Old Home Days go back to 1932 in Sherman

    As related to me by Corinne Bragdon; August 24, 2006
Sherman Old Home Days was formed in 1932 by the JC Club on a Thursday and Friday at the end of August. The original name was The Carnival. Minerva Clark, Virginia Perrin, Gladys Sleeper and Hazel Trafton were the first ladies to get this started. On Thursday, dinner was roast beef and on Friday, fish. They also had bean hole beans and sandwiches for supper that the ladies of the church made in the afternoon. The meals were usually headed by Annie Esty. After supper, both evenings, there was always an old fashioned minstrel show performed to a packed house at the old town hall. Some of the ladies of the church, in later years, thought the name was not appropriate, so it was changed to Old Home Days.
You could buy a steamed hot dog, hand dipped ice cream and a soda, kept cold in a bucket of ice for five cents each, if you can imagine that! There was a bowling alley, and you could hear Brownie Heath, in his deep booming voice hollering all over town, “The Old Army Game.” Wrestling matches were a big event, including Faye Cox and Happy Mulligan. Happy usually won, and everyone wanted to beat him. Games of chance were frowned upon, such as the nickel roll, but every so often, someone sets up that game as it’s still around. Sherman Lumber Co. purchased a merry-go-round that was used for years, but was later sold.
The Children’s Parade used to be called the Baby Parade, and children would dress themselves up as well as dolls and babies, decorate their carriages with crepe paper and pray it didn’t rain. The big parade used to start on North Street at the home of Charlie Martin. Somehow Erma Whitehouse, Dot Robinson and Marion Sides seemed to have a winning parade entry every year. The high school used to have a marching band that lead the parade, conducted by band director Trav Maddox, featuring Nadine O’Roak as drum majorette. There was also a town dance.
Old Home Days continues today because of the efforts of church members and also with all the help and hard work of other members of the community. It’s a great way to spend the weekend with family and friends, many traveling ‘home’ for the weekend, because of Sherman High School Alumni Banquet. Come join us this year as we celebrate the 74th year of Sherman Old Home Days.