Main Street Garden, We Really Need to Talk
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| This is what a 6-year-old sees when he looks at Main Street Garden and it's 100 degrees and there's not a damned thing to do |
But then I remembered: Downtown Dallas's senior vice president of marketing, Kourtny Garrett, told me they paid for the fountain to run from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays. He enjoyed frolicking in the lake of coffins during Homegrown. And, we had nothing better to do. So, sure. Fine. Let's go.
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We were greeted by quite the surprise: The Lily Pad's open, finally. Now available, among other options: grilled-chicken Greek salad ($7.25), Niman Ranch dogs ($2.95, one dollar extra for chili), shaved-ham pressed tortilla sandwiches ($6.95), iced green tea ($1.95). Two men in red Beyond the Box shirts kept things tidy on the deck; inside, a woman worked the counter. There were five patrons sitting at two tables; the rest were empty. This was at 2.
"But, Dad." The boy pointed to the fountain, now a concrete mirage. I asked the Beyond the Box'ers why the fountain wasn't running as promised. They said the city didn't have the money to run it. I told him John Crawford's Downtown Dallas had promised to cover the difference. He shrugged. We looked across the street, at the men and women floating in The Element pool. He said this would be bad for business, which had just opened Friday. The boy said we should just go.
I told him we should at least get a couple of drinks. Give 'em some business. So we ordered, grabbed a table and sat beneath misters that would, occasionally, come very close to misting us. "Dad, it's hot." We looked at the pool across the street. "Dad, can we go?"
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My son said he needed to use the bathroom. The men's room was padlocked. There's a gaping metal wound where there should be a doorknob. It was supposed to be repaired before the Lily Pad opened; its destruction, in fact, is what delayed the restaurant's already delayed grand opening. The boy opted not to use the ladies' room, a long concrete box with a working air conditioner.
"Dad, I just want to leave."
So we did.
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