Elgin Centennial
Parade
Ronda Arbuckle Kirk
Elgin was going to celebrate its
Centennial during the summer of 1972.
The celebration was to include many things over a three-day period
during July of that year. One of the
most anticipated events was to be the parade on Saturday morning. It was being promoted as the largest parade
ever in Elgin with the Shriners participating and a lot of the graduating
classes from Elgin High making floats.
I wanted to be
in the parade! I was 13 that summer and
had no way of being a part of the parade.
I was not in high school, so I could not march with the Elgin High
band. I certainly had not already
graduated, so I couldn’t be on a float with my graduating class. I was not old
enough to be a part of the Centennial “Queen’s Review,” therefore, I could not
ride on a business-sponsored float. My
mother, Sydna Arbuckle, was president of the New Century Club and would be
riding on their float. My grandmother,
Nancy Arbuckle, was even riding on the LETS (Lets Eliminate Tonnage Sensibly)
float! Nancy was the queen that month of
LETS as she had lost the most weight since the last meeting. (I do not know how they lost weight as they
did nothing at their monthly “meetings” but eat.) When I expressed my desire, I was told that
someone had to stand on the curb and watch!
I was riding
home with my mother and another lady after a Centennial Pageant meeting (my
mother was in charge of the pageant on Saturday night at the football field
that told the story of Elgin) when I was asked if I could make change. Oh sure, that is something you are taught in
math at school. It wasn’t one of my
favorite subjects, but I could made change.
I wondered why I was asked if I could make change, when the next
question came to me. Was I was going to
be in the parade? I thought that this
was my chance; I was going to be asked to be a part of the parade. When I replied “no,” with a lot of hope and
excitement in my voice, I was asked if I would sell balloons during the parade! No wonder she asked me if I could make
change.
Sell balloons? Was she serious? Not be on a float, but sell balloons during
the parade? I wouldn’t even be able to
watch the parade if I was supposed to be selling balloons. Not the question that I was expecting. I sat there in silence thinking to myself how
exciting would that be? Who would buy a
balloon? I was never allowed to buy a
balloon at the circus because I was told I would just let go of it and waste
the money spent.
After realizing
that an answer from me was being expected and I got that look from my mother in
the front seat that meant you will do this…..I replied, “Okay, I’ll sell
balloons during the parade.” I was told
that was just wonderful and I was to report to the Chamber office that Saturday
morning by 8:00 a.m.!
Part of the
Centennial celebration was having the “right costume” to wear. I had a dress that my mother had made for me
that was a throwback to the 1870s era.
It was long! (My dress was just
made out of cotton, but my mother’s dress had been made out of taffeta.) It was also a typical Texas July which means it
was very hot that day! I would be
wearing my “long” dress to sell those balloons.
I was taken to
the Chamber office promptly at 8:00 that Saturday of the parade. It was already beginning to heat up in the
early morning. The sun was already
brightly shining! Elgin had actually received some rain the day before, so that
made the air even more humid than usual.
I was wearing the Centennial dress and sandals as I wanted to be cool,
if possible, somewhere on my body!
I
was told that balloons had already been blown up and were across the street
waiting for me. I went to the designated
place and saw that the balloons were just waiting for me as was an empty cigar
box. I was to put the money when I sold
a balloon in the cigar box. I was let
out the door and told to sell all of the balloons.
I remember
standing on the sidewalk outside of Upchurch’s Drug Store thinking that no one
would buy a balloon. They were pretty
and very colorful with “Elgin Centennial 1872-1972” on every balloon. The cost of the balloons was $.50 a
piece. I figured I would be bringing
every balloon back to the Chamber office after the parade.
I began walking
up and down the sidewalks of Elgin’s Main Street at 8:10 that morning. At that early hour, there were no cars parked
on Main Street. The street had been
closed the night before so that there would be plenty of places for people to
stand and watch the parade without cars in their way. There were also no people on Main Street at
this time of the morning, either. For
the first 30 minutes, I sold not one balloon!
There was no one around to buy one!
At 9:00 that
morning, folks began to come and stake their claim for a place to sit and watch
the parade by leaving lawn chairs or blankets at various places along the
parade route. I had some begin to ask
how much the balloons were and sold one or two.
I happily placed the money in the cigar box.
I was also
beginning to get very hot and my arms were hurting. I’m not sure how many balloons I was walking
around with attached to my right arm, but it felt like 100. The cigar box in my left hand was
awkward. I did not know what to do with
the box. With a few coins inside the
box, I had to be careful with the lid or those few quarters might fall out onto
the sidewalk.
There were
people coming out of Winn’s with Icee’s.
They looked so good. All I could
think of would be how cool one of those frozen drinks would be right now, but I
did not have any personal money with me.
I had the small amount of balloon money, but that would not be right to
buy a cold drink for myself when the money belonged to the Chamber of Commerce!
By 9:30, the
streets were filled with a lot of people coming to view the parade that would
start at 10:00. Of course, 10:00 is such
a false time as that is what time the parade would begin at Elgin Elementary
School. It would take 45 minutes before
the parade ever made it onto downtown “Main Street.”
All of the
sudden, I had competition. The Circus was
in town for the Centennial and a clown came walking down Main Street selling
balloons. That made me mad. I had the Centennial balloons; how dare
someone else sell balloons. I quickly
found out that “my” balloons were cheaper than the ones from the circus and
business began to boom!
Grandparents
became the biggest customer for the Centennial balloons. Their grandchildren wanted a balloon and the
ones from the circus clown were twice as much as mine. I also did not scare the little children as I
was dressed like myself, only in a hot, long dress. Sales were coming very rapidly as it was
almost time for the parade to begin.
I crossed the
street and was in front of Ramsey’s Pharmacy when it became difficult to walk
down the sidewalk with the balloons. People were lined up two and three deep to
watch the parade, when someone bumped into my left arm and the cigar box filled
with nickels, dimes and quarters fell out of my hand. Money went rolling everywhere as I stood with
my mouth wide open thinking I’d never find all those coins. I had about five balloons left to sell at
this point in my adventure.
People around me
were very nice and began to pick up the coins and place them back into the
cigar box. I even had folks looking on
the curb and asking others to please stand up to see if coins might have rolled
under their lawn chairs. It took about 3
minutes and all the change was back into that cigar box. A very nice man lifted the cigar box up and
placed it in my left hand, then told me just to go on back to the Chamber
office and return those few balloons.
I took the
advice offered and began to make my way back to the Chamber office to turn in
the balloons and money. To my surprise,
I was able to sell the five balloons I had left before I actually arrived back
across the street at the Chamber office.
By the time I
returned everything, I was worn out and hot.
I was still wishing I could find some money of my own and go and
purchase me an Icee, but about that time, the sirens of the lead police car
could be heard and I knew that the parade had finally arrived in downtown “Main
Street” Elgin.
I watched the
parade as someone on the side and enjoyed it very much. The parade was long and had many, many varied
people, horses, floats, bands and clowns.
After all, it is not every day that your hometown turns 100!
