Memories

Great Pond, Great Parties

It might be a small town but when it comes to social events and occasions to dress up, Great Pond has always been part of the big time.

From dances, ice cream socials and sewing circles of the past to hunting parties and Fourth of July parades today, Great Pond residents have always been socially adept.

This past Fourth of July, townspeople again paraded down the Great Pond Road, decked out in patriotic garb. Residents showed their spirit, four-wheelers towed trailers decorated with American flags and the ambulance from neighboring Aurora followed.

It was a throwback to distant Fourth of Julys when, Reginald Archer said, he remembered residents hopping aboard a flatbed trailer to play instruments such as the pocatello and the saw—as the citizens’ band was hauled through the center of town.

Today, Great Pond resident Dave Honey said, most everybody joins in the festivities.

“If you want to get into it, that’s fine,” he remarked. “But if you don’t, that’s fine, too.”

Even 100 years ago, the old town hotel used to be a center for socializing. (It is now owned by Irene Bourguignon).

The hotel had a dance hall on its second story for townsfolk. Rooms were filled with boarders who came for work during the lumbering boom of the late-1800s. Ladies’ circles were held at the hall and across the street at the old school house, now the town’s municipal building.

There were also magic lantern shows held at the schoolhouse. These were events that Archer describes as “a precursor to moving pictures.”

Today the people of Great Pond still know how to have a good time.

Famous around town is the annual hunting party held every year by Clarence Moore.

“We put on an afternoon feed that everybody comes to,” said Moore.

Now 90 years old, Moore said he’s been having the parties since he moved permanently to Great Pond 20 years ago. True to town spirit, he plans to keep right on having them.