It has been an exciting and interesting time here in
Salyersville as our 35th annual Magoffin County Founders Days
is in full swing! It is hard to believe that by the time you read these
comments the last events of the celebration will be over. The Rudd family
and all their friends have made this a memorable occasion. We have
already begun collecting pictures of the happenings so we will get to
enjoy reminiscing. We want to take this opportunity to invite anyone who
wishes to share their Founders Days pictures with us to do so. We have
made albums of all the past Founders Days and when we look back on our
earlier years we always wish we had taken more pictures. With the new
digital technology of today it is a lot easier and less expensive to have
a pictorial memory of events.
We started off our Founders Day events with a most wonderful
Opening Ceremony! Two of our fine
Magoffin County organizations, the Muzzleloaders and Chapter 15 DAV, helped
us out by their presence and participation. They add a great deal to any
event in which they participate. We asked Steve Rudd to preside over the
ceremony and what a terrific job he did! He has added much to our
knowledge of our history and genealogy down through the years and we
appreciate all that he does. We are very grateful to his wife Katrina
this year as she filled in for Diane Rudd who was to sing the National
Anthem. It seems Diane’s daughter has added a new member to the Rudd
generation. Diane is now the proud grandmother of a fine new baby girl and
couldn’t get back to Salyersville from the hospital in time for the
program. Congratulations to all the family!
Dairel Minix started our program off with a fine invocation
and set the tone for the rest of the evening. Henry Joseph and his DAV
members raised the flag as the Boy Scouts led us in the Pledge to the
American Flag. What a fine group of youngsters these are and we thank
their leaders, Ralph Mullins and Haskell Sizemore for all their good
work. Next we were in for a wonderful treat as young Miss Erin Grace
Rudd, daughter of Steve and Katrina sang God Bless
America for us.
It was amazing to see the poise and talent displayed in one so young.
County Judge Executive Dr. Charles Hardin and City Mayor Dr.
James “Pete” Shepherd were on hand to welcome everyone to our 35th
Founders Day event. We thank them for their efforts to further the
progress of our city and county. We appreciate the time they so
graciously spend to help promote and carry on the improvement of the area
where we work and live.
Last year we had the wonderful help of Herley Manns’ wife
Margie and his children Lena Auxier Manns and Adam Manns who made a
“Family Tree” for us. We put it to use again this year and it was a
resounding success. Veronica Rudd Hall took charge of getting the
materials ready and organizing this event featuring many young children
who are descendants of our early settlers Archibald and Nancy (Woosley)
Rudd. Over 50 youngsters volunteered to participate in this activity
which was enjoyed by everyone. At the top of the tree were the names of
their ancestors. The rest of the tree was filled by the children with
leaves with their own name inscribed. It is our hope that our children
will remember their participation in this event and that it will make them
more aware and more knowledgeable of their ancestors who did so much for
the growth and development of our county. Our future is in the hands of
our children and we believe knowing our history and heritage helps make
better citizens of us all.
Three of our grand marshals were on hand to unveil the Rudd
name addition to our Founders Day marker. We were very proud to have
Barbara Rudd Daniels,
Augustine Rudd Castle and
E. J. Rudd to unveil and read the marker inscription to those in
attendance.
I invited all the little children in attendance to ring the
courthouse bell to welcome in the 35th Founders Days. Jesse
Rudd came over and helped lift the little ones up so they could do this.
We believe it will be a memorable event in their lives.
A picture taking time followed and then the group went to the stage
area to enjoy a performance by the Signs of Worship, a youth group from
the New Generation
Church.
A very pleasant evening followed for all in the audience for
the Baby Pageant. We thank Jessica Howard, Lisa Preston, Abbie Conley,
Carol Jean Howard and Theresa Dotson along with all their co-workers for
their fine work. Everyone enjoyed seeing the children dressed in their
old fashioned costumes and performing for the people. They all did a
great job! Thank you, parents, grandparents and friends and relatives for
helping your children be a part of this event.
On Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. we once again met in the stage
area of the Pioneer Village where we were entertained by the Rhythm and
Dance group, a very talented young group of people. Lisa Swiger and Tonya
Ward were the directors of this event and we also thank Randy Ward for all
the work he put into making this part of our program such a success. One
of our goals for Founders Days is to give our young people a chance to
show the world their talent and this year we were treated to some of the
best! We got a chance to see our youngsters from ages of a few weeks to a
few years and we were impressed with all of them. There is a great deal
of talent in our county and we will look forward to seeing what the future
may bring from these fine young people.
We are looking forward to the rest of Founders Days at this
writing. On Thursday the Black Powder Express Bluegrass band will play
for the audience. Next will be the ever popular Miss Teen Pageant.
Following will be a full day’s events on Friday with the 4-H Pet Show, the
Magoffin County School Events, some Cabin Porch Pickin’ and Singing, then
comes the long awaited Miss Magoffin Pageant.
Saturday and Sunday will be filled with many family oriented
events from parades, a Hog Roast, more talent showcases, church services,
a scrumptious dinner and a Gospel Sing. We will try to give an account
next week of these events.
Thank you to the Salyersville Independent for printing our
Program of Events and for making each day’s events known to the public
through their Facebook posts. We appreciated having Kathy Puckett from
our local radio station WRLV announcing the happenings here at the Pioneer
Village. It takes a lot of cooperation and work from many different
individuals and groups to help our volunteer organization bring an event
like this to our county and there are many whose names you may not hear or
see in print but their part in making it all happen is essential. We want
to thank everyone who helped in any way with these 2013 Founders Days.