So, here in Port Clinton, we are getting ready for the Walleye Festival this upcoming weekend. It’s not a huge festival but it still takes a week to set up. Jake and I have been going up there each day – sometimes more than once! – to check on their progress. We saw all the trucks arriving one by one and then we saw them start to ‘transform’. He had seen a ride truck on Mighty Machines on the internet where a semi trailer folded down its sides and popped out a ride after a few pieces were put in place. Thus he called that ‘transforming’! He is such a little smartie pants!
While watching all this activity all week, I began thinking of festivals, fairs, and entertainment in general from years past. You know me, always thinking 50-100 years ago instead of the present! So of course I was wondering what my Grama Elsie would have done for entertainment in her early adult years or even later with her small kids. I’m sure there were no festivals like this one but there were county fairs. I’m sure they were quite different than the fairs today – no big rides and tons of food stands.
I think the old time county fairs were more about sharing different farming skills and such – the kids with their animals, the 4-H girls with their sewing and cooking projects, and the ladies with their quilts, pies and canned goods. I was in 4-H when I was younger. We entered little sewing projects. It was a lot of fun. Later I had a ‘boyfriend’ when I was about 16 or so – our families were close friends – who was from a farming family. They lived in the next county over so I got to stay with them during fair week so I could go with him and his sister to the fair each day. She had some sewing projects too and Jim had a cow for his 4-H project. We sat in the cow barn most of the week! LOL So much fun! One of the days that we did go strolling around looking at all the tractors – again, fun times! – it started raining really hard so we sat in a covered combine cab waiting until it was over! What a week that was! I really should scrap it. It really was a fun week – I shouldn’t be laughing – it’s just that I can’t see myself ever being a farmer’s wife now that I’m grown and looking back. I’m way too lazy! Those people just work tooooooo hard for me! LOL
I do remember Grama talking about a few dances and things she would go to when she was young. But of course, they were kind of told in passing and I never pressed for details at the time. Oh, how I wish I ever would have! I’m sure if she were still here, I’d sit with her for hours on end listening to stories from her childhood. Anyway, I don’t know if she ever said where these dances were or if I just don’t remember. I think she may have mentioned Cedar Point once or twice but that would have been quite a ways for them to go just for a dance. Where they lived is a good 50-70 miles away from Cedar Point. I know someone had a car because I have a picture of her in a car but I don’t know whose it was or if it was available to her to take that far from home.
My mom lived in the same neighboring county when she was young and she told me once about coming to Port Clinton to get peaches at the end of the summer. Being that far away, it was pretty much a whole day trip for them. She remembers getting the baskets of peaches and then going swimming in the lake. I can’t imagine her going swimming since she hates the water so maybe she waded or something and watched the other kids swimming.
These pictures are not from when my mom came up here as a girl but much earlier. These are from around 1900. We’ve always had peaches and grapes in this county. We still have a lot of wineries but not many grapes! It is mostly all tourism now at this end of the county and the islands but we did used to be quite the farmers!
If you notice in this photo, there is a small band playing on the corner on the right hand side of the picture. I don’t know if you can see it on the scan and then the reduced size photo on here. Let me tell you about these two pictures. They are both taken at the corner of Madison and Second Streets – right smack in the center of downtown! The one with the pole was taken in 1900 and the other one in 1906. The 1900 photo has this written on it, although I think it was written on recently (1990s) by one of the museum’s curators:
“Peach Auction. Madison Street was blocked off with wagons lined up along Second Street, each taking their turn. The auctioneer stood in the wagon at the head of the line. Buyers came from many cities and towns to buy loads of peaches. Sometimes Second Street was blocked off and the wagons lined up on Madison Street. Note the band playing in the right foreground. The corner store was H. Hesselbart’s and next to it was Dr. Watt’s Jewelry Store, a barber shop, then Neidecker Furniture and Undertaking.”
Yes, you read that correctly; Neidecker’s had a furniture store and funeral parlor right in the same building! Makes you wonder exactly who has been sitting and lying on that furniture! Yikes! There aren’t any furniture stores here any more but Neidecker’s is still a funeral home. I don’t know if there are any of the original Neidecker families in the business but I would think not. I think Betty Neidecker was one of the last of the line around here and she is quite elderly.
Well, I started out with the Walleye Festival and ended with the Peach Auctions! Quite a stretch I suppose – but you know me, always rambling! There is a whole wealth of information about all of this and other fairs and festivals available online today. Even if you have no photos and no stories from your ancestors, you can still include this kind of information in your heritage albums. You know your ancestors did
something to entertain themselves! This is the kind of ‘fluff’ that really brightens up your albums and family history research. Don’t you ever wonder about things like this? And if you wonder about it today, you know your kids and future generations are going to think about it too. Even if they can’t visually see one of their own ancestors in a setting like this, they can certainly visualize it if you give them something to start their imaginations working!
Stop over to Heritage Scrap and check out my upcoming chat and challenge - Heritage Hunting! It is sure to be fun and you might even learn something! Beginners and experts alike - the more the merrier. We will be combining genealogy, family history, family stories and legends, photos, journaling and much more to make our heritage albums and other presentations of our family history more interesting and understandable. Stop by the Heritage Hunting thread for more info or see the flyer in the gallery. Hope to see lots of friends and meet new friends too!
