Thelma Crumpacker Wimmer 1909-2009

Thelma Wimmer's spirit is gone from the earth. We will greatly miss her, for she was no ordinary woman. She rode into the world on the back of a horse, and left it on a spaceship.
She lived through the founding of the Boy Scouts, the Model T, the Russian Revolution, World War I, World War II, Prohibition, Women's Right to Vote, the Great Depression, the Hindenburg Disaster, Hitler, FDR, Stalin, Einstein, the Atom Bomb, Elvis, JFK, the Beatles, Man's Landing on the Moon, and the Fall of Communism. In her lifetime, Halley's Comet visited our skies two times.
Thank you, Mrs. Wimmer for creating The Rooms of History, the 1985 Slideshow of Sykesville Architecture, and the Gate House Museum of History.
Thank you for your dedicated work on the Town Council, the Sykesville Improvement Association, the Sykesville Gardening Club, the Sykesville Ladies Club, the Rotary Club, and countless other organizations that are lost to time.
Thank you for teaching us that dogged persistence can yield results.
Thank you for teaching us to love gardening.
Thank you for teaching us to love History.
Thank you for leading by example.
You were the most noble, regal, and extraordinary woman that I ever knew.
Rest in your well deserved peace, we will not see your kind again.

Corn and Pumpkin Day

"Corn and Pumpkin Day" was an annual event that was held in the Autumn of each year in the old town. Not much is written about it, at least not much has been located in our Gate House Museum, but there is an interesting photo. It shows an old car, obviously in a parade, and all along the fenders, windscreen frame, and roof are partially husked corn, and other vegetable regalia of the recent harvest. Local farmers would gather to compete for ribbons or prizes for the best corn, or largest pumpkin, or some other local record breaking title.
We imagine that there were baking contests, pie-eating contests, picnics, and a grand feeling of community spirit. Perhaps someday we will be inspired to return to these simple ideas of what a Fall Festival should be.

Sykesville Fall Festival

I always dread this festival, perhaps it's from when we used to live on Main St. and had to endure the noise, or perhaps it was the year they had the idiotic Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley impersonators. At least one of the reasons is the loud rock band that is set up in front of the shop every year, making it impossible to communicate with customers.
Every year, I think I will just keep the shop closed that day, and every year I open the door. I'm always glad I open, because the kids expect to see the trains running. So, it looks like it will be the same this year. At least we can get a pit beef sandwich for lunch.

Afternoon Update: We made it until almost 4:00, and just had to close to avoid the frustration of not being able to communicate with customers. That's it, our last fall festival in town, NEVER AGAIN will we be open on that day, it is just impossible to do any business.