PLAINFIELD TODAY: Concertgoers undaunted; East Front Street flooded

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Concertgoers undaunted; East Front Street flooded

Overcast skies and a damp setting did not daunt
Thursday concertgoers.

Lawn signs throughout the neighborhood helped
drive attendance.

Undaunted by glowering skies, about a hundred Plainfield concert devotees turned out for the free summer concert at Plainwood Square Park Wednesday evening. (Producer Pat Fields had told me about 4:00 PM the decision was a "go", though it appears the County website got its wires crossed.)

Meanwhile, just blocks away, East Front Street, Terrill Road and the adjacent area of Scotch Plains and Route 22 were swamped by flash flooding.

Realtor and Plainfield booster Robert K. Graham (known as "Mr. Plainfield") did the honors as emcee for the concert, including navigating a tie between the two Plainfield Idol contestants when the audience applause failed (twice) to budge beyond loving both performances.

David Rutherford was also at the concert and posted his pix online (see here).

Meanwhile, using North Avenue as a shortcut to get to the concert, I had been struck by the amount of traffic feeding in from all the cross streets and culminating in a gigantic backup at the Leland Avenue stop sign near the Netherwood Post Office.

It became obvious as I left the concert and decided to head north to Front Street for a look-see. East Front Street was flooded from Leland Avenue well toward Berckman Street.

TAPinto Plainfield, as well as the Ledger and the Courier, had photographers out taking pictures of the flooding -- of which the most dramatic are of Plainfield DPW workers (is that John Louise?) rescuing a Reeve Terravce woman in the bucket of a John Deere front-end loader (see below).