SPECIAL OCCURRENCES

There were annual events in the village, anticipated by young and old. The Caradoc Township Fair, Cooks Church Garden Party, Christmas concerts, Field Day for the Continuation School, picnics, Church anniversaries, Church suppers, The Agriculture Society annual dance and the Appin players presentation of their yearly play.

It took weeks getting ready for the Township fair or the school fair as it was known by the elementary students of every one room rural school and the pretentious two-roomer of the village. Weed collections required most of the summer to prepare. The next generation of artists would have to draw and re-draw their entry of a vase and flower until it showed the true skill of the young painter. It took many hours of needlework to perfect the embroidered tray cloth and the pen of three chickens raised from birth with tender loving care, had to show the perfection of breed.

Fair day started early in the morning; some of the students from the rural schools arrived with an unwilling calf, a colt recently halter broken, or a sheaf of grain with perfectly formed heads; and each straw stem the same length. Many hours of work went into the picking of the most perfect grain samples from a ten acre field. There was a prize for everything; potatoes and other vegetables, farm animals, pets, handywork, pickles, jams and preserves, baking, mounted school collections of weeds, wood, grains and stones and the handy work of a student in the form of a milking stool, bird house or someother article of wood that demonstrated the lessons taught in the weekly manual training class. The township school fair reflected the skills of township students and the educational values considered necessary for an agronomist society.

The school parade was one of the main events. The pupils of each school, dressed in their Sunday best, with a paper head-band or banner displaying the school number and the ability of some of the students who had decorated the adornments and ascribed each with perfect lettering. The teacher marched with the students of her school and had that proud look of "see how well mannered my pupils are." She had most likely threatened them with dire consequence if they demonstrated anything but their best behaviour.

One year the students of S.S.#15 borrowed Ed Dingman's Model "T", a vehicle that,displayed its early vintage by the brass radiator and fixtures. We gathered maple leaves through September, pressed them and pasted the leaves on sheets of newspaper. These colorful displays of leaves were fastened to the body of the touring car so it was totally encased; even the top, with a great display of Canada's emblem, the maple leaf. Jim drove his father's car in the parade and this float was considered the highlight of the fair.

Fair day had several attractions that only happened once a year.The noon dinner prepared by the church ladies, the horse races, when the local aspirants to Dan Patch records competed. The last act for the great their day was the dance sponsored by the Caradoc Agriculture Society in the town hall with the melodious rhythms of a local band and Jimmy or Archie Hutton calling the square dances. The day ended but the events would be a matter of conversation for the twelve months until the next annual fair.

Church suppers were a display of the culinary arts of the ladies of the church. In earlier years they had been known as "fowl suppers" but when competition for diners from other communities and congregations became necessary as a means of church fund raising, the menu for each supper became individual and the meat entree special. The church supper was billed as a turkey supper, roast beef, goose, chicken, ham, oyster or roast pork and dressing.

One of the church meals that always drew a crowd was the February supper of roast pork and beans put on by the ladies of the village United Church. Everyone had a special way of preparing baked beans and to sample even a few of the offerings became the forerunner of a flatulent situation that had the duration of several days. One item connected with church suppers or lunch for a special gathering was the coffee colored liquid served as a beverage. This flavored drink of boiled water, prepared in a wash boiler, brewed from ground coffee in a cotton bag, quarts of thick cream and pounds of white sugar .The mixture would be prepared a few hours before it was required. This mawkish fluid possibly did more to reduce the importation of coffee than another trade barrier against producing countries.

Another gourmand delight of the lunch served after a dance, town hall event or church doings was the white salmon sandwiches. A dime can of Cascade salmon would make a lot of sandwiches that had the flavor of salmon if it was not too heavily masked by salt and vinegar.

The village never lacked for entertainment; most of it generated by the citizens. On occasion, a travelling troupe of thespians would be sponsored or there might be a movie picture show in the town hall. The temperance society endeavoured to demonstrate the evils of the demon rum with such outstanding stage performances as "Ten Nights in a Barroom", a play about a youngman with a promising future who became obsessed with drinking and eventually murdered his father. A practical lesson that had a questionable effect on the youth of the village.

Some of the best village entertainment happened when a visiting evangelist would preach his brand of religion, condemning every sinful action, imploring each village sinner to repent and avoid the everlasting torture of fire and brimstone. The conversions usually lasted for a few Sundays or until the temptations of daily living emerged. An event in the community sometimes forced a local cleric to give a stimulating sermon about the evils that took place behind the closed doors of the pool hall or the unforgivable sinful action of engaging in sex before marriage. The temptress in the dress of the flapper could not be tolerated; and bobbed hair, smoking cigarettes and dancing the charleston were indications of those smitten by an immoral existence. That one immoral act that would be compounded into various indiscretions. 10 Click Here to go to the next chapter
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