“Memory Lane” is one of the newest features in our Viewpoints section.
We solicit readers’ fondest memories of the Greater Binghamton area, giving Joe and Jane Subscriber an opportunity to revisit the “good ol’ days” — in 1,500 words or less.
Many of these reader-generated pieces are enjoyable, providing — especially for younger readers like me — a chance to experience times such as the Endicott Johnson era through the vivid descriptions of others.
I know I’m not part of the feature’s target audience, but I couldn’t help but think about my own “Memory Lane”: 50 years from now, what will I remember about my time living in Greater Binghamton?
I wrote about my first experience at Pat Mitchell’s Ice Cream parlor last week. While it was delicious, and I had a great time, a handful of co-workers assured me that I had really missed out.
“That place used to be so much better,” they said. “It had such a long history here ...”
This, to me, was a problem — Pat Mitchell’s is good now, and while I’m sure the late Pat Mitchell added a lot to his namesake parlor, I don’t see why people wouldn’t still embrace such a delicious local tradition for what it is.
As afraid as I am to say it, I feel the same way about the mystical spiedies.
This weekend will be the 23rd annual, and my first, Spiedie Fest. Although I’m admittedly still a bit uneasy about scarfing down multiple spiedies in one afternoon — one seems like more than enough — I’m excited about the prospect of seeing the community come together to celebrate such a beloved local tradition.
But why stop there? While it’s terrific we’ll all celebrate our heritage this weekend, I bet that by the end of next week many people will be back to yearning for those “good ol’ days” — and next year’s Spiedie Fest. That cycle gets us nowhere.
Instead, I propose something new. Rather than simply celebrating the home-grown history of the spiedie, everyone ought to focus more on the sandwich’s future. Where do spiedies go from here?
To this point, the answer has been nowhere. According to the Web site “Atlas of Popular Culture in the Northeastern United States: The Spiedie”: “Here is an excellent sandwich with a solid market and region that is not only sold commercially but made at home and it is still confined entirely to the the [sic] central portion of the Southern Tier of New York state.”
If I can buy a Philly at the Spiedie & Rib Pit, why can’t I buy a spiedie in Philly? The sandwich is relatively easy to make, and at least as marketable as our carousel collection or VHS copies of “The Twilight Zone.”
Expanding spiedies outside of the Southern Tier, a goal that seems lofty, isn’t out of the question. In fact, the Fest was declared one of North America’s 100 Best Events for 2006, according to a Press & Sun-Bulletin article from September 2005.
The Fest does bring visitors to the Southern Tier each year — quite a few, in fact — but until the recipe really catches on elsewhere as it has here in Binghamton, Johnson City and Endicott, the spiedie will remain just an emblem of a desolate city with a pretty good sandwich.
For ex-Tier residents, it’s nice to order spiedie sauce online, but for the local delicacy to enter the mainstream elsewhere, the convenience of ordering a hot, fresh spiedie at a fast-food joint is the key. Even a small expansion of spiedie-vending shops, perhaps as far as Syracuse and Philadelphia, could spark a greater interest in the sandwich’s hometown.
More interested visitors means more revenue. More revenue means more businesses in town. And more businesses in town means more jobs, more people — and more spiedies.
Perhaps, then, trips down “Memory Lane” won’t end in the 1940s.
Strub is a senior at Binghamton University, a part-time copy editor at the Press & Sun-Bulletin and a new resident of Binghamton’s West Side. His column appears Thursdays.
cstrub@pressconnects.com
No comments:
Post a Comment