Here we are in the fall of the year and all around us the world is wrapping up what it does. All is coming to a completion of the year that has gone by. It is safe to say so very much has happened and now it feels to me that it is all coming to an end and all at the same time.
Now here is kind of a sad thing folks. The world today is just too busy to stop and look around. Even though autumn is crammed full by it just being autumn. Today’s generation sadly either can’t or won’t take the time to notice. In my view that is kind of sad as I feel they are missing a huge part of what they are to experience in a lifetime. Maybe that isn’t so but to me I feel it really is.
If we stop and look back no more than twenty years ago the world wasn’t spinning so fast and folks were moving just a step slower and getting to see and hear and smell this time of the year. When I was in my youth back in the ‘50s and ‘60s (and I can hear this generation saying there he goes again.) Autumn meant fall and harvest. It was a time to stop and count the blessings we had worked the year to obtain. It didn’t mean it was time to stop yet but a time to take a breath and begin to gather with our friends and neighbors to share the time of year it was.
I know that one of the events that took place near Halloween was the Halloween /Harvest social. This was usually held by the school’s PTA. The event was a huge draw and more so for the young which would cause the adults to have to attend also. One of the blessings I have always counted is that I grew up in rural Ohio. My memory of a social was at Moscow. Now I don’t think wild horses could have kept me from attending. Since my mom was a member of the PTA my dad would take me and once we entered the warm confines of the Moscow gym (anyone who has ever been in that gym understands there was a closeness about it.) Peg and Ben being in high school would be drafted by mom to help her. So I would see them running here and there and mom running at full speed so I would try not to bug them. Dad would point out people I knew and in a few minutes I would be all over the place and dad would be talking with other adults but he was always close.
I would keep my mask on until the judging for best costume was over and then that thing came off and I found dad so I could have a Coke and a hot dog at the very least. Bottom line was I had the time of my life. To sum that up it was a big time in a small town.
Years later when I was leaving junior high and entering high school at Felicity It was the event of the entire fall or maybe even longer. Felicity had a larger gym to hold it in but the concept was the same. When you entered into that gym there was the sounds of music playing in a place where the acoustics left the music kind of with a tinny sound. It gave the background music that carnival sound and put you directly into the mood. There of course the smell of popcorn and hot dogs along with barbecue and the sweat of the kids running and laughing as the gym would get very warm from all the body heat. Mixed all together and you had the setting for a social.
I enjoyed going outside the front door as that was where the husbands would all gather. There they would smoke cigarettes and compare how there harvests were doing with the others and if they weren’t careful and didn’t notice me I might get to hear some gossip that maybe a kid shouldn’t hear. (It was worth the try.)
Not so very much later I would take my kids to the social. They seemed to have friends to hang with and loved to play the games. The penny pitch was my daughter’s favorite as she had great aim and would come home with complete sets of dishes. The mainstay of the event was the cake walk. I would place my son in it. I mean he was young but how hard is it to walk in a circle and when he won he declared the entire cake his.
As they were having a blast I was standing with the dads outside and yes I had a cigarette lit up and was comparing that falls crop productions. Time hadn’t changed. The crowds were always huge and the crowd walled away feeling good for the event. Again it was a big time in a small town. Here is the thing. Today you can’t compare your crops or even walk the circle for a home baked cake. You see progress has taken over I guess. The world has become too busy to hold the Halloween socials much anymore. I have learned the farther from the large cities you still will find small rural towns still holding a social in the local schools gym. Kids are wearing costumes and hoping to get first place. Folks are grabbing a hot dog and a Coke along with some homemade cookies. Last but not least it is official if there in the center of the gym floor is a circle with numbers all around it and folks are still walking to get a home baked cake
I know it sounds like a scene out of a history book but it isn’t. Nope it is a scene out of rural America. In my mind I see it as something that identifies us as the folks who still like to gather and talk with each other. We are the folks who enjoy a simpler way of gathering. Sports bars just don’t fit this scene. I’m guessing it must be getting harder to find enough people to put these on but as long as they do I hope you will enjoy them. Here is just one more reason to say “Thank God I’m a Country Boy!”
Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and loves to share stories about his youth and other topics. If you are interested in reading more of his stories they can be found in his books ‘There are Places to Remember” and’ Memories ARE from the Heart.” He may be reached at houser734@yahoo.com or mail to P.O. Box 213 Bethel, Ohio 45106.