I got so many positive comments about my memory lane column that I decided to add some more things to remember.

Here are some Sidney things: Remember going to downtown Sidney on a Friday night and not finding many parking places? It was fun just to sit and watch the people from your car. You always saw a friend or neighbor.

If you ordered something from Sears, you had to stand in line until the clerk went to the back to retrieve your items. How about the big shirt and pants that were hanging in Kauffman’s store? The Purity and Hetzel’s were a delight for the senses. Hetzel’s sold Easter eggs with little scenes in them. We had the White Front and the Yellow Front. I can remember how much fun Flynn’s was. We had two dime stores. The one on the east side of the square had wooden floors that creaked when you walked.

Uhlman’s had a U-shaped entrance. You could walk between the show windows and admire the stuff you knew you would never have.

As for restaurants, and this covers many years, we had Whitey and Ott’s, the Rosemary, and a little further out, the Apple Y and Jack’s Snack Shop.

How about Islay’s? They had a cone called the Skyscraper. Sometimes, we would go down on Sunday evening and get some hand-packed ice cream and then go home and watch “Bonanza.”

Someone reminded me of the little restaurant sort of in the courtyard of our old high school in downtown. It was called Amos and Andy’s. Before the days of closed lunch periods, kids could get lunch there.

Remember the popcorn wagon and the small candy store on the northwest corner of the court square?

When I was young, the library was in the Monumental Building.

When it got close to Easter, you could go to Murphy’s and buy little chicks that had their feathers dyed in a rainbow of colors.

Every year at Christmas, I would go to the basement of Murphy’s and buy another piece for my manger. Just one, because I only had a quarter or so. I could hardly wait to get home to add my new treasure to my collection.

We could go to Flints and go into a booth and listen to a 45 to make sure we wanted it. Now vinyl is making a comeback.

Some of the other stores I can remember were Kasten’s Jewelers, Montgomery Ward, Singers Market, Jerrold’s and Lady Jerrold’s. Also the Moore’s Store, Steiner’s Drug Store and the outside shoe shine stand.

I remember when the Ohio Building was filled. On the ground floor in the back was a bowling alley with, as I recall four, lanes. Of course, they also had pin boys and an elevated spectator section. There was also a snack bar. I think they had pool tables in the back, but the entrance was such that no matter how hard I tried, I could never see anything! Believe me, I tried!

We even had two theaters. Think of all the small neighborhood grocers we had. In my neighborhood, we had Jim Thompson’s meat market Albaugh’s and Litton’s. Downtown we had Minton’s and a little further north we had Timeus’s. A long time ago, there was Singer’s Market on S. Ohio. My grandpa lived on Franklin Street. I can still remember in my mind the mixture of smells from Sidney Aluminum and I think the Quality Bakery.

As I got older, we cruised from Frisch’s down by the Spot and back up to Frisch’s again.

This is just a glimpse of some things I remember. I know there are many, many more. Aren’t small towns great?