PERRYVILLE PICNIC TO MARK 100 YEARS

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- For 99 years, people in Perry County, Mo., have been coming to the grounds of St. Mary's of the Barrens Seminary for the social gathering of the year. Things won't be much different when they gather this year to mark the 100th anniversary of the Perryville Seminary Picnic.

"It's one of those things where everybody goes but nobody knows how or why it got started," said Carlene Rauh, a member of St. Vincent de Paul parish in Perryville. She has been researching the picnic's history.

Events are planned Aug. 3 through 6 at the seminary grove to mark the centennial celebration. The grove is just across from St. Mary's Church at the seminary campus. It sits on a tract of land owned by the seminary but maintained by the Perryville Community Parks Association.

Events have been spread over four days this year to mark the historic event. Typically the picnic is held on a Saturday and Sunday.

Music, rides, an antique merry-go-round and the Budweiser Clydesdales are part of the planned activities. The Clydesdales will march around the town square at 10 a.m. Aug.5 followed by a parade at 10:30 from St. Joseph Street in Perryville to the seminary grounds. Opening ceremonies are at 1 that afternoon.

The post office in Perryville will offer a special stamp cancellation Aug. 5 as part of the celebration activities.

While researching for the picnic, Rauh was able to put together a chronological sketch of what happened during the century. "It was sort of like a scavenger hunt because there was nothing written down."

She gleaned from newspaper clippings and seminary and church records. She found enough to know that the seminary picnic started at Klump's Grove just west of the city and moved to the seminary grounds in 1906.

Residents came in wagons with their supplies for the day. Live chickens, corn from their fields and produce from their garden were carried in for the meal and gathering. The first meals were cooked outside in kettles. Several of the older women in the community remember their mothers rolling out dumplings and hanging them on a fence to dry, she said.

Some of those same women were able to organize one of the first day-care centers in the community. Older women of the parish watched young children while their mothers prepared the picnic meal. The day care was fashioned out of a tent with baby cribs made from cardboard boxes and lined with blankets.

Now the work is a little simpler. The main meal is served smorgasbord style and the menu includes chicken and dumplings, kettle-cooked beef, dressing, slaw, green beans and desserts.

"It's just your typical country picnic menu," she said. There are also stands for fried fish, hamburgers and hot dogs and barbecue sandwiches.

Beside the meals, people come to the picnic for the entertainment. This year the Budweiser Clydesdales will be on display Aug. 3 through 4 from 5 to 7 p.m. and from 3 to 6 p.m. Aug. 5 and 6. Carnival rides will be open and bingo will be called.

The bands Third Gear, GTO, Funky Donkey Cheese, The Flying Mules, Lonesome Pines, P-Wayne and the Swamp Tones, and St. Louis Stoppers all will perform throughout the weekend. Mark Holland and Co., an Indian folk music ensemble, and harpist Terri Langerak will perform also.

K-103 FM will hold a Country Show Down music contest from 4 to 6 p.m. Aug. 5.

Raffles for cash, war bonds and cars have also been part of the picnic activity. In the 1940s, dances drew big crowds and formal attire from the women. Dances cost 10 cents each and dinner was 50 cents in 1943.

The picnic sponsored a professional boxing match between Elmer Savage, featherweight champion of St. Louis, and Jesse Pitts of East St. Louis, Ill. A professional wrestling match between George Toby of Bonne Terre, Mo., and Frank Wendling of St. Louis was also held on the picnic grounds.

But the antique merry-go-round has been one of the favorite attractions. Everyone has a different story about how the carousel came to be a fixture at the picnic, Rauh said.

As best she can determine, the carousel was a ride that came to the picnic every year until it was purchased by the church and became a permanent attraction. One woman remembers her father talking about a priest going to Esther, Mo., to buy the carousel, Rauh said.

Many others are still convinced the carousel came from the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. However, documents from the National Carousel Association show that the picnic's merry-go-round was built in 1905.

Every year children of all ages line up to ride the horses on the "historic treasure filled with beautiful memories," Rauh said.

The carousel runs on a track, but the horses don't go up and down like other rides. These horses rock back an forth on a wheel that circles the track under the carriage. A roof built over the carousel protects it from the elements.

Mike Blair and Carolyn Pontillas have been working to restore the carousel horses since at least 1994. Each year Blair begins work on two horses. Pontillas repaints the horses and replaces the stirrups, reins and glass eyes. Ten of the 26 horses have been restored so far. The horses are removed after each picnic and stored.

Displays of newspaper clippings about the picnic, recollections of picnics past and some photographs will all be on display.

St. Vincent de Paul Church will celebrate Mass at 5:15 and 6:45 p.m. on Aug. 5 and at 7, 9, and 10:30 a.m. Aug. 6.

100th Seminary Picnic schedule of events

Perryville, Mo.

Thursday, Aug. 3

Family night: No alcohol allowed.

5 p.m. __ Picnic opens.

5-7 p.m. -- Budweiser Clydesdales on display.

5-10 p.m. -- Food stands open.

6-10 p.m. -- Rides open (Arm bands for $12).

7-10 p.m. -- Band: Third Gear.

Friday, Aug. 4

5 p.m. -- Picnic opens.

5-11 p.m. -- Stands open.

5-7 p.m. -- Clydesdale display

7-9 p.m. -- Bingo.

7-11 p.m. -- Band: GTO

Saturday, Aug. 5

9:30 a.m. -- Parade assembles at K of C parking lot.

10:30 a.m. -- Parade begins west down St. Joseph Street to seminary grove.

11:30 a.m. -- Picnic opens.

Noon -- Dining hall opens.

1 p.m. -- Opening ceremonies.

1:30-3:30 p.m. -- Mark Holland and Co. (Indian folk music).

3-6 p.m. -- Clydesdale display.

4-10 p.m. -- Quilt bingo.

4-6 p.m. -- True Value Country Show Down (Music contest ).

6-7:30 p.m. -- Concert: Terri Langerak (harpist).

8-11:30 p.m. -- Band: Funky Donkey Cheese

Saturday -- Mass at 5:15 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 6

Mass at St. Vincent Church: -- 7, 9 and 10:30 a.m.

11 a.m. -- Picnic opens.

1 p.m. to closing -- Quilt Bingo.

1-3 p.m. -- Band: The Flying Mules.

3-5 p.m. -- Band: Lonesome Pines.

3-6 p.m. -- Clydesdale display.

5-7 p.m. Band: -- P-Wayne and the Swamp Tones (Six piece Cajun band).

7-9 p.m. Band: -- St. Louis Stoppers.