Whatever happened to Optimist Hobby Show? [column]

Dear Dr. Scribblerhobby:

In 1985, there was a hobby show held at McCaskey High School sponsored by the Optimist Club of Lancaster. It displayed many interests of ordinary people — from matchbook covers to giant string balls. I displayed a set of ship models I had built, including one only partially completed. It won a blue ribbon.

Do you remember this event? Can you find out how long it had been going on? Why was it discontinued?

John Matthews

Millersville

Dear John:

Yes, John, the Scribbler remembers the Optimist Hobby Show, though not when it was staged at McCaskey. The show began at the Moose Hall at 220 E. King St. in 1950. It ended at McCaskey in 1987. Sayonara to displays of political campaign buttons and seashells, miniature trains and needlework exhibits.

Lancaster Mayor Kendig C. Bare attended the first show, just before leaving for extended active duty as an Army captain. One of the 125 exhibits he saw was a small chicken egg hatchery. Peeps were popping out of egg shells at the rate of about one per minute.

The next year the hobby show moved to the Lancaster Armory (later called Stahr Armory) at 438 N. Queen St. That’s where the Scribbler caught up with it in the late 1950s. The Scribbler’s primary interest was postcards, although he never exhibited his own collection.

The show was held at the armory, with most of the floor space covered with exhibits, until 1968. Then it moved to Franklin & Marshall College’s Mayser Gymnasium through 1976. From 1977 through 1987, it operated at McCaskey.

The Optimists canceled the 1988 show after the Lancaster Recreation Commission, co-sponsor of the show with the Optimist Club, fired Barry Swavely, who had directed the commission and the hobby show. The show was not revived, much to the regret of model ship builders and postcard collectors.

Dear Dr. Scribblerstreet:

My grandfather, Harry Edgar Long, kept a journal during his high school years in the 1890s. His family lived on South Charlotte Street in Manheim. He mentioned “scraping the street’’ in April during two years. Then he mentioned hauling the excess ground in from the street and using it to fill up the holes the chickens had scratched out of his front yard.

Did every homeowner to do this to maintain the dirt streets?

Lorna Long Mentzer

East Lampeter Township

Dear Lorna:

Municipal workers typically did the scraping in order to level the road surface. Your grandfather may have scraped excess dirt from his street for his own use,

The earliest reference to street scraping the Scribbler has found in a local newspaper is in a City of Lancaster treasurer’s report for 1823. The treasurer said the city spent $77.75 for “street scrapings.’’

An 1881 news account clarifies who paid for street scraping: “A party of men who were out of work scraped the road from the second square of East King Street. They collected the money from the property holders and did their work well.’’

According to an 1888 description, workers made their work easier by scraping while streets were wet. They waited for rain or hosed down the streets before scraping them.

Scraping was not reserved for dirt streets. When streets were paved with Macadam, the old surface was scraped off before adding a new layer. To ensure a level surface, streets are still scraped and compacted before being repaved with asphalt.

Jack Brubaker, retired from the LNP staff, writes “The Scribbler’’ column every Sunday. He welcomes comments and contributions at scribblerlnp@gmail.com.