Laundry Day
Lonnie May 15th, 2008
Eastwood Laundry Day
Sustainable laundry in the “village within the city”
June 28, 2008, all day and into the evening
EVERYONE IN EASTWOOD, HANG OUT YOUR LAUNDRY TO DRY ON JUNE 28!
Sean Kirst column in Post-Standard, May 21, 2008 (click on the image to enlarge)
Eastwood Laundry Day is an idea that developed from a Walkable Eastwood blog post on the joys of drying clothes out on the line. Eastwood has always been a place that thinks sustainable laundry is fine - we still have so many fine old clothesline T’s. In the interest of reducing our carbon footprint, it would be great to see more of us using them. We would also like to support those who want to dry their clothing sustainably but who live in communities where it is illegal.
To get a greater understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of this effort, see the Project Laundry List website. This international group is watching what we’re doing with great interest. We’d like to see Laundry Day take off, not only in other neighborhoods in Syracuse, but in other cities anywhere.
The Eastwood Laundry Day Committee has decided to keep the day simple but fun:
Residents and business owners put out lines of laundry in view of the street - could be plain old clothes really being dried on existing back yard lines, clothes artistically strung from a front porch, actual art, Tibetan prayer flags, whatever inspires the clothesline owner. The idea is to have them up from early in the morning or even the day before.
The day publicly begins at the Eastwood Plaza at a civilized hour, probably at 10:00 a.m. (stay tuned for details!), where folks can meet their neighbors over a cup of coffee. Perhaps there will be live music or other form of entertainment. Anyone in need of clothesline hardware could buy it right there at our neighborhood hardware store.
Anyone who needs some help putting up a clothesline should contact us here or in the comment box below. We’ll see if we can get some willing hands to pitch in.
We have many more ideas for the kinds of fun that could go on that day.
If you’ll be hanging your laundry out on June 28, please let us know in the comment box below!
A Line in the Yard: The Battle Over the Right to Dry Outside
I will be putting up two folding racks on my front lawn with red white and blue towels.
I have also asked my husband to brainstorm a way to squeeze a laundry line in our backyard, it might not happen for awhile but at least it is on the list.
Gwen
I’m sure we could come up with some volunteers on Laundry Day to visit your back yard and help with the brainstorming!
I’ll be hanging a very short but functional clothesline out my apartment window - I desperately want Grant village to be part of the Eastwood Community.
Thank you for the reality check that our busy lives needed!
lonnie - you’ll be getting our symbolic support from the southwest corner of the city: i can guarantee we’ll have laundry on the line, since saturday is catchup day.
i even dry my towels, although it leads to good-natured family disagreement: my daughter, for instance, feels line-dried towels are a bit too scratchy.
thanks for getting the whole thing rolling.
sean
Lonnie, I love this idea. I had just taken 6 shirts in the house that were creatively (no line) hung outside when I grabbed my coffee and read the article this morning. I love this idea. The fresh smell, the no iron, the save energy….what’s not to like, and we can all use a few bends and stretches!! Where did all the clothes pins go?
I am in Auburn NY but, want to be in on the June 28 fun. I will spread the news here and hopefully everyone from Eastwood to Auburn will catch on! Thanks!! “Hang” in there! –Debby
Lonnie,
I hang clothes out whenever I can. There is nothing like that frest smell.I remember my mother doing this because we didn’t have a dryer, just a wringer washer back in the ’50s and 60s’! She had an ‘umbrella clothes line’ that she used with particular discretion. Large sheets and blankets and linens on the outer lines and under garments and socks on the very inner lines -you didn’t want your neighbors seeing your personal items. I laugh about it now, but that was the methodology in those days. Good for you for bringing back a bit of the past that is really an answer for the future environment. I live less than 2 miles away from you and will support your June 28th Laundry Day - Mary
Wow, the response to this is excellent! As a co-instigator of this process, I have a couple more thoughts…
For those concerned about time or other factors, drying outside doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing process… sometimes I’ll just put larger items outside (oh, horrors, he’s not a purist!). Even though some items are still dried in the machine, the smaller items take less than half the time needed for drying “everything” together, so some energy is still saved.
And when the weather’s lousy, I’ll just hang things on the back porch. It’s a little slower but works fine.
Finally, we manly men might feel a little less Viking-like when hanging clothes out to dry. If you can’t just get over it, I’d recommend wearing a mask or funny hat for anonymity.
We’re in!
Are you in for delivering fliers about Laundry Day? Or for hanging clothes out on the line on Laundry Day? Either way, it’s great to have you on board! Anyone who can deliver fliers to residences sometime mid-June, please contact me here: http://walkeastwood.org/index.php/contact/
I am in, sounds like a great way to get the community to work together. we just moved here a year ago and are looking for ways to meet people. I would love to help out in any way - passing out flyers, etc.
We’re going to try to hang a mini line on the pillars of our front porch on N Midler.
you guys looked great in the parade!!
I (or my husband) will hang something in the front of our house on Forest Hill Dr…we have a huge tree in the front and can probably string from there to the house
i’m also going to figure out a way to have a line in the backyard to use to dry the laundry.
I can’t wait to take a walk on Laundry Day to see what you’ve got out there!
[...] Laundry Day [...]
Southampton Yanks Down Law Banning Clotheslines: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/suffolk/ny-lidry0529,0,4881907.story
Lonnie, I think this is a great opportunity for creative people in Eastwood to show their talents to the neighborhood by hanging their work. This project has inspired me to clip hand-painted t-shirts with a “green” design on a clothesline on Woodbine. Thanks for telling me about this event, Antoinett!
A British friend of the masculine persuasion found this site and emailed me this comment: “I’ve had a browse through the Walkable Eastwood website, and was really interested by “Laundry Day”. I’ve taken some more steps over the last month or so to try and cut down on the amount of energy I use, and one of the things I’ve done is buy a double-reel retractable clothes line for the back garden (being a man, I just *had* to go for the complicated option that involved using macho power tools for the installation!) and a wooden fold-up airer so I can dry clothes indoors when the weather is poor. In the last month, I haven’t used the electric dryer once… that’s a pretty good result. In fact, I’m just about to go to bed under some fresh line-dried sheets!”
Lonnie! Hi! (and thanks so much for the kind “welcome to the neighborhood” letter!) I LOVE this laundry day idea, we just moved upstairs in your old house on nichols from DeWitt, where it’s illegal to hang laundry. I’m so relieved to be in such a cool community now, as I’ve gotten a ticket for the dumbest stuff in dewitt, up to and including a ticket for having my trash can in my own driveway. apparently they don’t want to see them ANYWHERE unless it’s friday morning… uptight little…… anyways. We’ll absolutely participate in laundry day, this is so cool!!!
Your new neighbors,
Sarah & Harry (and Luna, our dog, too!)
We had our laundry drying on our front porch today! And, we saw the rainbow shirt display on Hickok! We were in and around the house all day but didn’t see any response until around 6PM. We were still slaving away, in the back, at a day of gardening. Our neighbor from down the street stopped by and asked, “Is the clothes line in the front permanent?” Of course I said “Yes, we’re keeping it forever!” because it seemed like such an odd question. He said, “I was shocked, because this is one of the nicest houses on the block. It’s just horrible.” So, I tried a few explanations. “Today is Eastwood Laundry Day.” [Blank Stare] “We are promoting the solar clothes dryer.” [Blank Stare] Amber tried, “We are trying to draw attention to energy conservation.” “Well, you certainly got my attention.” “Good,” I said. Then we plugged walkeastwood.org. I don’t think we have a convert, but at least we are spreading the message.