All week the weather people ….
All week the weather people could talk about nothing but the big snow storm coming. They talked enough to make some changes in my plans. It also put some words in my head that just kept spinning around.
The snow had begun in the gloaming, and busily all the night Had been heaping field and highway with a silence deep and white.
Of course those were the words of James Russell Lowell and somewhere I was exposed to them. Strange how things seem to flow back again.
So the storm has arrived and we will just have to see how much snow falls on the fields, highways and my driveway.
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It was kind of an exciting week with reminders of things to come. I was pleasantly surprised, and I’m sure many others in Loyal were too when the Clark County Male Chorus showed up in our churches to sing on Sunday morning. The news of things to come came when director Shelby Niskanaen announced the annual Spring Sing would be Saturday, April 4. I either didn’t hear or forgot the time and place, but I’m sure we’ll hear more about it in the weeks ahead.
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The other coming event is the 150th anniversary celebration for the city of Loyal. Bruce Hadler wanted to know one day what was in the time capsule buried by city hall. I had kind of forgotten all about it, but thought I’d just check it out.
Come to find out, it was filled and sealed during the big centennial celebration in 1970. This I uncovered by just going to the TRG and looking through their 1970 file of papers printed that year.
On hand to help with the filling and sealing was then Congressman Dave Obey who helped Mayor Bill Hesse and, I think, centennial chairman Wally Szymanski. It includes a centennial book, shaving permit, centennial tie, centennial seal, red garter, centennial button and a copy of the TRG. I think it is supposed to be opened in 2070. See you there, if we are still around.
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I like looking through the old files, but have a problem, as I soon lose track of what I’m looking for and have to read all the stuff printed back then.
That was 1970, and for sure awhile ago, but some things seem like they just happened. I had skipped the first couple of months since I knew it had to be in late August during the corn festival. But I did start early enough to catch a picture of the House of Spirits liquor store being built by Carl Myre. He had just sold his funeral home to Dick Roycraft the year before. It was completed just in time for the Corn Festival and Centennial celebration.
There were a couple of big fires that year. The Alfred Meyer barn burned and a few months later we made a big splash about the rebuilding of the barn during Wonderful Wisconsin Week. The picture we ran then was of the huge crew of neighbors and volunteers who showed up to help with the shingling of their new barn.
Then later in the year, one of Loyal’s downtown businesses, Northside Elevator, burned. My, what a change has taken place. For those of us who can remember, farmers used to back in, off Main Street to the loading dock, to load their sacks of newly ground feed.
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One business change I caught was the sale of the Loyal Hotel from the Ebert family to Joe Kowalczyk who was also a plumber.
Trinity Lutheran Church purchased a new organ that year and at the dedication had a dinner and charged $1.75 per plate.
Speaking of cost, that was the first year we ran the Mark Special and showed Mark sitting in his high chair at age one saying he just wanted to help his mom and dad. Subscriptions at the time were $3.00 a year.
I also caught an ad in which Julius Nysted was closing his Chevrolet garage. He stated that the injuries from an electrical accident three years prior was the cause. His garage was located right next to Vita Plus on Mill Street.
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Another big business story that year was the announcement by the Soo Line Railroad wanting to abandon the line from Marshfield to Greenwood. The businesses who used the railroad put up a good fight but I believe it hung on until the early 1980s. I recall that Mark and I got invited to ride the train on their last trip through town. The tracks were in terrible shape and top speed, where allowable, was 15 miles an hour.
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The Green Bay Packers were big news that year with the signing of Greenwood native Larry Krause. We ran a picture of him reading a telegram from his friends containing over 800 names.
In a hurry that morning, I didn’t spend any more time looking at all the news back then. But anytime I run short of things to write about I know just where to head. It is simply amazing how things you think just happened actually happened a lot longer ago than you thought.
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One thing I almost forgot. That was the Brothers of the Brush beard growing contest. I’m wondering how that will work with so many already sprouting beards now.
I still have my mustache, which I started back then. I thought I was in the running for guy that tried the hardest. I lost out to someone who showed up with a one-day growth of whiskers. He claimed he tried but his wife wouldn’t let him grow one, which convinced the judges to give him the trophy.
Then there was the trophy for “most unique” won easily by the Olson brothers, Denny and Donnie. They had actually grown full beards, but the night before the judging, they came up with the idea that each one would go home and just shave one side of their beards. I understand they had to double check when they got home on Saturday night, to make sure they were cutting the right side. We sure did have a grand time that year.
Judging from the crowd that attended the Chili Feed and their enthusiasm, along with all who were helping out, I would say Celebrate Loyal 150 is off to a good start.
