By: Bill Clark, Guest Columnist
We had a treasure in Graceville that served our town in so many ways. That treasure was the School Auditorium. There so many memories from events that occurred there. There were Graduation Ceremonies, Beauty Pageants, Halloween Pageants, School Assemblies, Band Concerts, Class Theatrical Plays, Special performances by Traveling performers, etc.
I remember performers such as the Strong Man. The whole school got to attend his feats of strength shows. He would have a tug of war with six to ten of the largest guys in the school. He would lay on a bed of nails with a board on his chest and invite the largest of the students to stand on the board. He would bend nails with his hand and do many strength exhibits.
During the Halloween Festivals many different events took place. Women of the community would bake their best and prettiest cakes for the Cake Walk that was walked around the center section of seats in the Auditorium. Numbers were put in squares on the floor and when the music stopped, a number was called out and if you were standing on that number, you won a cake. The big event of the festival was the election of the Royal Halloween Court. A king and Queen were crowned with all their Court.
After Football Season was over, the Band started preparing for the Spring concert. We were used to marching and playing our instruments and quality was not always the result in our playing. But for the Spring Concert, it was different. We prepared to play at our best. Of course, it also allowed us to play different kinds of music. As I remember, the whole community, not just the parents, would turn out for this event.
Crowning of our Beauty Queens was always an extravagant event. I don’t ever remember there not being plenty of beautiful girls to make this a competitive event. There was the Miss GHS Queen and each high school call had a queen as well. And of course, there was the crowning of Miss Graceville to represent our town at the Peanut Festival.
At the end of the school year there was always the pomp and pageantry of Graduation. We all got to march down that long aisle down to the stage and up the steps to be greeted and presented with our Diplomas. It was such a special occasion with our family and friends there to congratulate us.
One of the saddest events that ever happened there was when it burned down. A community treasure was lost. Memories of so many special occurrences that took place in that special structure, that now holds a place in our hearts, was forever gone. The scene imbedded in a lot of our minds is Coach Smiley Fowler racing to retrieve all those class pictures that hung on the walls outside of the Auditorium.
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