City High alumni set to celebrate

No doubt about it, the City High School reunion will be the place to be on the first weekend in September. Preparations are ongoing for the event, which will feature a variety of activities.

City High began with the 1957-58 school year and closed its doors in 1969. The two-day celebration will be held on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 1-2, and all students who attended the school during its 12-year run are invited to the reunion, including those in the lower grades who did not graduate.

Admission is $20 for individuals, or $30 per couple. All proceeds will benefit the Park Theatre renovation project.

Some of the reunion events are set for Warren County Middle School, the former City High, and some will be held downtown, where the streets will be blocked off to accommodate the celebration. Registration will be held at the middle school Friday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. Alumni can then attend the Pioneer football game Friday night where they can sit together and be recognized at halftime.

Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. tables for each class will be set up around Court Square. Included in the downtown activities will be a historic tour of McMinnville conducted by local historian, teacher and Alderman Jimmy Haley. Alumni will also get to visit the Park Theatre and see the renovation project going on there. Former teachers will make an appearance at the new Chamber building from 1 to 3 p.m. to meet and greet their former students.

Two of the highlights will be a talent show featuring alumni and a silent auction of vintage items from the era along with memorabilia from the school and items created or donated by former students.

One of the acts appearing in the talent show will be a jug band made up of City High alumni who are well-known to the community, including Jeff Golden, Royce Davenport, Larry Stanley, Dickie J. Hillis and Larry Boyd. The group will be lip-synching tunes from the Soggy Bottom Boys and performing on traditional homemade and found instruments such as saw, jug, washboard, comb and string bass. City High alumnus, teacher and songwriter Thomas Vaughn has even penned a couple of songs for the event.

After the talent show alumni will get to dance the night away to the sounds of oldies band Timeline, which will be familiar to many local residents after making an appearance at Main Street Live this summer.

The silent auction also promises to be a high point of the event, with the number and variety of high quality items being donated growing all the time. Here are just a few of many wonderful pieces being offered and the businesses or individuals donating them:

? Audrey Mullican ? 46 x 64 inch handmade red and white afghan

? Alma Greene ? 60 x 80 inch antique linen tablecloth from Mrs. Nettie Drakes, set of 6 placemats, set of 10 napkins

? Chad Mullican ? Windsor continuous arm chair made of Tennessee White Oak

? Danny Phifer ? original framed etching titled ?Hint of Spring?

? Carol Boyd ? original framed oil titled ?City Boys/Mountain Boys?

? Barr?s ? Hand cut marble stone decorative plate

? Warren County Furniture ? 28-inch decorative pineapple lamp

? Stewart Pharmacy ? Coby Micro CD home stereo

? Caney Fork ? electric grill

? Underwood Hardware ? 132 piece tool set

? Am South Bank ? two tickets to UT Vs Air Force game Sept. 9

? Jimmy Haley ? section of original City High auditorium seats

? Homeland Community Bank ? savings bond

? First National Bank ? 2006 American Eagle silver dollar

? Grizzell?s Jewelry ? silver letter opener

? Region?s Bank ? 2001 New York coin collector set, 2002 Louisiana coin collector set

There are literally dozens of other items which, unfortunately, are too numerous to list, but suffice it to say, there will be something for everyone.

For more information on the event, call Jeff Golden at 473-5984, or Diane Stanley at 668-9539.