For about the past 2 years I have been writing what I call nostalgia stories about growing up on a farm in the 1950’s. To me nostalgia means a rememberance of things past in a positive way which leaves you with pleasant memories. The dictionary describes nostalgia as a longing for the past. Here are a couple of other versions I recently found about nostalgia.
“Nostalgia is memory with the pain removed.” “Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.” “It’s hard to be nostalgic when you can’t remember anything.” So whatever your thoughts are about nostalgia, here is another nostalgia story.
The farm I grew up on in northwest Wells county was 17 miles from the towns of Fessenden, Harvey, and Maddock. Fessenden was the county seat so we went there for business or events at the county level. Harvey had a very vibrant retail section so most of our shopping was done there. Maddock, well we never went to Maddock until we started high school and the reason we did then is very interesting but it is for another story.
In between Thanksgiving and Christmas Harvey had an event called Santa Claus Day. I think many towns around here did the same. It was held on a Saturday and was used by the business community to attract rural people to come into town and do Christmas shopping. They would have free movies for the kids at the theatre and of course Santa Claus would show up.
Farm kids didn’t get to bigger towns very often except to go to the Dentist or Doctor so spending a whole day in town goofing around was a big adventure. The best part of Santa Claus Day for me was going to Kirton’s Café for dinner (noon meal.) We rarely ate a meal in town and on that day we got to enjoy a hamburger and our own whole bottle of pop. We didn’t have to share with anyone!
I would have a plain hamburger on a toasted bun with little round pickles on the side. It was so good, I can still taste it! I don’t recall having cheese, French fries, or potato chips with it back then, just a delicious hamburger. To me it was a real treat!
Kirton’s Café was a downtown Harvey landmark, it was owned by the Kirton family for 50 years. It had a long lunch counter, a few tables, and in the back some booths. Of course we sat in a booth. Dwight Eisenhower was President then and on the wall above the lunch counter was a sign that said “I like Ike, hell I even liked Truman!” The café was very busy, lots of people in there visiting, eating, enjoying the day.
The movie theatre, it was called the State Theatre, was also located on main street and it must have been pretty large as there were many kids there for the free movies. The place was packed! I remember before the movie started and all the lights were on there were kids of all ages all over the place, laughing, talking, making noise. The movies shown were mostly westerns I think, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and maybe movies such as Old Yeller. I know there was some Three Stooges and Little Rascals clips, everybody liked them! Lots of fun!
` Sometime during or before the movie started, Santa Claus would show up and he’d create quite a ruckus. He would give out bags of treats, popcorn balls, caramel apples, and candy. Santa Claus was around town all day going into different stores and entertaining. And in my memories the weather on that day was always nice!
I’m pretty sure that the fellow who played Santa Claus was Jack Kirton, a local Harvey celebrity. Jack was also Bozo the Clown for the Harvey Clown Band. The Harvey Clown Band performed at many events and parades across the state advertising and promoting Harvey. In 1960 Jack Kirton and the Harvey Clown Band were at the Fargo airport to welcome Presidential Candidate Richard Nixon and their antics impressed Nixon so much he told one of his aide’s, “if I win, I want this band in Washington, D.C.” But Nixon lost so the band never got to go to Washington, D.C.
In parades the Harvey Clown Band used a car built by Roble Chevrolet, it was a 1952 Chevrolet with 2 front ends and it bore the message “It’s Chevrolet either way.” I think there was also a parade on Santa Claus Day.
There were many activities going on in Harvey on Santa Claus Day and it was a very exciting day for all kids, especially farm kids. But around 5 or 6 p.m, the rural people all left town as they had chores to do and cows to milk. It was a great day in Harvey and a great adventure!
The source for this story was the book Growing With Pride, a history of the Harvey area from 1906-1981 and my memories. Thanks for letting me share them with you.
