Plan now for FC’s Pioneer Day
Are you as excited as I am for Franklin County’s Pioneer Day celebration?
When I was a middle school student, a few classmates and I were selected to be part of a pioneer-esque heritage celebration for younger students. We dressed in period clothing and were each assigned a station to demonstrate.
My assigned station was a game that in my memory was called hoop sticks. According to Wikipedia, however, it is known as the game of graces. Two players would toss a wooden hoop to each other by hanging it on a pair of crossed rods and then snapping the rods apart, so the hoop would go sailing away, and the other player would catch it on her rods.
It was a pastime that, again according to Wikipedia, was “a proper game – one befitting young ladies and, supposedly, one that would make them more graceful.”
It was great fun but also quite challenging.
I also cherish fond memories of trips to Pioneer Park in Loachapoka, where visitors could try their hand at harvesting sugar cane, learn about herb gardening, witness blacksmithing, tap their feet to the music of the Whistle Stop Pickers dulcimer group and enjoy an old-fashioned dinner cooked over fire.
I love that period of American history, when little girls had simple fun like the game of graces. Like many little girls of the modern era, I grew up reading the “Little House on the Prairie” books – and watching the TV show, a favorite thing my mom and I loved to do together – and wondering what it would be like to travel the dusty trails in a covered wagon, to only own one or two dresses, to spend the evenings by the light of a kerosene lantern, to make maple candy and play with my rag doll and – oh, all of it.
There’s a certain nostalgia that surrounds those pioneer days, despite the extreme hardship. It was an exciting, formative time in our country’s history and a heritage that I think we can be proud of.
Now, Franklin County will set aside a special day to celebrate that heritage we hold dear, May 12 at Sloss Lake.
Living history demonstrations and re-enactments will be the order of the day, and it’s sure to an interesting and educational experience. I can hardly wait.
Dust off your bonnet and starch your apron, and I’ll see you there!
