As promised, today I'm going to explain Mulvane Old Settlers to you. It's actually quite a pretty easy concept to grasp. It's basically like a county fair, but just for Mulvane celebrating our town. It happens every third August, no matter what the wheather is like. There's been years where it's flooded most of Saturday, and other times when it's hotter than hell out. The latter I'm most positive is what this year will consist of.
Old Settlers first started way back in 1873 as the quad-county fair. Eventually though, at some point it became Mulvane Old Setters, or often referred to as Old Settler Days, or just M.O.S. I think having Old Settlers is a great thing to really appreciate the history that there is in this town. The train depot at the end of Main Street once was an extremely busy place when the railroads where the major transportation. The small town that most think Mulvane was back when it was first settled wasn't all that small compared to other places. Mulvane was a railroad town, we had even had the Santa Fe Railroad Memorial Hospital, and let me tell you, it wasn't a small hospital.
We had an opera house, a hotel, and a movie theatre at one point. Although all three of these things and the hospital are long gone there are still several remains of what there was before. Looking back in the historical museum that is actually in the old train depot, there are photos of Mulvane through the years since a bit before it was even settled by Joab Mulvane. There are several buildings on main street that are actually still standing there today. The old movie theatre, the building is still there, but it's been converted into our public library. And the hospital, it was eventually taken down and a nursing home was built in place of it. If it hadn't been for the fact that so many things needed changed in the building, I honestly think that the hospital might still be there today.
Among these buildings, one that really stood out to me in my research over the summer of Mulvane, is the two story school house that used to sit on the play ground of our current grade school. The places I mentioned above, I can pretty easily picture in my head how they would have looked all those years ago, mainly because everything is still in it's place as it was in the photos taken. But for the two story school house, that just seems insane to me because up until recently I had absolutely no idea that we even had a two story school house at one point, and it's just hard for me to imagine it really being there. Of course though, I think that building too might still be standing if there hadn't been a fire...
Among all this, Old Settlers is just a way of celebrating all of the history of our town. Over the years I've learned things about Mulvane, but not as much as I did when I researched this past summer, it really gives a lot more meaning to a lot of the things we do during Old Settlers.
Old Settlers starts the third Friday of August and includes Main Street and Main Street park being shut off for the entire weekend. We have a decent sized carnival that includes the same rides that my brother remembers all too clearly riding when my parents and brother first moved down to Mulvane several several years ago. One of the most interesting and traditional things, besides the food booths, that happens during Old Settlers is the wide variety of booths that are set up. It's just interesting to walk through the park and look at every single booth, the majority of them sell clothes and jewelry, but each one has something different from the last. And the merch sellers are really friendly and chatty.
And of course, what would be a fair or town celebration without a parade? The parade has always taken place on Saturday in the morning. There's such a wide variety of people and things in the parade I couldn't even begin to describe it.
Mulvane Old Settlers is a big deal around here. Even for a few of the surrounding towns, though we're the only ones who get off a day early from school for the festivities. It's a holiday to us, we've never gone to school the third Friday of August, EVER.
Sorry if this was too much rambling. I enjoy sharing the things I know a lot about and this is one of them.
Today was awesome because: everyone is getting their booths ready down town for Old Settlers, and even though it's a pain in the but while driving because you have to take the detours around Main Street, it's still really exciting.
days until the fall musical: 59
days until I become an adult: 141
days until graduation: 274
steps taken today: 4,251+
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