Show vW'¥'vwri rpT fry Wednesday December 15 2004 Off the Wasatch By Roger Baker Transported by fine music Just for the record the Utah Symphony concert last at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts at Snow College would have been more expensive in Abravanel Hall Tickets for the individual Masterworks Concerts on the Wasatch Front are from each and involve negotiating nasty weather nasty drivers and gas prices that require a cosigner for a fillup The ticket itself may require a cosigner for my family But cost isn’t the point The priceless music is transporting: It can take us from here off the Wasatch to anywhere we want to be It always takes me back home to the memory of my dad practicing his music in the living room while I fell asleep in the cool back bedroom or the warmer furnace room in the basement It takes me back to concerts in the acoustically sensis tive tabernacle and the backstage meetings with the violinists who preceded Ralph Matson who performed at Snow There was Jascha Heifetz Yehudi Menuhin Isaac Stern and more recently the past conductor of the orchestra Joseph Silverstein It also takes me back to the early days of the Utah Symphony Orchestra Although the first efforts of Utah settlers resulted in an orchestra concert in the Salt Lake Theatre on May 17 1892 the real beginnings of the current Utah Symphony were in 1940 It was part of a government program intended to pull us out of the Great Depression It is part of my memory since my dad was there almost from the start tenure with the During Maestro Maurice Abravanel’s in 12 school concerts was performed in symphony only Salt Lake County the rest were off the Wasatch Each year the orchestra made a swing through Utah that included “college concerts” in Price Ephraim' Cedar City and St George along with the obligatory trips to Ogden and Logan Symphony records even include a concert in Mona Abravanel seemed at home with the rural communities of Utah Perhaps it was his eclectic background He was born in Greece of parents He grew up in Switzerland was educated in Berlin and worked in Paris Melbourne and Sydney before accepting an appointment at the Metropolitan Opera in New York In Utah he built what we enjoyed at the Ephraim concert Abravanel claimed he was the only United Nations that worked Music must imprint the memory I noticed audience members practically humming along on the Beethoven violin concerto These are people who probably haven’t enjoyed a live performance of this work for many years Many folks here off the Wasatch are as sophisticated music listeners as the high rollers who can pop for the $47 for Wasatch Front tickets Others just know good music when they hear it And fortunately we can hear it here in our own communities In addition to at least a dozen holiday conweek there certs provided by the Snow College Music Department are community events like The Central Utah Dance Acadversion the and the Snow of “Nutcracker” Collegecom-munitemy presentation of Handel’s “Messiah” Every local public school is putting on a musical and on Sunday the Snow College Children’s Choir will perform Perhaps Emily Dickinson could have had music in mind as well as books when she wrote about the transporting power of the text Editing her words a bit “there is no frigate like music to take us lands away” And the music of the Utah Symphony at Snow College was transporting nr r y '¥ Sanpete MessengerGunnison VMey Edition Homemade gifts were highlights of holidays Hallway doors were nailed shut to give Santa time to set up Christmas! By Holly Nicholes Staff writer SPRING CITY — In the days when Spring City housed twice as many families and soap was made at home from fat and lye John and Lola Jane Justesen’s girls welcomed Christmas by stretching streamers of red and green paper from the center of the ceiling to the walls of the living room Winona (“Winnie”) Allred the youngest of the eight children recalls how her father would always cut a cedar tree and bring it in on Christmas Eve He knocked the snow off cleaned it up and tied it to the corner wall with a rope so it wouldn’t fall Nephew Jack later remembered Allred and her sisters decorating cedar trees with trunks so big that they didn’t need a stand to hold them up The girls popped and strung up popcorn to strew around the tree They lit the tree with little candles real candles clipped onto the branches The Christmas cedar was left up for two weeks In addition to being the postmaster the water master and the mayor Allred’s father was also a manager at the coop that once stood across from Strate Garage near what has more recently been Van Dyke’s VIP Since he was over all the toys in the store he was able to get the things the children asked for For the toys were Christmas wrapped and sequestered in the loft of the root cellar that still stands on the south side of the house where Allred was born and still lives The cellar was padlocked so the children couldn’t peek and pry On Christmas the door leading to their upstairs bedrooms was nailed shut so Santa could come without being seen He usually brought each child one gift The gift that stands out now in Allred’s memory is a beautiful doll given to her sister Cora Mother made all kinds of candy and a big round fruitcake that she wrapped and put away in a drawer until Christmas The children would cut off pieces of the fruitcake and put them aside for Santa although Allred admits he never ate it Could it be that Santa didn’t like fruitcake? Christmas dinner was chunks of big link sausage PHOTO COURTESY OF CYNTHIA (Above) Winona Allred 93 relaxes in her home next to a family heirloom a spinning wheel (Below) family picture circa 1927 made from pork by Father and Mother along with mashed potatoes hot rolls vegetables and plum pudding which actually had no plums in it but was served with a sauce made from blue plum juice Of course everything was made at home Among other things the family made their own butter and buttermilk grew their own potatoes and vegetables got their eggs from their own chickens and raised cows and pigs They even made their own starch by drying the potato water which brings back an entirely different understanding of the phrase “made from scratch” Allred says now you have to have a lot of money and be up in the big shopping areas where you can get the toy cars boats and airplanes When she was young it was not all the shopping and fussing that it is today She said “We enjoyed our family" and ALLRED century-ol- Winona Justeson Allred’s family in 1927 when she was Cora John (her growing up in Spring City Back row father) Winona Lola Jane (her mother) and Cora Front row Cleo Edith Evans Hazel (hands clasped) Inez and Maxine Winona is the last survivor Christmas was mostly a family affair On New Year’s Day however the young people in the community got together for bobsledding Later Allred's children participated in the traditional Christmas Eve town parties that were put on by the Sunday school Her daughter Cynthia says Santa came with a sack of candy and the children did square dances that they had learned from Mr Bunnell These were not days when everyone wore Levis they dressed up for the party still Today Spring-Cithas a traditional town Christmas party and the adult Allred children carry on their family Christmas traditions as they go about town in cars or wagons to sing carols and deliver treats This- season as the oldest woman born and raised in Spring City Winona Allred now affectionately referred to as Grandma Fuzzy will celebrate her 93rd Christmas Narcotics Anonymous Meetings In Sanpete Mon: 7 pm ML Pleasant MATR Treatment Guess vho's You coming for never know exactly when Mother Center 265 N State Weds: 7 pm Snow College wite Greenwood upstairs (next week at 7 7 pm Manti 450 Nature will visit but you know she wilL And she'll probably show up for her w Student Center Fri: inter S 600 p m) W NA Hotline- bring surprises Be prepared We're taking steps to make sure we're ready in case she's especially fierce and knocks out power and you should too Make an outage kit Have these items in a bag or backpack: flashlight radio or wind up clock extra batteries manual can opener canned foods and bottled water Keep this important number near your phone: I to report an outage and to help us pinpoint your location Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings in Sanpete Mon: 8 pm Wed: 8 Ephraim 390 W 100 N pm ML Pleasant 10 N State (Rec Center upstairs) pun Gunnison (circular apartment 8 We’re ready too W'e've been pruning trees and investing in our system to cut down on problems before they start But if a storm does knock out power or cause a major outage we have teams from all over our service area standing by to help For your copy of Getting Ready for Mother Nature our booklet w'ith tips to help you prepare for an outage and to see what we do to get the lights back on visit utahpowernetoutageStill have questions? Call us anytime at can’t outwit Mother Nature But we’re working on it You bulking behind Gunnison Market) 11:30 am Ephraim Snow Student Greenwood Center Student College Life Office Thu: 8 Fri: (12 7 pun pm Ephraim 390 W 100 N ML 10 N Stale Center Sun: '4 UTAH POWER (Rec upstairs) am ML Pleasant ION State (Rec Center upstairs) 10 District AA Hotline eauMPtofiCorp closed) Pleasant |