Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
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Friday, April 18
The Newberry Library is having their annual book fair from Thursday through Sunday. They're also hosting the Bughouse Square Debates in Washington Square Park. There will be prizes for the best speakers and hecklers on Saturday.
The park became known as "Bughouse Square" because of the numbers of soapbox orators who would use it as a forum for public display and debate. This all happened about the time that the mansions around the park were being converted to rooming houses after the turn of the century and the bohemian element started moving in.