I have been outdoors lately doing fall yard clean-up, and have been reminiscing about memories of my hometown in autumn.  Known as the Maple City, Honesdale’s North Main Street was lined with stately maple trees which provided a fiery fall display of vibrant reds, oranges and yellows. I remember walking home from the Stourbridge elementary school in the late afternoon to find my mother raking leaves into huge piles on the street.  My brother and I would run and jump into the leaves over and over again.  Later that evening, my dad would burn the leaves at the curb, tending them with a green metal-tined rake with a wooden handle.  Smoke from the burning leaves would permeate the evening air throughout the neighborhood as almost every household tended their nightly pile of smoking leaves.
October brought fire-prevention week. In elementary school we would each receive a red plastic fire-fighter’s hat. On Wednesday evening of that week, we could hear the sirens of the fire engines that circled Central Park, giving free rides to all the children. We would walk down to the park and ride the screaming trucks while our parents visited with the other adults.  The fountain in the center of the park would be dry, having been closed down for the winter. That was always a disappointment. On the walk home our parents would tell us stories of their childhood days when they would go ice skating on the frozen river that wound through town.
In late October, there was trick-or-treating and the Halloween parade. Afterwards everyone gathered at the old Armory on Park Street to eat donuts and drink apple cider while costumes were judged and prizes awarded. One of the sure signs of autumn was the smell of lebkuchens baking at Day’s Bakery on Main Street. It was a treat that only emerged at this time of year and signaled the upcoming holiday season. 
After Thanksgiving stores on Main Street that would normally close at 5 p.m. would remain open each weeknight until 9 p.m. for holiday shopping. Santa Claus would appear in the toy department on the second floor of Murray’s Hardware store, where we would sit on his lap and share our wishes for Christmas morning’s gifts.  My family would walk downtown together in the evenings to see all the store windows beautifully decorated for the holidays. The tall street lights on Main Street would be decked out in twinkle lights and greenery in the shape of evergreen trees, and the giant lighted star atop Irving Cliff would shine brightly over the town.
These are memories of a simpler time, when life was unhurried and plain. There were no computers, no credit cards, and no answering machines. Homes had at most one phone and one television, and that was in black and white.  Families ate dinner together every night, and a neighborhood was more than the physical space surrounding your home.  These memories come to me each fall, no matter how far I am from my hometown, and bring a bit of nostalgia and peace into my life.
- Tyler Bennington, October 23, 2009
(Formerly Shelley Martin)