July 4 - Independence Day! We all got up early and got down to Kenton by about 9 o'clock. We collected in the front yard of one of our club members who lives in Kenton. The "White Squirrel Homecoming Celebration" parade was to start across the street from his house at 10 o'clock.
While we were waiting for parade time, we got to watch about ten or fifteen white squirrels chasing each other around the treetops. They wouldn't come down close to the ground, probably because there were so many people standing around, but they put on a great show up high.
As parade time neared, some of us went across the street to talk to the Mayor of Kenton and his wife. The next thing we knew, they talked us into being a part of the parade. So, several of us marched in the parade wearing our Squirrel Lover's Club T-shirts.
It seems that we that we lucked out and got an extra bonus by making our first club trip to Kenton on the 4th of July weekend of this year. This year is the State of Tennessee's 200th birthday. So, in addition to the white squirrel celebrations in Kenton, we were also invited to bicentennial celebrations in Union City.
The bicentennial festivities took place in a large park and included a Freedom Train all painted up and open for tours, a visit by the governor of Tennessee to dedicate the Freedom Train, a bandstand with live entertainment and lots of good outdoor cooked food. The entertainment featured a wide variety of local talent as well as an appearance by country music star and Elvis impersonator, Ronnie McDowell. Another special guest appearance was made by Scotty Moore. Many of you may remember that Scotty Moore was Elvis Presely's very first lead guitar player back when he first started on the sun record label back in 1954.
While we were at the park, we met local morning disc jockey, Jim Clark from Union City's country radio station KYTN. He invited us to visit him at the radio station the next morning.
July 5 - After breakfast, eleven of us went to KYTN and packed into the little studio with Jim Clark. He interviewed us on the air and let us tell his listeners about our club and how to join.
After this, we all went back to Kenton for a number of activities they had going on that day. One activity was a fish fry at the VFW hall. This fish fry featured "all y'all can eat" southern fried catfish. As soon as we came though the door, we were approached by someone and told that when we were finished eating we had to go to city hall to pick something up. It seems that we had won a trophy for marching in the parade the day before. After we finished stuffing ourselves, we all walked over to city hall to get our trophy.
When we arrived at city hall, our trophy was pointed out to us on a table among other trophies won by other people. Our trophy is almost two feet high and on the base it said: 1996 Kenton White Squirrel Bicentennial - 1st Place. I guess that makes us The Award Winning Squirrel Lover's Club : )
After we received our trophy, the Mayor presented me with a check for two membership in the club. One was for himself personally and the other was for the City of Kenton.
The other activities we attended that day were an antique automobile show and a flea market. We also bought souvenirs while we were there. City hall had all sorts of white squirrel items from T-shirts and statues to key chains and frying pans.
July 6 - Saturday was a quiet day. Most of our crew went to check out a lake that was formed by the famous earthquake of 1811 on the New Madrid Fault in the Mississippi Delta region. This was the quake that changed the course of the Mississippi River and rang bells on the east coast.
July 7 - We make the long trip home. A good time was had by all, and now I look forward to our trip to Olney, Illinois toward the end of October.
Gregg Bassett
Editor and President
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