Reporter seems to have a gloomy perspective
I read with interest Donald Patterson’s May 17 article, “City’s 1958 birthday party a washout.” Concerns about rain and mud are certainly not what I remember about that celebration.
As a first-grader at Lindley Elementary School, I remember my mother staying up late at night sewing my long dress and bonnet, my excitement at being in the sesquicentennial pageant and a little disappointment that my father didn’t grow a beard like the fathers of many of my friends.
The sesquicentennial is still a very positive memory for me 50 years later.
The Bicentennial Commission should be commended for planning a celebration that focused not only on Greensboro’s history but our future as well. I especially appreciate that they planned events and encouraged participation that honors the multiracial, multicultural city we are today.
By the way, in Patterson’s article of May 18 on the Parade of Decades, surely there was something more interesting he could have written about an event with so many participants and spectators other than horse droppings.
Ida Glasgow
Greensboro
Comments (1)
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Ida:
I also remember this event as a lot of fun, both the event itself and the days leading up to it. It was really neat to see not only my granddaddy and uncles with their beards (My daddy also chose not to grow a beard) but other men out and about on the streets of downtown Greensboro with their beards and hats. And we all had fun putting on our ole-timey clothes. Maybe the vantage point of childhood makes this a rosier memory than the reality, but I don't really think so. In any case, it doesn't serve any purpose to focus on the negatives of the sesquicentennial.
Posted on May 28, 2008 3:51 PM