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Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage blog! This week is a big week in Perry, with many events going on. Primarily, this week is Homecoming, and in addition, we will see the return of the Homecoming Parade! It has been awhile since the last parade (I was still in High School when the parade was cancelled), so in honor of the return of the parade we are going to look at what the homecoming parade was like in years past! First, we have a picture of a float from the 1960 Homecoming Parade. As you can see, that year Perry was facing Greenfield. The freshman of that year designed the float, and it appears to indicate that Perry is going to put Greenfield in the ground. The grave even has a sign that reads “defeat” sticking out of it. Unfortunately, our records do not show if we won this game or not. I hope that we did, or this float would have been digging our own grave! Our next photo is also from around 1960. This one depicts a float with a sign that reads “Let’s Swing Homecoming”. Personally, I am unsure what that means; perhaps it is hoping that Perry wins the game? Aside from that, it appears that the students on board went to a lot of work to make this float. Our collection says that the students are Helen Lavell, Kenneth Huitt, Jim Kanealy, Pat Pritchard, and Don Hase. I say that they went to a lot of work because as you can see, it looks like they have gotten a full swing set onto the float! It is not possible to tell if it is made of wood or metal, but either way it must have been a pain to get onto the float, especially after wrapping it in what looks like ribbon or streamers. Our final picture for today is a photo of the Homecoming Parade in 1977. This one shows Vicki Pies riding in a car during the parade. Unlike the others, I choose this photo more for the background than for the subject of the picture. First, you can notice all of the older cars that are parked outside a jewelry store that no longer exists. Next, you can see the old-fashioned yellow streetlight on the corner! Really, this photo is an indication of how much times have changed. I hope that we get some photos of this year’s parade in our collection, so that future generations can compare it to their parades! Finally, I want to invite all of you to tomorrow’s Gary Ernest Smith Event, Art Tour Odd # Thursday #3. This time Rachel Schwaller, an Assistant Professor of Art & Design at Grandview College in Des Moines, will be in Perry. Rachel is an artist who uses Video and Performance in her work. She will be sharing her story, and relating it to creating art in Iowa. The event starts at 4:30 P.M. in the Hotel Pattee, and I encourage all of you to attend!
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Hello and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage Blog readers!
I wanted to take this time to remind you that tomorrow Pam Jenkins and Gary Ernest Smith will be in Perry, Iowa at the Hotel Pattee! Pam Jenkins will be giving a presentation relating the work of Gary Ernest Smith to small town life at 6:30 P.M. This presentation will also include some pictures from our collection, so it is a good chance to catch a glimpse of what we have here at Hometown Heritage. Afterwards, at 7:30 P.M., Gary Ernest Smith will be leading an Art Walk of the art on display. This is the perfect chance to ask the artist himself any burning questions that you had! The next night, Friday, September 23, Gary Ernest Smith will be in Ames at the Brunnier Art Museum, where a reception will be held at 7:00 P.M. For those interested in going, Hometown Heritage has chartered a bus to take people to Ames and back. The bus will leave Perry at 5:30 P.M. that day from the Hotel Pattee, and will leave Ames at 8:30 P.M. for arrival in Perry around 9:30 P.M. There will be soft drink refreshment or water on-board, and local artist Betsy Peterson will be talking about the art of Gary Ernest Smith on the way up. In Ames, the event will feature the Landscapes of Gary Ernest Smith. Some of these paintings are as big as 100 inches across! This bus is FREE of charge! Limited seats are available on the bus however, so be at the Hotel Pattee early to make sure you get a seat! We hope to see you at both events! Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage Blog!
I am happy to let you know that we have two great events happening next week in connection with the Gary Ernest Smith Exhibition! The first event is on September 22, here in Perry Iowa at the Hotel Pattee. Starting at 6:30 P.M., Pam Jenkins will be here giving a presentation. Pam Jenkins is a Research Professor of Sociology (Emerita) at the University of New Orleans, Permanent Trustee of Hometown Heritage, and Perry native. Her presentation, titled “Growing Up in a Small Town and the Art of Gary Ernest Smith” relates the art you see on display here in Perry to life in small town Iowa. It even uses images from our very own collection, so this is a good chance to get a small taste of what we have here at Hometown Heritage! After Pam Jenkin’s lecture, there will be an Art Walk and Talk starting at 7:30 P.M. We are excited to tell you that none other than Gary Ernest Smith himself will lead this Art Walk! This is a great chance to come and hear the artist himself tell you about his paintings, experiences, and more. We hope to see you there! The next day, September 23, Gary Ernest Smith will be going to Ames to the other half of the Exhibition. The Brunnier Art Museum will be hosting an Artist Reception at 7:00 P.M. that night. Here you can see the landscapes of Gary Ernest Smith. Some of the landscapes are bigger than 100 inches, so it is not something to miss! If you wish to attend, Hometown Heritage has chartered a bus to pick people up here in Perry and take them to Ames at 5:30 P.M. The bus will then return at 8:30 P.M. for arrival in Perry at 9:30 P.M. Light drink refreshments will be available on-board. If you wish to take the bus, please reserve a seat by emailing [email protected] your name and phone number while there are still seats available! We hope to see many of you at these events next week!  Hello Readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage blog!
The McCreary Community Building is Perry’s place to be for swimming, exercising, and more. But did you know that it wasn’t always the place to be? In fact, it appears that there was a chance it might not even have been constructed! As you can see in the picture, here in our collection we have a sign that reads, “Vote yes Perry Civic Recreation Center”. As we know now, the vote passed, but at the time, it looks like the decision was not easy! There must have been some people in Perry who did not like the idea of building a new Civic Recreation Center. Maybe they did not want to pay a new tax that was going to be implemented in order to build a new building? Perhaps someone thought that what Perry had already was good enough? In any case, someone felt the need to convince people in Perry that a new Recreation center was something Perry needed. Unfortunately, we do not know the date for this sign, so it might pre-date the McCreary Center by many years. If you remember seeing a sign like this, please let us know when! We are always looking to add more information to improve our collection. Also, some of you may be wondering what was in Perry before the McCreary Center. If you are, come back next week and find out! |
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This website is possible with the support of the
Dallas County Foundation