Celebrating a town's roots

COMMERCE, Mo. -- Commerce's ninth annual Floodfest offered something new: a car show held Saturday called "Anything Shows." Bill Bailey, chairman of the town board of trustees, organized the event. Although his PT Cruiser was the only Commerce entry, the main reason to have the show was to attract people to the town.

The new car show featured not only Bailey's Cruiser, but also included Rick Glasco's 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, Rodney Poston's 1963 Nova, Dave Smith's 1987 Monte Carlo Aero Coupe, Kevin Schlemper's 1986 Monte Carlo, Danny Naile's 1968 Chevy pickup and Danny and Teresa Holder's 1968 Camaro.

Floodfest is a three-day celebration of the town that was established in 1790.

Commerce was named for its status as a steamboat port, the town once boasted of a population of as many as 1,000 people. But with the advent of the automobile, the highways that followed, and flooding, the town's population began to dwindle.

Typical country-town activities held Friday, Saturday and today drew people together to promote the town's hope for the future and preserve history by revisiting the town's roots.

Those who gathered to celebrate Floodfest were not limited to just the town's hundred or so residents. Celebrants included individuals who have ties to the heart of the town -- its churches, its people, its history.

Danny Holder, a Scott City resident, remembers coming down to Commerce when his uncles lived there, to help sandbag. Holder said the perseverance of Commerce residents came from not knowing any different. "When it flooded you just got everybody together and we all sandbagged. They're all gone now but a lot of my family lived here."

Holder's original love for cars increased when he married his wife, Teresa. "We bought the car because my wife always wanted a Camaro. She comes from a racing family. Her brothers and father run circle tracks."

It seemed that car-show entrants own vehicles that were nostalgic to the era they grew up in.

The 1968 Chevy pickup owned by Danny Naile, 51, fits his country-boy image. A lover of Chevy trucks, he's shown the baby-blue pickup for a decade and has won about 90 trophies.

Small-town memories

The crowd at the chicken and dumplings dinner at the St. Paul Methodist Church was another meeting place for town supporters. Church member Michael Painton, also a historic preservation major at Southeast Missouri State University, reminisced about the floods in the 1990s when people had to park their cars a distance away and walk to the church. "Water never got into the church but you couldn't drive in."

The recent addition of city hall to the National Register of Historic Places is just a beginning for Susan Bailey, Bill's wife. She believes their home, the Charles Anderson house, should be on the register by November. Together she and Painton have plans for a possible historic district. St. Paul United Methodist Church and the old Becka Hunt home are nominees for the register as well. Hunt was the first freed slave in the area to own a home.

The Baileys moved into town two years ago when Susan's family could no longer maintain the family home. Bill, who spent most of his life in St. Louis said, "I was ready for a small town. I want to make sure Commerce is around after I die."

Painton, 20, whose grandparents live outside of town, is proud of the 179-year-old church. Having served as an acolyte and a Holy Communion steward, plus donating a 20-foot cross for the church's hillside, only plant his roots deeper in Commerce.

Preserving the town's history at the Commerce Museum is curator Lois LeDure's aim. Covering its walls are rusty, antique farm implements, old-time britches, a few bric-a-brac pictures and quilts. The Floodfest was a good reason for LeDure to put out a call for copies of old photos to donate to the museum. Her plans are to put together a collection of the photos and print a book that will not only help share them but promote the town and earn money for community organizations. The museum, housed in a former Baptist Church, is on St. Mary and Missouri streets and is open on weekends from noon to five.

capagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133