News
Pioneer Day offers a step back in time
Posted on May 11, 2018
Originally published in the Times Daily.
Mayor David Grissom said he spent most of Thursday looking for his overalls to wear Saturday so he would fit in with Pioneer Day.
“People are going to be dressed up in character, the way people used to dress,” Grissom said.
He said the event is part of the bicentennial celebration for Russellville and Franklin County.
“There is a ton of history here,” Grissom said. “We should all be proud of our heritage, and Pioneer Day is a way to relive that.”
The event will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the eastern side of Sloss Lake on Alabama 24.
According to Chris Ozbirn, head of the bicentennial committee, the event is a chance to see how people lived, worked and played in the early 1800s.
“We’ve got historical games for children, artisan demonstrations, there will be a Confederate campsite, antique wagons, buggies, antique tools, Native Americans, a pioneer cook room, as well as a pioneer wash room,” Ozbirn said.
She said actors will portray Major William Russell, who the city is named after, along with Andrew Jackson and Hugh Young, who was among the town’s surveyors.
“It should be interesting,” Grissom said. “I think it’s a great idea for the committee to help us step back in time and see how things used to be.”
Some of the demonstrations include weaving, crocheting, broom making, basket weaving, chair caning, log cabin construction, dough bowls, gun making, making corn shuck dolls, trapping, making pine straw blankets, and handkerchief dolls.
Ozbirn said children can get involved in sack races, dominoes, checkers, jump rope, horseshoes and washer toss.
“It should be a lot of fun and educational,” she said.