Local Bethel Citizen columnists received some very sad news from the lead editor of the Western Maine weekly papers this week: Our columns in the next print edition of the paper, which will be out on Dec. 12, will be our last, as the paper is doing away with nearly all freelance content in an effort to cut expenses.
While I understand the challenges faced by the publishers of print newspapers nowadays, I have to say that I think cutting out the local columns is probably the worst choice they could have made, if they are trying to retain readership. As I told the editor, for many readers, the local columns are the heart and soul of the local paper, even more so in a time when so much of what we find in print is aggregated content that does nothing to establish a newspaper’s unique voice.
This decision by the publisher makes me even more glad that when the Citizen changed to an every-other-week print schedule, I decided to keep writing my column every week and posting it online, which I will continue to do.
When I told Will I’d been “laid off” in a cost-cutting measure (from a job that paid $5 every other week!), he was as righteously indignant as I was. As a historian, he pointed out that the local weekly papers have featured town columns for more than 100 years, making them a valuable source of information for researchers. Then he suggested that I contact the other town columnists and see if they would be interested in continuing to write their columns and post them to a Substack that could be a project of the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society.
The idea is still in the early stages, but we hope to get it off the ground, and hope that there will be enough interest from both readers and local columnists to sustain it. Look for more information here and in the final print town columns in the Dec. 12 edition of the Citizen. We even have a potential logo!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my wonderful readers! I hope everyone who is reading this is enjoying a long weekend of the warmth of family, friends, and good food.
Nowadays it seems as if a lot of people, my two Colorado daughters included, start decorating for Christmas and listening to holiday music the day after Halloween, I prefer to try to slow things down a little and take the holidays one at a time.
I admit that’s a little harder when Thanksgiving comes so late in November, shortening up the time we have to prepare for the spate of Christmas-related events that kicks off by the first of December.
This year, for example, I have only a few days between Thanksgiving weekend and the Christmas at the Mason House event at work. That’s going to mean a frenzy of baking, both cookies for the candlelit tours of the seasonally decorated Mason House and bread, pies, and who knows what else for the bake sale and open house next door at the Robinson House.
Did you know that from 1939 to 1941 Thanksgiving was celebrated on two different dates, depending on which state you were in?
We now celebrate the holiday on the fourth Thursday of November each year, so it can fall as early as the 22nd or as late as the 28th, but back in 1863, during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln established the date of the official holiday as the last Thursday in November.
In about two out of every seven years, November has five Thursdays. That meant that the Thanksgiving holiday could fall as late as November 30, which is what happened in 1939. Back then, most people didn’t even begin to think about Christmas until after Thanksgiving, and business leaders, who were still suffering the effects of the lingering Great Depression, were concerned about the added effect of the short holiday shopping season on sales.
Led by Fred Lazarus, Jr., the head of Federated Department Stores, which would later become Macy’s, they urged President Franklin D. Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving to a week earlier, and in August of 1939 he issued an executive order declaring that the holiday would be celebrated that year on November 23, instead of November 30.
Not everyone was on board with the change. The short notice disrupted family plans, as well as college football schedules, and made 1939 calendars inaccurate. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia observed Thanksgiving on the 23rd that year, while 22 observed it on the 30th. Colorado, Mississippi, and Texas straddled the controversy, giving workers holidays in both weeks.
Despite the pushback, in 1940 and 1941, Roosevelt proclaimed the second-to-last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving, even though in those years it actually fell on the third Thursday.
In December of 1941, after the U.S. entered World War II, Congress approved a proclamation designating the fourth Thursday in November as the federal Thanksgiving Day holiday, beginning in 1942. Roosevelt signed it, and we’ve been eating turkey and pie on the fourth Thursday of the month ever since.
Here are some upcoming events for your calendar:
Friday, Nov. 28, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.: Open House and Holiday Wonderland at the Greenwood Town Hall on Main Street. Cure the Black Friday Blues with this free event, featuring crafting stations, cocoa and tea, and access to the Holiday Wonderland, full of free holiday treasures looking for new homes. Craft supplies will be provided to make a wreath and upcycled ornaments, and there will be a reindeer crafting contest with prizes for the most artistic, most original, and funkiest reindeer. The snow date for this event is Saturday, Nov. 29.
Saturday, Nov. 29: Small Business Saturday. Kick off the holiday season by “shopping small” for unique gifts at local businesses all day long. The BAAM (Bethel Area Arts & Music) Winter Market takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Crescent Park School, and the Museum Shop in the Bethel Historical Society’s Robinson House will be open during those hours as well.
Friday, Dec. 5, and Friday, Dec. 19, from 4-6 p.m.: Greenwood Farmers’ Market at the old Town Hall on Main Street in Locke’s Mills. This is a change from the original schedule, which only allowed for one market day in December. Donations for the Bethel Food Pantry will be collected at both December markets, and the Holiday Wonderland, where you can “free-shop” for holiday décor, will be open on both dates as well.
Saturday, Dec. 6, from 12-3 p.m. at West Parish Congregational Church in Bethel: Christmas Fair and Tea. Start your holiday season with a relaxing visit. Come and have a cup of tea, coffee, or hot cocoa with friends, along with fancy treats. Then head downstairs for the popular “cookie walk,” tiny treasures tables filled with Christmas items, and a home-baked food table.
Saturday, Dec. 6, from 12-5 p.m. at the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society on Broad Street in Bethel: “Christmas at the Mason House” and Holiday Open House and Bake Sale. One of the most popular annual happenings at MBHS, the event will feature candlelit tours of the Mason House, decorated for the holidays in 19th century style, with seasonal music performed by fiddler Monica Mann and friends and harpist Conni St. Pierre. Next door at the Robinson House, the Museum Shop will be open with plenty of unique gift ideas and homemade breads, pies, cookies, and other holiday treats. The event is free, but donations are welcome.
Sunday, Dec. 7, at 2 p.m. at the First Universalist Church of West Paris: The Oxford Hills Ukulele Group will lead a Christmas carol sing-along to get everyone into the spirit of Christmas. This is a popular event that the church has hosted in the past, and always lots of fun.
Sunday, Dec. 7, at 4 p.m. at Gould Academy’s Bingham Auditorium: Mahoosuc Community Band Christmas Concert. Ed Ryan is directing the band, which includes musicians of all ages, from 14 to 97. Donations are accepted at the door. The snow date is Monday, December 8, at 7 p.m.
If you have news or events you’d like included here, email me at amy.w.chapman@gmail.com or call 207-890-4812. The next print edition of the Citizen will be out on Dec. 12, but you can read the Locke’s Mills column every week, with bonus online content, at amywchapman.com, or go to the website and subscribe for free to have it emailed to you each week.
“What if today, we were just grateful for everything?” – Charlie Brown
Good for you!
Follow your compass 👍and I am so grateful you are endeavoring to keep this wonderful tradition alive. Wishing you a very merry Christmas 🎄☃️❄️