Many things you recall about your hometown hold such wonderful memories. These are a few that come to my mind.
Time goes on, but we still hold tight to the things that made our life fun.
One of my favorite days was Friday, and I couldn’t wait to hear Rawhide playing at 4 o’clock on KCOW. Frankie Laine singing and leading us into the weekend.
Another fun radio memory was the Pepsi question on KCOW. Name the artist and win a six pack of Pepsi. The Essay families (owners of the Pepsi-Cola bottling plant) were so awesome. They really were an amazing part of our community.
Another fond memory is of the burning of the A, the big metal A being drug from First Street to the high school, with everyone following the band, holding hands and doing the snake dance with firecrackers popping. What a wonderful experience, young kiddos to high schoolers, everyone joined in. Boy was it an exciting event!
4-H Carnivals were at the city auditorium, my brother and I couldn’t wait to go. What a great job those folks did putting that on every year. It was so exciting to try and win mom a cake in the cake walk.
A favorite memory for the children of Alliance was seeing Santa being escorted into town on the front of the BN train. Following arrival, Santa would then get on the front of a fire truck for a ride to the city auditorium. Every kid in town was in the line to see Santa and receive their brown paper sack with wonderful hard candies, peanuts and other delights. This brought you to the time to go downtown to see the Christmas lights turned on. Then, shops stayed open later, and Christmas was coming.
At Christmas time there was also a beautiful nativity scene in the band shell, and one of my favorite things, there was a light up Santa in his sleigh with reindeer, up on top the pillars, waving for all to see going by. I would love to see them both come back, maybe a manager scene in the Sunken Gardens?
With the weather so hot right now, it makes me think about all the time we spent at the swimming pool. There were few days we didn’t make that our home. I do seem to recall my mother smiling and waving as we took off on our journey to the pool. Yes, we walked or rode our bikes. Clear across town. She loved it a little too much when we were gone all day and half the night. She always said that the swimming pass was the best money she ever spent. Have a great summer!