Having grown up in Holly Grove, I remember many things, but one of the neatest was a fund raiser for the school called the "Fall Festival." It was a family affair, so parents and children attended and we sat in the bleachers of the gym. Every woman prepared a meal and packaged it in a box or basket and decorated it with ribbons and bows to make hers look the best. The women of Holly Grove could really cook and they really went all out for the Fall Festival. Even now it makes me hungry when I think about the scrumptious aromas that came from the food.
The baskets were auctioned off and all of the proceeds were donated to the school. I think the idea was to have each family buy someone else's basket so they could try another person's cooking. Of course, it never worked that way because every husband knew he'd better buy his own wife's basket and he'd better pay a high price for it so she wouldn't be embarrassed.
The Fall Festivals I remember were during the early 1940's, but some time after that they ended. Anyway, it was a great community event and it raised a lot of money for the school!
... I think of good friends, fun, little town, community pride, small, safe ... I remember walking to school, riding bicycles all over town until after dark, both sets of grandparents just 1 block away, church and school being the center of activity. ... I remember secret signals to call next-door friends across the hedges, riding in the back of the pickup to get an ice cream sundae from George & Lucy Young's Tastee Freeze, hearing the cotton gins run all night, staying outside and barefoot all summer long and making our own fun (playing Kick the Can, baseball games, riding horses ...), lemonade stands, hair in curlers on Saturday in anticipation of Sunday church ... I remember how massive the old oak tree at the high school seemed ... oh yes, and mosquitoes.
