Carbondale rolls out the red carpet on the First Friday of every month as the community celebrates with art , shopping, dining and music. To kick off the evening Jaywalker Lodge hosts an open community Bar-B-Que dinner before the Friday night speaker meeting. After an inspiring sharing of experience, strength, and hope many of us set out to take in the First Friday fun. We made it downtown just in time to catch the 3rd Annual Lullubelle street fashion show featuring summer styles and music by DJ Mayfly. Next, we ventured into the historical Crystal River Theatre for their memorabilia sale to help fund the conversion from film to digital projection. As we made our way down main street we sampled food and music and enjoyed the art galleries. The Village Smithy hosted it’s Annual Family Block Party with activities for children and families. How about a little “Kirtan” I say to my fellow fun seekers. That was met with a resounding, “What the heck are you dragging us to?” With a little encouragement and the promise of raw chocolate and organic tea we made our way to True Nature Healing Arts to experience something new. Kirtan is one of the oldest sacred music traditions in the world which features ancient Sanskrit mantras and traditional instruments from India. We were instructed on how the meditative qualities of the participatory chants could help quiet our “monkey minds”. All agreed that we definitely felt better but that we might need just a, “little more work on our howling monkeys”. Next we traveled to the Famous Steve’s Guitars to experience Open Mic night. Carbondale’s own Matt Haslett (pictured above) rocked the house and was joined by Jaywalker Alumnus Adam M. and many more in a night capped with incredible music. Some departed to catch the Ten o’clock “Young and Restless” AA meeting and others experienced more Carbondale nightlife. Whoever has questioned the ability to have FUN in Recovery obviously hasn’t spent a First Friday in Carbondale !
With Gratitude,
Mark Kloster
Alumni Coordinator and Kirtan Fan
As Chief Executive Officer Bill provides leadership and manage all day-to-day operations of Jaywalker Lodge, an extended care residential addiction treatment program for adult men.
