Reunion Days in Stigler this weekend

By Doug Russell, News Editor

STIGLER, June 18 — There won’t be a carnival, but there’ll still be plenty to do this weekend as Stigler holds its 43rd Annual Reunion Days celebration.

There’ll be food vendors, arts and crafts, events for children and more during the weekend. “We won’t have a carnival, because the one we had booked backed out and we couldn’t find another one, but we will have the air-filled things for children,” said Janice Williams, executive director of the Stigler-Haskell County Chamber of Commerce.

Pancake breakfast
An always-popular event will begin Saturday’s celebration, when the Veterans of Foreign Wars post holds its annual pancake breakfast from 6 to 10 a.m. The breakfast costs $3 for children under 12 and $6 for adults.

The event is a fundraiser for the VFW’s Gilmore Christy Scholarship, which provides a high school student with money for college. The scholarship was established in honor of Spc. Gilmore Christy, a 1963 Stigler graduate who was killed in Vietnam on Feb. 6, 1967, as part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

But the scholarship-funding breakfast isn’t the only way the VFW will be raising money that day. “I’ll be selling tickets for our drawings,” said VFW member Ed Tatman.
One fundraiser is a raffle for a rifle that will be given away in November. “It’s always a real nice, top of the line rifle,” Tatman said. “One ticket gets one chance at that.”

Another fundraising ticket gets the holder 365 chances.

“That’s something we do for the state VFW,” Tatman said. “They use the money for prizes for the Voice of Democracy essay contest and things like that.”

In the drawing at the state level, one $10 ticket gets holders a chance to win money every day of the year. Each day there is a drawing for at least $25, with $500 given on certain special days, such as Mother’s or Father’s Day, and $1,000 given on specific federal holidays, Tatman said.

“People do win that,” he said. “We’ve had 19 winners from Stigler, and two of them won twice.

“I’ll be selling tickets at the breakfast, but people can contact me or another VFW member for them just about any time.”

Race to Grace
A certified 5-kilometer run/1-mile walk will be held at Roye Park at 8 a.m. Saturday, with registration beginning at 7 and lasting until 7:45. Runners can pre-register through the Web site of the First Baptist Church, which is sponsoring the even, www.fbcstigler.com, or they can register the day of the race. The running/walking course has been certified through USA Track & Field. A special walk for children will be at 9 a.m.

Contests
Another popular, but not quite so speedy, event will be held behind the Stigler-Haskell County Chamber of Commerce office at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. The annual terrapin race always brings a good crowd, Williams said, and this year should be no different. Terrapin racers will be divided into age groups: 1–5, 6–9 and 10-12.

Following the terrapin race, children will have more chances for fun in a variety of other contests, including a Frisbee Toss, Toe Coin Picking, Water Balloon Toss, Watermelon Eating and Bubble Gum Blowing.

Adults can get in on the fun as well, when the annual horseshoe contest begins at 10 a.m. behind the First National Bank.

Entertainment
Another long-standing Reunion Days tradition is entertainment at the gazebo on the courthouse lawn, a tradition that’s continuing this year. There’ll be gospel music from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, followed by a jam session from 8 to 10 “or whenever you guys want to stop,” Williams said.

Organizers say the jam session may actually spawn an entire series of individual jams as musicians break off into small groups scattered around the courthouse lawn. “We just don’t know what’s really going to happen.”

Music is also on tap Saturday, with local performers from 9 a.m. to noon and The Bottom Line Band playing from about 1 to 4.

But this year there’s also something new, or at least something that hasn’t been done in a while: gospel music will be performed from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday as the group One Way Flight gives a free concert.

Reunions
Of course, there’ll be plenty of reunions during Reunion Days, not all of which are for Stigler graduates. The Kanima School will hold a reunion from 10 a.m. 3 p.m. Saturday in the Masonic Lodge in Stigler, for example, but most reunions will be for former students of Stigler.

• The class of 1989 will hold its 20th reunion during the weekend, with a gathering at the KI BOIS conference room from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday.
• The class from a decade before, 1979, will have its reunion from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Haskell County Nutrition Center, 1406 N.E. H St.
• Stigler High School class of 1969 is having a 40th reunion at the Twin Lakes Inn meeting room at 7 p.m. Saturday, and
• The class of 1974 will have a 25th reunion at the Stigler golf course, also at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The “big one,” the 50th reunion of the class of 1959, will be on both Friday and Saturday, beginning with registration and visiting in the hospitality room of Twin Lakes Inn from 1 to 5 p.m. Friday. After, that, there’ll be more chance to fellowship at the Stigler golf course clubhouse a 7 p.m.

Saturday is the big day for the reunion, when the class of ’59 holds the All Class Reunion Dinner at 6 p.m. at Kiamichi Technology Center. Reservations for dinner are $12. Reservations can be made by calling the Chamber office at 967-8681.

Following the dinner, the evening will continue with karaoke, dancing, a showing of “Rebel Without A Cause” and plenty of visiting.

“I think everyone is going to have fun,” Williams said.

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