Talk:Old Home Days
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There should be an article on Old Home Days, the New England celebration. Old Home Days (Old Home Day, Old Home Week) are annual celebrations of history and community held in various towns and cities in the New England area. Celebrations generally held on a summer weekend or week, the time of year depending on the town.
In smaller towns, Old Home Days draw local attendees and have a festival atmosphere. Attractions include local local entertainment, food, contests, games, and vendors. Many attractions have historical or rural themes, e.g., horse-and-buggy rides, hay rides and craft booths, contests and suppers.
In larger towns, Old Home Days are often run as for-profit events, and draw a larger regional audience. These events tend to be more like fairs, with professional events and a carnival atmosphere.
There are various histories of Old Home Days floating around the web, from which we glean that that Old Home Days were originally conceived by the governor of New Hampshire in a bid to attract and retain population lost to urbanization. Histories disagree on details, e.g. the identity of the governor and the exact origin date (the New Hampshire pages above give 1897, 1906, and 1899, respectively). Presumably there is a history of local New England celebrations prior to the official New Hampshire celebrations. an authoritative history would be nice.
The Old Home Days tradition has long since outgrown its original purpose and geographic bound. Old Home Days celebrations have spread from New Hampshire to all of the New England states, nearby states and Canada. Here is a sample of web pages for various current and historical Old Home Days celebrations.
Campton, NH: http://sites.google.com/site/camptonoldhomeday/history-of-old-home-day
Pelham, NH: http://www.pelhamoldhomeday.org/history.htm
Stoddard, NH: http://www.stoddardnh.org/history/history-stoddards-old-home-days
Sheldon, VT: http://www.vtchamber.com/events/calendar/sheldon_old_home_day
East Hampton, CT: http://www.easthamptonoldhomedays.org
Cannonsville, NY: http://www.dcnyhistory.org/cannonsville_old_home_day.html
South Amboy, NJ, 1914: http://dowdell.org/citizen/1914/1914-08-15.pdf
Tabusintac, NB, Canada: http://www.tabusintac.org/old_home_week.html
Addendum
[edit]I wrote the previous talk article, but I was not logged in at the time, apologies.
I wanted to note that there are several mentions of Old Home Days already in the Wikipedia, for example the article Merrimac Old Home Days, a mention in Hollis, New Hampshire, and various other articles which can be found by Googling "Old Home Days", "Old Home Day"
The article Catamount, Massachusetts is interesting in that it mentions Old Home Days occurring in 1880, prior to the official inauguration of Old Home Days by the governor of New Hampshire circa 1900. This makes me curious as to whether Old Home Days events were celebrated in various towns prior to the New Hampshire Governor's declaration, perhaps they were his inspiration. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mohanchous (talk • contribs) 18:37, 12 June 2011 (UTC)