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The Yankee Express

Charlton’s 124th Old Home Day a statement of community pride

Dennis Tucker works the grill at the Charlton Lions Club’s food booth, during Old Home Day.

By Rod Lee
The 124th Charlton Old Home Day held over Labor Day weekend proved once again that the event has staying power; and that it continues to attract new participants.
Among the approximately eighty vendors who set up on Main St. were Kyleigh Sutherland, who operates Pure Jewelry (“precious stones”), and Steve Reese and Amanda McDermott of The Lake-view Candle Co. (“handmade soy candles and custom orders”).
All three are residents of the town of Charlton. All three were represented at Old Home Day for the first time.
Their pride in Charlton mirrors that of so many who lent their support to Old Home Day in a variety of capacities: as sponsors; as road race runners; as entertainers; as entrants in the soapbox derby; as patrons of rides on a miniature train; as competitors in Scottish Highland games; as law enforcement controlling traffic; or in any of the other myriad activities that make up the annual summer-ending celebration of community.
That Old Home Day wasn’t able to be held last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic made this year’s renewed version that much better.
“It went really good, I think,” Jerry Doble, an organizer, said, on the morning of September 7.
Dennis E. Deyo, appearing on the bandstand just ahead of Liam Coleman on the afternoon of Labor Day, summed up how people feel about the town with a rendition of “It’s Charlton, and It’s My Home.”
The “Dodge Village” tune, with lyrics “by Dot Lund and DED,” consists of three verses, the first of which goes like this:
From the green of Dresser Farm atop the hills
To the orchard of Fay Mountain at Northside
Lives a childhood I remember still
Thinking of my home, where I reside
It’s the mem’ries of those days now long ago,
Like the Cady Brook, my river runs with pride.
There’s a precious place what lifts my soul,
It’s where my heart in there abides.
Followed by the refrain
It’s Charlton, and It’s My Home,
The place where I arise to greet the day;
A town I can believe in, can achieve in
And sleep at night’s end of day.
It’s Charlton, It’s Charlton, and It’s My Home.
Talking about Old Home Day, Mr. Doble expressed particular pleasure in the soapbox derby, which, he said, featured “a lot of close races” on Muggett Hill Road. “The biggest win was by three feet, most were one to two inches,” he said. “We had five entrants. Some years we get as many as sixteen, ages four to nine. We had twelve races and you are not out until you lose two races. We had a seven-year-old champion. One boy wasn’t sure he wanted to do it then he tried it out and he wants to build his own soapbox for next year.”
Mr. Doble and those associated with the soapbox derby obtain “seventy-five bales of hay” from Victor Kallgren of Dudley and put them along the road “in case the kids hit anything. Then we round them up and take them back. Mr. Kallgren gives us the hay if we bring it back to him when we’re done. He does it for the kids.”

           Kyleigh Sutherland of Pure Jewelry took part in Old Home Day for the first time.

Mr. Doble attributed the low turnout for the soapbox derby to the race’s early-AM start. “Next year we might change it to a little later, eight o’clock, maybe later than that,” he said.
People in attendance on Labor Day flooded the area in and around Charlton Town Hall in search of all kinds of crafty merchandise, food provided by the Charlton Lions Club and other vendors and music at the bandstand. Some occupied bleachers set up opposite the bandstand, from where they could watch a tap-dance performance on wooden platforms by Carla Savoie’s Lee Irish Dance company, which operates out of the Charlton Arts Center—for instance.
Ms. Sutherland with her handmade jewelry and Mr. Reese and Ms. McDermott were enjoying the festivities as they peddled their wares.

 Steve Reese and Amanda McDermott found a prime spot to display product from The Lakeview Candle Co., at Old Home Day.

“I saw a video on Instagram and decided to try making jewelry,” Ms. Sutherland said, of her assortment of necklaces, earrings and bracelets.
It’s a hobby for the Bay Path High School grad, who works part-time as a retail assistant at Tree House Brewery in Charlton.
Rest assured that with the 125th Charlton Old Home Day now less than fifty-two weeks away, Jerry Doble, Kathleen Walker, James Pervier, Cathy Kuehl, Mike Lally and their fellow organizers are already planning a production that will wow—and attract a crowd.
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Contact Rod Lee at [email protected] or 774-232-2999.