We just celebrated Memorial Day weekend. When I was a kid, it was still called Decoration Day, but that weekend was one of the highlights of the year in Oconto Falls.
I didn’t know much about why we celebrated Decoration Day except that I knew there were ceremonies at the cemetery for the soldiers who had died in wars, and for a couple of years Mr. Matravers would fly his plane low over the river and drop a floral cross. For us kids, though, it was a big weekend because of the carnival at the grounds near the football field. I’ll get back to that in a minute.
Three years after the Civil War ended, in May 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic (the GAR) established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. They declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30 because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. And it wasn’t until 1971 that Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May.
Decoration Day in Oconto Falls, though, meant the carnival was in town. The Meverden family, long-time Oconto Falls residents, ran a carnival company called Meverden Amusements, and they traveled all over, but one of their big weekends obviously was the hometown celebration for Decoration Day. It was kind of their kickoff to the summer carnival season, a test run for all the rides.
Lloyd and Anna Meverden and all their kids worked in the business. Greg and Jerry were classmates of mine at St. Anthony’s, and they were the envy of a lot of us. We thought that the carnival life must be really exciting. Imagine traveling from town to town and meeting all kinds of people!
Most of us didn’t get to do much traveling in those days. It never occurred to us that that life must have been really hard work, and the Meverden kids were working their buns off all summer!
To the kids of Oconto Falls, when the Meverdens were set up for the weekend, it meant a great time. Fifteen rides for a dollar! The Tilt-a-Whirl, the Ferris wheel, the Rock-o-plane, the Caterpillar, wow! How much fun could you stand for a dollar?
But there was more to the weekend than just the carnival rides. It was more than the cotton candy and the game tents where you could win chalk dolls and stuffed animals. It was more than walking up and down the midway with your friends and having a great time. There were the “free acts” and the wrestling matches, too!
The free acts were exciting. They were circus acts that were booked onto the grounds, and everyone could watch them without having to pay. They pulled in the crowds who would patronize the food and beer stands and the carnival games. “free acts” — that’s what we all called them.
I remember one year, when I was in sixth or seventh grade, one of the free acts was a sway-pole acrobat. He had a pole that was probably 75 feet high, but to us it seemed much higher than that (it was taller than the light standards at the football field!).
This guy did some amazing acrobatic handstands and headstands while that pole swayed in a huge arc, back and forth, back and forth. Oohs and aahs, shrieks of fear and of excitement rose from the crowd of people standing with their heads tipped back to watch the act.
And then … just as he seemed to have finished his flawless act and was taking a big bow way up there on that treacherous pole, it snapped! He appeared to be plunging to his death!
All part of the act! He rode the pole down, and it dropped him off on the ground. The crowd erupted with laughter and applause. We loved it that we were taken in by his fake accident, and we all came back to see him do it again the next day.
Ah, the good ol’ days!
