before pinedorado there was may day

JOIN US TO CELEBRATE THE
LOVELY MONTH OF MAY
April 2010
Volume 2
BEFORE PINEDORADO THERE WAS MAY DAY
On Saturday, May 1, the Cambria
Historical Society will present a colorful Spring Festival, based on annual May Day activities originally
hosted in the 1930s by the Cambria
Women‟s Athletic Club. This year‟s
event will feature a flower show,
mini farmers market, heritage plant
sale, children‟s activities and light
refreshments from noon to 4 p.m.
at the Cambria Historical Museum.
In honor of spring, gardeners from
Hearst Castle will showcase historic
plants from their gardens and members of local garden clubs will display their prize flowers. The Historical Society will have roses and
other plants for sale, and you can
expect to find booths filled with
spring produce and local crafts.
Cambria 4-H kids will celebrate
with a traditional May pole dance
and children will be invited to create pretty flowered hats for spring.
Tea sandwiches, lemonade and
other garden party refreshments will
be served.
We are encouraging local businesses throughout town to join the
spring celebration with outdoor
decorations. May Day was a big
deal for Cambria and the Women's
Athletic Club of Cambria Pines, a
private social and civic benefit club
founded in 1931. Its membership
was limited to 20 young women
from Cambria Pines, Cambria and
San Simeon.
The 1932 Queen of the May, Bernice Dughi, is accompanied by her
court, from left, maids Cleo Mitchell, Emily Berri, flower girl Grace
Doggett, maids Norma Bassi and Mildred Willis
The Women's Athletic Club of Cambria Pines was a private social
and civic benefit club founded in 1931. Its membership was limited to 20 young women from Cambria Pines, Cambria and San
Simeon.
In the spring of 1932, the Club (locally known as "The WACS")
founded and sponsored the area's first May Day Festival. It included a May Queen contest and pageant; parade; bring-yourown basket lunch at the campgrounds on the grounds of The
Cambria Development Company's newly built Cambria Pines
Lodge; children dancing and costumed as wood nymphs, fairies,
bees, butterflies and flowers; acrobatics exhibitions; musical entertainment; baby contest; lecture on monitoring and maintaining
children's physical and emotional health. The celebration ended
late in the evening with a campfire and song fest.
The May Queen contest was open to local girls who attended
Coast Union High School and the winner was determined by how
many votes she collected through selling vote vouchers. In 1932,
29 girls ran for Queen. The first May Day Queen was beautiful
Bernice Dughi, who was Wilfred Lyons‟ girlfriend during their junior year in high school.
DO YOU LIKE HISTORY?
ENJOY MEETING NEW PEOPLE?
ENJOY TALKING ABOUT CAMBRIA?
DID YOU KNOW…..
Consider being a Cambria Historical Museum
Docent . To hear more about the Docent
program, please join us at the Museum for a
DOCENT INFORMATION EVENT
THURSDAY, MAY 6
2:00—4:00
WINE & CHEESE WILL BE SERVED
R.S.V.P. To 927-2891 by April 30th
CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE
With stories by local historian Dawn Dunlap
and web design by graphic artist Scott Saunders, the Cambria Historical Society has put
together an online walking tour of East Village that features a cool map you can click
on to discover historic facts and interesting
tidbits about the shops and houses you pass
by all the time.
Want to learn more? You‟ll find the East Village Walking Tour on the Local History page
of the Cambria Historical Society website
(www.cambriahistoricalsociety.com). There
you will also enjoy other peeks at the past,
including the location of Cambria‟s first bathtub, the site of Chinese community gatherings and the story of how a slap led to a murder on Main Street.
MEMBERSHIP
Your membership in the Cambria Historical
Society is valid through the date shown on
the mailing label. If there is no date or if your
membership has lapsed or is due soon,
please support us by renewing today. Renewal can be done through our new website
(cambriahistoricalsociety.com) or by mailing a check. If your membership has not
lapsed it will be extended for 12 months
from the date on the mailing label. We appreciate your support!
In 1865 George Washington Lull (above) along
with his partner, George Grant, opened a general store in a two story building on Main Street
(currently known as the Duncan residence). It
was one of the first structures in Cambria. Business was so good that in 1875 they had a larger
store built on Main and Bridge St. After many
years as Cambria‟s most eligible bachelor and
one of the richest men in town, George married Mary Inman. In 1880, he spared no expense in building a beautiful home for he and
his wife and her two daughters. It is now home
to the Bluebird Inn.
UPCOMING EVENTS
May 1 & 2
SPRING FESTIVAL
May 6
DOCENT RECRUITMENT PARTY
June 19
NEW EXHIBIT ABOUT HISTORIC SAN
SIMEON AND CAMBRIA RANCHES
Opening reception planned for Saturday,
June 19th. Watch our website,
www.cambriahistorical society.com
for details.
October 9 & 10
SCARECROW FESTIVAL
BUSINESS MEMBERS
HERITAGE GARDEN NOTES
THE FOLLOWING LOCAL BUSINESSES SUPPORT THE
CAMBRIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND THE LOCAL COMMUNITY.
IN TURN, WE HOPE YOU WILL SUPPORT THEM.
(DAHLIA IMPERIALIS)
Inns:
Bridge Street Inn
Fog‟s End
Olallieberry Inn
Squibb House
Restaurants:
Black Cat Bistro
Linn‟s
Moonstone Beach Bar & Grill
Robin‟s
Gifts:
A Matter of Taste
Ball & Skein & More
Cambria Garden & Arts
ECR Gallery
Heart‟s Ease
Moonstone Cellars
Moonstones Gallery
Old Cambria Marketplace
Stepping Stones
Others
CCSD
Gold Coast Center for
Spiritual Living
Griffin Communications
Hearst Ranch
Mike Rice -Forest, Yard &
Garden
BRICKS & PICKETS
Now is the time to order your bricks and
pickets. There are only 200 pickets left.
The new price for either a picket or brick
is $150. Both bricks and pickets come
with a complimentary one- year membership in the Cambria Historical Society.
Bricks and pickets are your way to remember a loved one
forever and they make excellent gifts
for grandchildren and other loved
ones.
Pickets have an engraved plaque
made of Navy grade aluminum specifically designed to withstand severe
weather. Bricks are engraved with three lines of up to 18
characters, ¼ inch deep and filled with black epoxy ink that
will withstand any weather. Both pickets and bricks are designed to last a lifetime.
Purchase of a picket or brick will help us pay off our mortgage, which in turn will allow the saved costs to be used to
stage more community events.
THE TREE DAHLIA
One of the most asked about
plants in the Museums Heritage Garden is the Tree Dahlia. It is the very
large, lavender flowering plant right in
front of the gift shop window. They
are known to grow in coastal areas
from Santa Barbara to San Francisco.
The Dahlia blooms at the top of the
stalk from December into the new
year , can be damaged by wind and
are frost prone. The
last frost was in
January and we left
the damaged stalks
as shelter . Now
our well-tended, hearty plant is
blooming once again!
The Dahlia has been in Europe for
over two hundred years. It came from
Central America to the Botanical Gardens in Madrid towards the end of the
eighteenth century. It is believed that
the dahlias were taken from Central
America to Europe as a potential food
source, the tubers being thought a
substitute for other root crops such as
potatoes.
The Tree Dahlia has stems that are
Bamboo like cells and can grow to 20
feet or more. The stems were often
used for hauling water or as an actual
source of water to Aztec hunters.
The museums Heritage Gardens
are filled with interesting plants such
as this. Garden Docents and gardeners are always needed. If you
would like to be part of saving and
promoting this historic garden, call
927-2891.
ADVISORS:
KATHY CHARBONNEAU
MICHAEL THOMPSON
MEMBERS:
SUSAN MCDONALD
MIKE RICE
MARJ SEWELL
PRESIDENT:
ROGER ROBINSON
VICE PRESIDENT:
JACK BREGLIO
TREASURER:
JUDIE HILLEN
RECORDING SECRETARY:
LINDA FINLEY
2010 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
On January 17, 1914, after several weeks of
heavy rain, Santa Rosa Creek overflowed its
banks flooding the entire town of Cambria The
small stream that ran down the west side of
Bridge Street was overflowing bringing down
large boulders and debris onto Main Street and
the businesses there.
The West Village, known in those days as the
Flats, became a lake. There were no buildings
there at the time except a house and dairy located on the hill. Bill Ioppini, who operated the
dairy, moved his cows to the hills behind his
house to escape the flooding. The “lake” remained almost the year „round for several years
and locals would hunt ducks on it.
-From the February 12, 1987 Cambrian
“Cambria’s Flood Woes of Years Gone By Recalled”
by Wilfred Lyons.
CAMBRIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 906
CAMBRIA CA 93428
U.S. Standard Rate
PAID
Permit No. 106
Cambria, California
93428
Non-Profit
Organization
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
THE SUGGESTION BOX
We are open to suggestions. If you have
any ideas on how we can improve the way
things are done, better serve the community or have some other innovative ideas,
please let us know.