days. He dearly loved his daughter Kaye and granddaughter Lindsay…if he wasnt in the store, it was a sure bet he was probably off visiting them, his little hand-written note would hang on the door so folks would know he was taking a small vacation. You could just stand there in his store, those oiled-wood creaking floors, the high ceilings, the papery scent of things past…and be taken to the turn of the century when Main Street was dirt, the trains were roaring, and folks knew what a handshake meant. If you needed a hard-to-find piece of hardware, he had it. He had penny candy, Octagon soap, and a big heart. Truly Robert Pace was the epitome of Saluda. Today, my heart is missing him, and I know Main Street will never be the same. My biggest hope is that the store becomes a historic museum or something keeping it preserved–safekeeping the record of the past 100 years…beauty shop intact, coal ashes upstairs from trains, and all the mementos of time and places gone by.

Keep going to the Saluda Tailgate market on Friday afternoons through the end of the month, starting at 4:30 p.m. Vendors still have those early fall tomatoes, round heads of handsome cabbages, fall veggies, homemade doggie treats, cakes of all delicious flavors, jams, canned goods, and more. Plus, the visiting cant be beat. Chuck Hearon had a great idea about baked beans in a pumpkin shell, all baked together…and remember oven-roasted veggies are always delicious and simple to do. You wont come away bored or empty-handed from the tailgate market, thats a promise!

Mark your calendar and get a costume ready: Friday evening, October 29th, our Saluda Medical Center will hold its Third Annual Fundraiser Masquerade Ball at the Saluda Mountain Jamboree to raise needed funds. Music will be by Sound Investment and a barbecue dinner is included with the price of admission. Tickets sold at Saluda Medical Center, Manna Cabannas Produce Market, Cathy Jackson Realty, Thrifty Barn, Macon Bank, and Saluda Mountain Jamboree. Please support SMC, and plan on having a ball!

Wildflour Bakeshop is now open on Sundays, it is located on the corner of Pearson Falls Road and Main Street.

Condolences to the family of Lee Clippard. For many years, Lee was involved in serving Saluda, and civic minded. He will be missed.

Art Notes: Bill Ryan will have a show at the Saluda Center from Octover 10 to November 7, the reception is October 20 from 5-6:30. Bill Jameson has a landscape show at Blackbird Gallery at 365 Merrimon Avenue in Asheville.

Congratulations to Jim Carson who won second place in the TPS juried show.

Other Saluda artists in the show are Dale McEntire, Bonnie Bardos and Verlie Murphy. It runs until November 6 at Gallery One at Tryon Fine Arts Center, 34 Melrose Avenue. Also, if you are interested in showing art or craft at the Saluda Inn for the Hometown Christmas evening, contact Joni at 749-9896 and let her know!

When attending Stoney Lamars talk for Craft in Community along with the craft show at the Saluda Center on October 4, I admired all the new landscaping around the center…thanks to Polk County Community Foundations grant. Its such an improvement, and beautiful! On the walk down to the center from my house, I noticed wild morning glories in shades of violet, fuchsia, and blue under a peach sunset full of silver cotton clouds.

Happy Birthday to Kelly McCullough, Patricia Case, Kathy Tyrrell, Jo Dellinger, Aaron Bradley, Amanda Burrell, Lisa Orr, Marilyn Prudhomme, and Bubba Dawson, and a belated happy birthday to Joan Barker! Feel free to add your birthday to the list. This column comes out around the first of the month, and mid-month, so if you are missed the first time around, just let me know so we can get you in on the next round!

Thank you for your much appreciated thoughts and continuing feedback about this column! It brightens my day to know YOU read it. As ever, the goal is to make you, dear reader, feel like youre enjoying a front porch visit with meyour comments are always wanted and valued. Keep in mind if you have something of note, feel free to e-mail me at bbardos@gmail.com; or call me at 749-1153. You may also visit my website at bonniebardos.com.