Carlton News: Carlton Daze are coming soon

Carlton's celebration of "Carlton Daze" is just around the corner, July 26-28. Over the years how many community celebrations has Carlton had? I checked at the Carlton County Historical Society to see if I could find out the answer. Although I did not find out the exact number, there have been several celebrations, dances and parades in the Carlton community.

The celebrations have taken place at different times of the year -- likely to find the niche where we fit into the community festivities in the area. At one time there was a "July Fourth at Carlton." The day began with a parade starting at the Village Hall, a baseball game between Carlton and Wrenshall and horse racing on Thomson Road. There were other races for men and ladies, a potato race, an egg race for ladies, foot races for kids and a peanut contest for boys under 10 years of age. The day ended with a best-looking baby contest, a band concert and boxing and wrestling matches. It sounded like a fun day with activities for all ages.

Another Carlton celebration, held in August 1926, was the Calf Club Show, Street Fair (started in 1914), which in the past were two different events. The combining of the events was to make it more interesting for the farmers in the area, and to bring more people to town.

On August 12, 1949, the Carlton County Centennial was held in Carlton to commemorate the centennial of Minnesota becoming a territory. The events for the three-day celebration included square dancing every night, an auction, bicycle and foot races, rummage sales, a rodeo, horseshoe pitching and more.

We must not forget the Centennial Celebration (100 years) of the city of Carlton, known as Northern Pacific Junction in the beginning. There were four days of activities, food and fun that brought everyone together in July of 1981. The days included races, rodeo at the Aanerud farm, auction, steak fry, pancake breakfast, a garden tractor pull and many other activities.

The Centennial Committee worked countless hours to make the event one to remember. The committee members were Meredith English, Nils Nystrom, Linda Seboe and Joe Wojtysiak. The Carlton Centennial flag was designed and created by English, who was a health and physical education teacher at Carlton High School.

In March of 1918 there was a short parade of the Red Cross Bandage Class. The ladies were marching in formation in their crisp white uniforms, and the community marching band supported their efforts.

The community has always been supportive of the Carlton celebrations. Please come and join the fun.

Carlton Daze runs July 26-28. The activities will start off with the 5K race at 6 p.m. in front of the Four Seasons Complex. Participants can sign up online or the day of the race at Four Seasons.

A spaghetti feed to benefit the Robert Rodd Memorial Scholarship Fund will begin at 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Four Seasons. WKLK will have music and the Carlton VFW will have a cash bar. There will be door prize drawings at 7:30 p.m. Come out to support the scholarship fund.

There will be many activities including music, food, volleyball, softball, bean bag tournaments and more. For more information and a schedule of Carlton Daze Events go to http://www.carltonchamber.com.

Other Carlton events

Carlton VFW Post 2962. Every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. bingo and meat raffle Fridays at 6 p.m. Proceeds from these events benefit the Post and Confidence Learning Center.

Interfaith Care Center services: Tuesdays at 3:15 p.m. and Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Oldenburg House: Bee Friendly Day, July 20, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

If anyone has a special community event in Carlton or a special person that should be recognized, please contact Leola Rodd at 218-310-6065 or [email protected].