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Show tl Creek ' --- - - - J Whether 'tis sun, wind, rain hail Or snow, this morning the good people of Battle Creek will be "putting on" Strawberry Strawber-ry Day again.- Nothing has stopped them during the past years and I suppose, nothing will stop them in 1970. There were a couple of times during World War II, when it seemed that the continuous chain of celebrations might be broken. Money was scarce and so many things needed for the celebrations were either rationed ration-ed or unavailable. On top of that many people thought they were just too involved in other things. However, town pride and patriotism pat-riotism overcame real or imagined im-agined excuses and the shows were put on the road without a miss. Thus it has been ever since. I well remember the pros and cons prior to the first celebration. celebra-tion. Some folks said it was a fine thing. Others argued that civic leaders were "fools for attempting it." I recall that Jim Thorne, Roy Smith, West Jacobs and I made a trip to Brigham City to talk to the boys up there about the "Peach Days" which had been a going concern for a few years. We came back, built up in our faith that a fruit festival of similar character was possible pos-sible in Pleasant Grove. Strawberries Straw-berries were an important cash crop in the local area at that time. There was no Chamber of Commerce in Pleasant Grove during the early 1920' s. However Howev-er there was a reasonable facsimile fac-simile of the same, called the "Wasatch Club" of which Jim Thorne was president and I was secretary -treasurer. Jim, I, and 8 other tried and true community boosters comprised the board of directors. But, the Wasatch Club was broke. So in order to get "working capital" all ten of the board of directors went to Bank of PI. Grove and signed a personal note for $50 each in order to get things moving. No one needed to tell any one of the 10 to work like the devil to make the first celebration celebra-tion a successs. We had an interest, in-terest, other than love of strawberries. straw-berries. After the first celebration proved entertaining, cultural, and a financial success, John R. Halliday, bank president, and also a Wasatch Club director, direc-tor, charged the club 10 cents each for the notes we had signed. sign-ed. That was in lieu of interest. That first celebration featured featur-ed two parades, a carnival, a rodeo, an evening dance, free strawberries, sugar, cream and a bread and butter sandwich. Farmers donated the berries, the dairies gave the cream and butter, the bakeries the bread and the sugar makers, the sugar. sug-ar. The rodeo was held in a cow pasture "west of the tracks" during the afternoon, since there was no lighted arena. It seemed that the riders strived a little harder to stay aboard their horses due to what the cows had left on the fiedl previously. pre-viously. During the rodeo a tier of moveable bleachers collapsed. No one was injured, except a Lehi woman who sustained a badly sprained ankle. She was a good sport and settled out of court for $25. If that first celebration did nothing else, it developed a lot of self confidence and community commun-ity loyalty, pride and a spirit of cooperation. Perhaps these are the chief values that come from any united un-ited community effort. So long 'til Thursday. |