Local Gift Shops

·        Less stress for last minute shopping….easy to get to; great parking

·        Unique gifts for that “hard to shop for” person…and great gifts for under $30.

·        Purchases go directly to help these Not-For-Profit Organizations.

·        Check online for Holiday delivery and Christmas Eve Hours.

Gift Shops and Websites

The Arch Gift Shop       stlouisarch.com                  

The Art Museum       stlouisartmuseum.com

The Butterfly House    butterflyhouse.org

The City Museum       citymuseum.org

The Eugene Field Museum   eugenefieldhouse.org

The History Museum   mohistory.org

The Humane Society   hsmo.org

The Missouri Botanical Garden   mobot.org

The Science Center     slsc.org

The Transportation Museum   museumoftransportation.org

The St. Louis Zoo      stlzoo.org

As a resident of the City, I’m always proud when the City does something that enhances city life and the urban experience.  Too many people take too little time to see what the city proper has to offer.  For whatever reason they only come into the city for the Muny, Fox, Scottrade Center, Busch Stadium, etc.  Hit and run.  Thats fine, but they are missing a lot of interesting stuff for the whole family to do by just hitting the highlights - as great as they are.   The latest addition to the cityscape is the new Citygarden which spans the blocks  between 8th and 10th bordered by Market and Chestnut, downtown.  Wow.  Funded by the Gateway Foundation, Citygarden is literally a walk in the park.  A meandering trail takes you through wonderful native plant gardens, lush landscaping, water falls and pools and a playful “spray plaza” (good for kid soaking) and amazing sculptures.  Even surrounded by sounds of traffic,  the peacfulness is wonderful.    Jim Fiala of the “Crossing”, “Liluma” and “Acero” fame will be opening the “Terrace View” restaurant within the next 60 days.  All in all, its a great place to go to “get away from it all” even though you’re right in the middle of it all.  Next time someone says “what’s to do?”, why not get ‘em into the car and “c’mon down” and visit the urban oasis known as Citygarden.

Saw a great production of “Mary Poppins” yesterday in Chicago as part of a press trip, compliments of our friends at the Fox Theatre.  Its coming here in August with its original, London and Broadway star, Gavin Lee, as Bert.  Mary,  played by Ashley Brown ( the original Belle in “Beauty and The Beast on B’way),  is long time Muny alum and in great voice in the show.   We had the chance to go backstage to meet a few of the cast and its always amazing to me the number of people in major productions - across the country - who have that Muny or St Louis theatre connection - there are four in show.  Quite honestly, I wasn’t expecting to enoy it  - hey its “Mary Poppins” and with the movie as my benchmark…well….  But man was I surprised.  What an entertaining show.   Great music, dancing and staging makes the show a really enjoyable theatre experience.   Typical, exhuberant, fun Disney production and a great time for all the family.    Its at the Fox starting in August.  Tickets are still available for the show’s 3-week run.  My guess is that once word-of-mouth kicks in it’ll be a “hard ticket” - so I recommend planning ahead.

Just a short reflection on this past Father’s Day.  We had one of those weeks were it was go-go-go…always something going on - every night!  So it was nice to spend time with my sons on Wednesday for Father’s Day (they were both working on the weekend).  Great night AND they picked up the tab!  But special thanks to my wife, Kathleen, who said “…its Father’s Day, we’ll do whatever you want…”.  So when I got off work, it was a movie and dinner at home.  Perfect end to the weekend.  Hope you, if you celebrated, had as good a time as I did for Father’s Day.

Just finished a very busy weekend working with some great charities - known and unknown.  Of course the Komen race raised big bucks with lots of walkers and runners.  The Buddy Walk for the Down Syndrome Association was a much smaller event - maybe a 1000 folks involved -but no less passionate about their cause and families.  But possibly the most moving event I attended over the weekend was for a very small, grass roots group called “I Am Somebody”.  A few families in a small, cozy U-City neighborhood who get together to raise money for a local school that works with kids with disabilities,  by collecting folk’s leftover change.  Whatever you’ve got - bring it by - they’ll take it.  Nothing fancy at this event,  just mom’s cookin’ hot dogs, free soft drinks, a magician for the kids (and some of us adults who still can’t figure out the tricks), the hook and ladder truck from the fire department, the police department, Fredbird, and friends and neighbors of all stripes, color, age  and backgrounds being neighbors - helping out people, some of whom they know and some they don’t.  Its real charity work  and while it may not be fancy it sure is special.  Check out their website at www.iamsomebody.net.

Busy, busy weekend coming up with the Komen Race tomorrow morning.  We’ll be in front the of station as we have been for the last few years cheering everyone on.  65,000 plus is a great testament to the folks in St Louis who make the Komen Race a huge success.  Then, on a much smaller, but no less important, scale Sunday morning its the annual “Buddy Walk” for the benefit of the Down Syndrome Association.  It starts at 11am on the upper Muny parking lot.  Lots of fun both days for two great groups.  I hope to see you at one or the other - or both!  And by the way, thanks to all the restuarants who participated in the “Dining Out For the Cure”,  Thursday night.

Good for the city of Clayton, passing the first reading of a new bill that would ban smoking in public spaces including offices/businesses, stores, hotels and restuarants.  We eat out a lot and its a pain to have to deal with smoke in a restaurant or bar situation.  Its time for everyone to recognize that smoking bans don’t effect business in the long run and according to restuarant owners in cities like NY and SF where smoking has been banned for years, it  has even helped business by making the dining, drinking and party environment better all the way ’round.   Maybe its time for us to pressure our state reps to get the state to step in and make it a statewide law so that the local officials aren’t so worried about getting re-elected or whatever it is they’re worried about.  Without trying to get into everyone’s business it would be nice if everyone would admit that smoke is not only offensive but also dangerous and should be allowed only in the privacy of one’s home and/or car.  Two cities - (Ballwin and Clayton) down - 89 to go in the county and the City too.

So I got a few comments on the kinds of things to do around St Louis in summer that cost little or no money.  The usual suspects dotted the list:  The Zoo, Forest Park, etc.  But what else?  A lot of us who have lived here all, or most all of, our lives have one or two things that they haven’t done(i.e. ride up the Arch, take the Brewery tour, etc.).  And vice-versa.  You may have done some things that the rest of us haven’t.  How about sharing?Just shoot me an email at edgoodman@kezk.com  and let me know a cool thing or two you’ve done around town that we should try.  I’ll post the responses I get and we’ll all be able to have a little more fun in and around our city.