Monday, October 11, 2010

Sadieville Celebrates 130 Years...

Sadieville, Kentucky celebrates it's 130th birthday this year. The Friends of Sadieville Renaissance, Inc. (FSR), of which I am the chair, planned, prepared and hosted a birthday celebration titled 'Comin' Home' in honor of this momentous occasion. The vice-chair, Cindy Foster, of FSR took the lead as the chairperson for the committee to plan this day-long birthday party. Saturday, October 9th was the day of our event.

Lot of hours of planning, preparation and energy went into this event. We had days to clean and spruce up our City Hall and the Warring Pavilion. We prepared games, invited guest speakers on the history of Scott County and the City of Sadieville, invited musical groups to perform, made poster and flyers and signs, and the list goes on. We even had four of our stalwart men to use their truck, long trailer and brute strength to move the heavy bleachers from the park at the far end of town up to Warring Pavilion.

We ended up with this for our program:
  • 11am - Prayer by Scott and welcome by Mayor Claude Christensen
  • 11:15am - Mike Gillespie speaks on the history of Scott County and Sadieville
  • 12 Noon - KidsFest (Games, pony rides, balloon bounce, with Corn Hole and Hillbilly Golf for the adults)
  • 2pm - Anne Bevins speaks on the history of Sadieville
  • 3pm - Jimtown Men's Chorus
  • 4:30pm - Combined Sadieville Christian Church and Porter Church choirs
  • 6pm - Birthday cake for Sadieville with special guest Sadie Pack (Sadieville was named after Sadie Pack and it is just a coincidence this young girl shares that name.)
  • 6:30pm - Silent Auction and Raffles winners announced
  • 7pm - Meet the Sadieville candidates for Mayor and City Commission
  • 8pm - Karaoke with Merle
In City Hall we set up a historical display of Sadieville's history. Everyone really enjoyed taking time to browse through lots of pictures and artifacts and remember or learn about Sadieville.

We had lots of people who lived in Sadieville many years ago return to renew old acquaintances. This was really a tender thing to watch. It was great to sit and chat with some of these people. Claude and I have always appreciated the personality of our little town. But actually visiting with these former residents and having them say, "My home stood where the caboose is located today" was just inspiring. It really makes you feel part of a long-standing community and encourages you to add to that history in a very positive way.

Donzetta Hughes provided the food for all of us. Stewart, her hubby, is our Magistrate. They are wonderful people and we were ever so happy to have good food available all day long. We did have one mishap in the late afternoon when a lady stumbled and fell while trying to enter Warring Pavilion with a folding lawn chair. We think she caught the lawn chair on the end of one of the bleachers and that threw her off balance. Donzetta is a nurse by profession and was right their to check her out and tell her she needed to head to the hospital.

I took lots of pictures throughout the day. I'll share some below. I spoke with a local reporter at the end of the function. I'll state here that I was very enthusiastic about the outcome of this 'Comin' Home' Birthday Celebration. It was well attended, the feeling amongs the locals was sooooo good.  Friendships and sense of community were strengthened. The reviewing of our history creates such a strong foundation for our community and encourages us to continue building on that foundation in the future. I'm very tired after it is all said and done but it is that good kind of tired one feels at the end of something that was really a positive experience and a building experience.

Enjoy these few pictures of Sadieville's 130th Birthday Celebration - 'Comin' Home':
Okay, there are more than a few pictures. But this is my journal and I want to remember this experience and have it be a part of my permanent history. As I scanned back through these pictures before I publish this Blog entry, I felt really good again about all those smiles and moments in time. What great memories were built to retain and sustain when times are difficult. Was it worth the time and effort, you bet!!!

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