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Good bit of discussion about July 4th celebration in public forums recently. Worcester celebrated "Independence Day" long before the Historical Society or fireworks. Here is a description from 81 years ago, as recorded in the Montpelier Evening Argus, with snarky, quirky editorial comments in italics. “In spite of the weather… What else is new? “… practically the entire population of the town… That would have been 396 souls, according to the census of 1940. “…gathered at the village to celebrate the 4th of July. The exercises went off with a bang and everybody enjoyed the day despite the rain. Rain or shine, we know how to party! “The parade, scheduled to be at 10:30, was held at noon. The color guard was probably late arriving. “Leading was Mrs. Betty Fielders mounted on a spirited horse and carrying the U. S. Flag, and Lonny Martin, mounted on another spirited horse. They were followed by a group of Grangers. [Worcester’s Grange sponsored the parade.] Then came the floats, the Grange decorated in yellow and white, carrying a member of the Grange; the 4-H "Hill Billies" and the "Vermont Helpers" in an evergreen decorated float with the boys displaying their hens and calves… What about the roosters and knees? “…and the girls demonstrating their cooking and sewing; after this came the Ladies Aid [a WW II organization] on an attractively decorated float in blue and white with Mrs. Laura Kellogg and Mrs. Mary Maxham busily engaged in spinning, and dressed in keeping with the ‘spinning days’ and the motto 'The church serves the world’ marking this float. A Victory float, [Remember, this is 1943] "United we Stand," decorated in red, white and blue… How original. “…and carrying small boys… No large boys were allowed? “…dressed to represent the different branches of the service was very attractive and timely. Then a very attractive float decorated in evergreen carrying tiny girls… Not just small, but tiny? “dressed in Red Cross costumes deserved special attention. They were so cute! “After this a group of attractive ponies and horses. No unattractive or spirited ponies and horses permitted. “Another feature was a march in the hall with the tiny Red Cross nurses participating. They really were so cute. “The judges found it very difficult to award the ribbon but after much thought gave first prize to the 4-H float, 2nd to Ladies Aid and 3rd to the Grange. Hey - what about the tiny nurses? They were overlooked. They must have been devastated! “First ribbon for mounts went to Katherine Bowen, second to Lucille Maxham and third to Ethel Persons and for the ‘horribles,’ Earl Lewis. Not very cute at all! "Following the parade… Probably at about 12:10 PM. “…a cafeteria dinner was served in the hall to about 200. After dinner Sicily's orchestra from Marshfield rendered a delightful program… No rock and roll? “and a service flag for our boys was dedicated. This part of the program was in charge of Rev. F. H. Cresey who then introduced the guest speaker, Ray Daniels, from Montpelier. No one left the building, and the children were quiet. “Then came the sports, consisting of tugs of war for boys and men, and girls and women; three legged races, running races and ball games. These sports finished the afternoon exercises. "At eight o'clock the orchestra gave an out-door concert after which the crowd assembled in the hall for the vaudeville show and amateur program. [All the vaudeville acts, which were mainly songs and skits, were listed with the names of the presenters. This blogger is getting tired of typing, so here he includes just those names:] Ida Welch, Ida Wheeler, Alberta Barney, Lanny Martin, Earl Day, Betty Fielder and Gyneth Hogaboom. If you want to know about what anyone did, check with this blogger by email ([email protected]) and he'll let you know.] “After these presentations, the amateurs took over. Why they are singled out as “amateurs?" [All the amateur acts, which were also mainly songs and skits, were listed with the names of the presenters.This blogger is getting even more tired of typing, so here he includes include just those names: Eldon Brown, two Marshfield girls, Ida Cooney, Barbara Cooney, Mrs. Hinckley, two girls from Shady Rill, Ida Welch, Eva Martin, Mervin Wells, Mrs. Raymond Utton, Wendall Billado yodeled, John Alden, Delma Story, Mrs. Fletcher and Earl Lewis.] Hoping to recoup from the “horribles,” no doubt. According to this vivid description of Worcester's 4th of July, 1943, prizes for all this talent were awarded as follows: "First prize, $2, Wendell Billado… This guy could really yodel! "Second prize, $1, Mrs. Hinckley, third prize 50 cents, Mervin Wells. But wait! That's not all. "After this the floor was cleared for dancing and the festivities closed with this social hour. It had to be after midnight! “Hot dogs and cola were served during the dance. Finally. A food vendor. “Between $80 and $90 were the receipts of the day." And, no doubt, there was hardly a peep to be heard the following morning because everyone slept in. A good time was had by all.
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 The pung shown in this old postcard (circa 1920, Rockport, Massachusetts) is probably similar to the one featured in Harry Dodge's account below. As far as we know, no photo of his actual pung remains. Gene Sweetser's recent comments on the Worcester Connects Community Facebook page about the slide he and friends used to take on a bobsled from way up Minister Brook almost ending in the Village made me think of the incredible ride of Harry Dodge in the early 1920's from their family home at the top of Gould Hill. Here is his description of the long and dangerous ride as told to his grandson, Chris:
"It was a nice March afternoon. My father had just gone to work. He had said earlier that he wanted to get rid of that ol' pung (a one horse sleigh) that was sitting in the back of our home. My brother and I decided to take the pung for a small ride. We got dressed and dragged the pung to the top of the nearby field and took off the shafts (the part of the sleigh that connects the sleigh to the horse). We started to slide down the hill. "If we had planned our trip correctly we would cross the property of many of our neighbors. We wanted to end up in the low lands by the North Branch of the Winooski River. We had gone about one-half mile when we came upon a stone wall fence. The wall was covered with a few feet of snow. This was between the road we wanted to cross and us. Needless to say, we could not stop the sleigh so we had no choice but to jump the stone wall. I told my brother to duck his head and I did the same. "We crossed the wall and took off into the air like a bird. We touched down with a crash and kept going. We heard a ping noise and my brother asked me, 'What's that?' "I replied, 'That was the top strand of Richardson's barb-wire fence.' "We kept going and heard the noise again and knew that we had made it to Ladd's fence. "By this time we were on level ground and heading for another stone fence. Again we hit and landed ten feet up in a tree. The seat went over our heads and into another tree. We landed with the sleigh on the ground. That same minute the seat landed in front of us on the ground and split into many pieces. Luckily, we were not hurt. We got out of the mess and I said to my brother, 'Well, no problem in getting rid of that ol' pung.' We went home and stoked the fire." |
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