Marion Historian's 2002 report
By Carolyn Adriaansen, Town Historian  

In December 2001, the controversial 'old school bell' arrived on the Marion scene with no former announcement to the public or to the Marion Historic Association. It is presently located near the auditorium entrance at the Marion Elementary School on North Main Street.

During the year of 2002 - a new spirit has evolved with the members of our Marion Town Board. For the first time in memory there has been both interest and cooperation with Marion agencies working together.

In February, Gord and I traveled to Millers Mills to see their Ice Harvest and to say hello to our friend, Doris Huxtable. We have kept in touch since 1980 when I researched this early industry. On February 16th, I had a museum display titled, 'Streets of Marion', with pictures and histories of homes and the folks who lived there. They were pored over by guests and any given information was added to our files.

On Marion's Birthday, April 15th, I showed a 'Cow Collection' for the first time. These porcelain and glass bovines are the property of my nieces, Jane Ballesty and Kathy Cody. They are from their grandmother, Sophia DeWandel.

In May, I opened the Marion Museum during the time folks were in town for Marion's traditional Memorial Day Parade. Each year, I take pictures of our unique parade and its participants so we will have a record for our files.

On June 1st, I was invited to the Marion United Church Mother and Daughter Banquet. The only requirement was to 'wear a hat.' These women revived a tradition of the past when the church was the hub of our family's activities. Muriel DeReu presented the evening's program titled, Hats.

On June 14, with record-breaking temperatures, Marion celebrated Flag Day. A 42-star flag, given by Tom and Kathy Ide was shown for the first time, which was expertly framed for us by Gary Wilson. I always display the Stars and Stripes from our town hall for any patriotic occasion.

We were, again, promised the former court offices for our museum exhibits. Since we had been first promised this room in 1998 and had it taken back off and on since then, I asked that we might have it finally 'put in print' before we planned any renovations. After all the planning and work, with the help of willing workers, the 'new room' was ready to open to the public at our Marion Festival on September 21. There were so many comments and compliments that all of the energies put into the project deemed it worthwhile! This will give the Marion Historic Association a space to work on upcoming projects.

Since there is now a cupboard space in the anteroom, there is finally space to house some of our town's files, which have been at my home until now. One of the newest scrapbooks shown was one of early photos of Marion that were reproduced by Bob Haak, of the Marion Town Board, in time for the occasion. They are wonderful!

We also displayed two recent aerial photos of downtown Marion taken by Don Hunt of Wolcott. There was a well attended Street Dance held the night before. This was the first time in years that the Marion Festival resembled anything like Marion's past events. The only criticism was the invitation to outside organizations, thus cutting down on our own groups and organization's projected revenues.

Highlighting 'Thanksgiving' I had decorations and printed materials at our museum on Monday, November 25th. As usual during the year, I hold openings on different days of the week and different times of the day so that everyone has a chance to visit. I do have those who take advantage of calling for appointments. Usually they are folks on vacation that want to stop by and visit our museum. All are so pleased and often seem surprised on how many exhibits we have and how many subjects we explore.

At my traditional 'open house' on Saturday, December 6, guests saw a collection of 'old toys and games' remembering times past. Barb DeWandel and Linda Roeland scrounged their closets to help bring about this large collection. A display of blown glass, antique-style Santas from around the world were hung on a tiny tree sprinkled with colored lights. Guests sampled cookies from recipes of the countries of the elegantly dressed Santas. There was blanket from the Netherlands, baklava from Greece, Mexican wedding cakes, fruitcake bars from England and pfeffernusse from Germany. (Recipes upon request). For the first time, the Marion Merchants held their Christmas Festival on the same day.

I still attend the Rural School Teachers monthly luncheon meetings. Any remembrances and memories are added to our Country School file. I have known some of these ladies since I was a child, as my Aunt Mary Hermanet and family friend, Mildred Fisher Dayton, were country school teachers. Neither of them is with us any longer, but the 'girls' ask me to continue attending.

I continue with my regular historian duties and am presently cooperating with Dan Mc Clure at the Marion High School who is organizing pictures and oral histories for posterity.

Since the beginning of 2002, I have had the privilege of presenting programs to Senior Citizens, church groups, clubs and other organizations. Actually, I gave 31 individual ones, with the top three requests being maple syrup, ice harvesting and outhouses (which topped the list with 16 presentations).

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