No More Friday Night Lights

No More Friday Night Lights

There was a time in my life when fall brought the changing colors of the leaves, deer season, and Friday night high school football. The first two I still get to enjoy, but the latter is just a fond memory. The Friday night lights have gone out.
In small town America, nothing brings the town’s people together like high school football. The fans are your family, the players are your brothers and the cheerleaders are your sisters. There’s nothing quite like the sounds, sights and smells of it.
Ray White field in Sparkman was the battleground. The grass was fertilized through the summer with our blood, and our sweat. We were an army of brothers that may as well had been a battalion of Greeks, Trojans, or Spartans. But we were something more powerful, we were the mighty Raiders! To my left was a friend, to my right a cousin, and leading us was a great man, a great General.
Through the years the name of the mascot changed, but we were known by most as the Raiders. Our opponents knew us as the toughest group of players they had met. When we stepped on that field, we couldn’t be stopped, we wouldn’t be stopped. When I put on that purple and gold #33, I was strong, I was fast, I was bulletproof. I know all my brothers feel the same way. We trusted our coach, and we trusted each other. We could hear the cheers from the cheerleaders, we could hear the roar of the crowd. It was a feeling that cannot be duplicated by simply watching the game.
Now the lights are gone. Friday nights are quiet. All that is left are the memories. Memories of summer drills, wind sprints, pushups, and the searing heat. All those things resulted in the best memories of all, the memories of standing beside my purple and gold brothers, and never giving an inch.
No matter who your coach was, no matter when you played, and no matter your last name, you are a brother. When we see each other, we can’t help but talk about it and sometimes argue about it, but one thing we all agree on is that we all miss it. We miss the familiar voices on the loud speaker, and the names being called out.
Those before us had paved the way, and those after followed the road, and paved their own. Teams were bigger in size, players were larger in stature, but our heart couldn’t be matched.
So the lights are gone and the field is dark on fall Fridays in Sparkman. But they still shine bright inside every parent, fan, cheerleader, teacher and every single player who ever suited up. Keep the memories close, it is all we have left.
” Long we’ll hold the memories dear that fill our hearts today. Proud and beautiful forever, purple and gold will stay. Honor, honor to thee only, hail dear SHS, through the years we’ll all still love thee, hail dear Sparkman High”.
“In thy cause we’ll always rally, always uphold thee. Through thy wins and all thy losses, loyal we shall be. Honor, honor to thee only, hail dear SHS. Through the years we will all still love thee, HAIL DEAR SPARKMAN HIGH!”

Park Haven Community Garden

Park Haven Community Garden

So much emphasis these days is put on healthy eating. People are becoming more concerned with their health and the benefits of fresh produce. Often times it is more expensive to buy fresh produce. The best option is to grow your own, but not everyone has the space at home to put a garden, not even a small one. This is where Park Haven Community Garden in Hot Springs comes in.
Located at 655 Park Avenue, the Park Haven Community Garden covers thousands of square feet. Citizens can pay a small joining fee of $10, and a rental fee of only $5 to rent one of many 4ft by 8ft raised beds ready for planting. There are beds designed for those in wheelchairs also. This is a great opportunity for someone with a green thumb, but nowhere to plant their favorite vegetables. The garden is completely fenced and is very clean and landscaped. There is also an opportunity to share with other growers in the garden. My first visit, there were all kinds of great things being grown from collard and turnip greens to radishes and jalapeno peppers. There is access to water and irrigation to help with those summer months and the heat. There are future plans for tree nursery and a greenhouse for year around growing.
If you would love the chance to grow your own fresh vegetables, but don’t have the space, or just want to show off your green thumb and share with others, look into joining the Park Haven Community Garden. You can find additional information on their Facebook page, and also the application and rules and regulations.

CHEF’S SPOTLIGHT Alex Hampo

Chef’s Spotlight
Executive Chef Alex Hampo

Everyday , during racing season, tens of thousands of people flock to Oaklawn Racing in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The racing and gaming are why they are there. But while they enjoy the sights and sounds of the days festivities, folks get to enjoy some great food also. Have you ever wondered where all that food comes from, or who is in charge of that end of the operation? The answer to that question is Executive Chef Alex Hampo.
Oaklawn houses more than ten restaurants and eateries. It is a massive operation, and Chef Hampo was willing to take me on a tour, as well as answer a few questions. As we traveled by elevator, staircase and more hallways than I could count, I realized the enormity of the job he has everyday.
When someone starts cooking at an early age, they love food and love to talk about food. Alex Hampo is no exception. He is definitely a wealth of food knowledge. Chef Hampo, as a young boy, learned to cook from his grandmother who owned a restaurant in Chicago. One of the first things he learned to cook was beef goulash. The love of ingredients and passion for food were on display as Chef Hampo explained the origin of Hungarian goulash. As I stated before, he is a wealth of food knowledge. Perhaps Chef Hampo’s greatest advice was given to him by his grandmother, “Cook with your heart, and cook the food how you would love to eat it”. That advice should be taken by anyone who cooks. We all are our own biggest critics. Chef Hampo’s advice, also, was ” Simple is better”. While talking to Chef Angela Nix of Hot Springs’ Superior Bathhouse, she told me that this same advice had been passed on to her by Chef Hampo when she was a young girl and an aspiring chef.
So you might wonder, at what age does an executive chef start to cook. Well, for Chef Alex Hampo, his first job,at the age of 14, was working in an Italian restaurant. Busing dishes turned into helping out in the kitchen and cooking. All it takes is a short conversation with Chef Hampo, and you can tell the love for food and ingredients still runs deep inside him.
Chef Hampo’s style of cooking started out French but is now more French-American. “French cooking has been incorporated into all styles of cooking”. He names Beef Wellington as a favorite dish to make and eat as well as ingredients like saffron and Morel mushrooms. When I asked the question, Chef Hampo immediately started to go into detail about the ingredients and making sauces. I love to hear about and learn about food, so I could sit and listen to Alex Hampo all day.
So what is a typical day like for Executive Chef Alex Hampo? Well it starts in the early morning hours, making sauces and getting ready to supply food to the many kitchens and eateries at Oaklawn. Gallons and gallons of soups, sauces and chili. But perhaps the most impressive thing is the amount of corned beef that is cooked in the massive kettles in the main kitchen. On opening day, more than 10,000 pounds of corned beef is prepped, trimmed and cooked. The main kitchen is huge, and is a maze of culinary equipment. Chef Hampo navigates his way from kitchen to kitchen to make sure that the patrons are served the most flavorful and memorable food possible. Overseeing an operation this size, with multiple kitchens, restaurants and buffets, takes someone with a lot of patience and also a love for their craft.
Most people would think a chef goes home and puts together lavish meals everyday. On the contrary, a lot of chefs prepare simple meals at home. A married father of four, Chef Hampo enjoys simple meals at home with an occasional multiple course meal.
Any conversation with Chef Alex Hampo can easily turn into a Q&A session about ingredients and recipes. As a food lover, that is a welcome conversation for me. There’s so much a young food lover can learn and absorb from a seasoned chef. If you get a chance to sit down and talk to Alex Hampo, I suggest you listen and retain as much as you can. Especially if advice is given. When I asked if there was any advice he could give to young chefs, the answer was simple. “Cook with passion and heart. Be true to yourself and the food”. I believe that if this simple advice is followed, a person can’t go wrong.
I want to say a big thank you to Executive Chef Alex Hampo for taking time out of a very busy schedule so that I could give you some insight into a great chef. I also want to thank Oaklawn Racing and Gaming for allowing me the opportunity.
A really big thank you goes out to David Yerby for the awesome photos. A graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, David is an award winning photographer. You can contact David http://www.davidyerby.com/www.davidyerby.com. Award winning photography!