Bakersville Homecoming has grown and changed over time
The Bakersville Homecoming is a yearly event that has grown and changed over time.
Wanda Lorenz , Martine McPherson and Susan Wolfe Shuck worked at the eat stand and have been a part of the homecoming through the years. The ladies reminisced about past homecoming events they could remember. They recalled that a galvanized wash tub with ice in it held pop. Bill Rust used to guard it at night. He stayed down here all night and guarded the eat stand. In 1952 they had a special celebration where they had a ferris wheel and a merry go round and other games. They also used to have Welcome Charley aka Oscar Moore. He was an old man that lived up on the hill and they called him Welcome Charley. He wore a big, tall hat and they would throw balls at his hat. He walked behind a screen with just his hat showing. You paid to throw balls at his hat and if you won and you were a kid you got a pack of gum and if you were old, you got a cigar.
Tom Hawk said his father Bud Hawk started the horse and pony pulls in the arena that is still on their property. “The arena started out for horse shows because my parents showed horses when they were younger,” Tom said. “The weekend of the homecoming was the tractor pulls but the tractors were a lot smaller. On Friday night at the homecoming, they started doing horse and pony pulls. Pulling a dead weight sled with a team of horses or a team of ponies. They did a garden tractor pull one year and there were people that thoroughly enjoy that. Some of them were souped up tractors and some were hotrod tractors. That was only for one year, then they got into the antique tractors and that has gone on ever since. The buildings weren’t here. The pavilion was where the grill was to do the hamburgers. They served watermelon out of water troughs with ice in them. They had a two man pop drinking contest on a horse. They always used orange soda in the bottles because it didn’t foam like Pepsi or other brands. They used sheep nipples for nursing lambs on the pop bottles. The lead rider held the bottle on his shoulder and the second rider was not allowed to put his hands on it. He had to keep the nipple in his mouth and the lead had to make sure the bottle was in the right spot. The horse walked around the arena and as soon as the bottle was empty they rode to the center of the arena. The judges would say, these guys are first, the one coming in now is second and this one is third. It was a lot of fun. The announcer always said, ‘Do not bite the end of the nipple, we need them tomorrow for the sheep.’ The last class was always the trail class. Some people from Coshocton, the Silver Bar Saddle Club and clubs like that would come and it was always set up the same way. They walked through some bales, over a bridge, some logs and a two by four jump. Pepsi used to bring trucks and that’s what we served food out of and before the highway was finished, that’s where we had the tractor pulls, on the road bed.”
Saturday at this year’s homecoming featured tractor pulls, Ridgewood FFA brought little pedal tractors for the kids, eat stands, games and Wacky’s Country Experience in the afternoon.
Wacky sang with Midnight Riders for 11 years before going solo. “We played mostly Coshocton, West Lafayette, Newcomerstown and some in Dover where I live,” he said. “After we split up I started a music career myself, Wacky’s Country Experience for close to 20 years.” Wacky sings pretty much all country new and old, classic country with a little bit Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Doug Berger has lived in Bakersville since 1964. “It’s a while back but time flies when you’re having fun. Especially out here. It’s a heck of a community out here. Everybody pitches in and I love them. I think the thing that draws the people is the chicken. People come from a long way, but they remember the chicken and they come back. I wish families could get together more. Something like this brings people together. I’m usually out on the BBQ. After 8 or 10 hours on the BBQ it’s nice to be able to give people a break. It takes a lot of volunteer help We cooked 800 halves. We put the first ones on at 10 in the morning and usually by about 4 p.m. we have the 800 done. We’re like a family out here and we want everybody to keep coming.”
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