Every town or city has something uniquely special about it. Whether it is a bizarre tradition, beloved yearly celebration, or something in between, every hometown has something that is exclusive to it. Here are some random hometown traditions from the PhilaU HC team:
Abbey (’19) – Mechanicsburg, PA
If you hop on the Pennsylvania turnpike, Mechanicsburg is about a two hour drive from Philly. We are famous for dropping a wrench on New Year’s Eve (get it “Mechanics”burg?) but our real claim to fame is that we have the largest and longest running one day street fair on the east coast. Known as Jubilee Day, the street fair attracts up to 70,000 attendees. The town of Mechanicsburg brings in rides, festivity booths, and has hundreds of street vendors for one day. This year, Jubilee Day is on Thursday, June 15th.
IMAGE SOURCE: Cumberlink.com
Ashby (’19) – St. Michaels, Maryland
My hometown is about two and a half hours away from Philly. It’s a small town on the water and has a huge tourist industry in the summer. We are known for blue crabs and sailing. We have a lot of festivals during the summer, but one of the quirkier ones takes place during the winter months. Every year at midnight on St. Patrick’s day, the patrons of Carpenter Street saloon close down the main street in the center of town, and people race in shopping carts. It probably started years ago when a couple of drunk people stumbled out of the bar, noticed the carts across the street at the grocery store, and decided to race. Now it is very official. There is a bracket and everything. One person gets in the cart and another pushes. It draws a huge crowd and is usually a great time, especially for the over-21 population.
IMAGE SOURCE: Dorchesterchamber.org
Kellyn (’19) – Waymart, PA
While it’s not an event, my hometown does have a town calendar where we have all of the birthdays of people in town.
IMAGE SOURCE: Waymartpa.tripod.com
Jacqueline (’19)- Northern Pines, CA
I am from a little mountain town called Pollock Pines in Northern California. We are a small town where everyone knows everyone and we have one decent restaurant. In the summer, the Wagon Train comes to town and it is a huge tradition. The story behind it is, back in the day the Pony Express Trail (now a road in town) was used by stagecoaches to used to travel on their way in from Nevada and Oregon. Fast forward a couple generations and now people dress up in western attire and hop on horses and stagecoaches. They follow the trail from Tahoe to Sacramento. The reenactors spend a night in Pollock Pines and there is typically an event at the community center with line dancing, performances by the local dance studio, arts and crafts, and the famous event of the stage coat trying to outrun the Native Americans.
IMAGE SOURCE: Mtdemocrat.com
Julia (’19) – Lehman, PA
In my school district there is a town called Noxen, Pennsylvania. Every June they have a fundraiser for the Noxen Volunteer Fire Company. It is the largest fundraiser of the year and people have come from as far as Las Vegas, Nevada to attend. The Rattlesnake Roundup started in 1973 and has drawn more and more people every year. The largest attraction at the Rattlesnake Roundup is a giant pen filled with rattlesnakes and other non-poisonous snakes. The snakes are searched for in the woods around our hometown and measured and marked. After the fundraiser they are released back in the area where they were found. Spectators come to look at the snakes and also enjoy games, food, and live music. Education on snakes is also a very large part of the event. It teaches how to distinguish between venomous and non-venomous snakes as well as other important facts.
PHOTO CREDIT: Timesleader.com