June 21, 1991: Raymond and Marina came.
June 22 & 23, 1991: Old Settlers' Picnic."
What a blast Old Settlers' (possessive, or not?, not sure) used to be. Some that aren't old enough to remember may marvel at the fact that we had a midway on Main Street in Winside once upon a time. A ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl, octopus, swings and several kiddie rides. There were ticket booths and food stands and a water fight competition with surrounding towns showing up, and a parade. There used to be a talent competition, too, and Dale and I went up there as little toads and sang "The Battle of New Orleans", mainly because we knew it very well, having listened to it endlessly on Grandma's old stereo. The churches in town had food stands. I don't know which church or if they all did it, but you could get a bottle of pop out of a livestock water tank that had been buried in ice and ice water for a while. Those pops were soooo cold and sooo good. I normally had way more ride tickets than my friends because Grandpa would spoil me by buying tons of them. It is nice to know they are currently gearing up for Winside's 125th year in 2015. Hopefully the fine folks up there will come up with a great celebration.
"In 1814, we took a little trip, along with Colonel Jackson down the Mighty Missisip. We took a little bacon and we took a little beans and we fought the bloody British in the town of New Orleans . . ."
I think I've maybe used this photo before, but it is the best for a post about Dale and me back in the day.
Ahh! Old Settlers! I think it started out years ago as a one day thing. People would bring their lunch at have a picnic. Lots of them had their picnic by the old school. And for some reason it was on a Thursday. Later it expanded to 2 days. When I was growing up there were two highlights each year - Old Settlers and The Dane Dance. For Old Settlers you needed at least three new outfits. One for the night before, one for THE day, and one for the dance that night. All three churches had food stands. Which must be why I didn't see you kids perform - must have been pulling my shift in the stand. I don't remember that you told me you were going to do it.
ReplyDeleteLove this blog. We used to go to the Old Settlers Day parade and picnic when I was a child in the 1950s. I won a hundred yard dash for children there once. What a thrill that was! The last time I went was in 1990 for the 100th celebration. My father was in his element telling us all about the places and people he had know as a child growing up on a farm near Winside. So glad to hear about the 125th celebration. It wouldn't be the same without dad.
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting! So glad to know you are a reader and that you enjoy the blog. I, too, have very fond memories of Old Settlers. I did not win any races, but I did get what I thought was an enormous number of ride tickets from my grandfather every year. I also marched in the parades when I was in high school band. Good times.
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