Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Thursday, June IS, 2000 Community Living Bringing back the singing City, residents plan June Singing 2000 By Alton Bridges Staff Writer The “June singing” that was a tradi tion for almost 70 years before it was stopped in the late 1970 s will begin again Saturday evening, June 17, at the Cumming Fairgrounds. The singing is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., but the start- ing time is tentative because so many people are want ing to participate. “We ask people to be a little toler ant with the , schedule,” said K ’ Linda Heard, A1 / development coordinator with the City of Cumming. “We have been " overwhelmed Hl with groups and we appreci ate that. «Msig*g However, if we enjoy the music that has been a tra dition in the moun tains since the early ’ 1800 s, time will go by in a hurry. Everyone should enjoy the singing. Although there will be a break around 6:30 p.m. for everyone to eat, food will be available throughout most of the afternoon and evening. The Buford Church of God will have barbe cue chicken plates with potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans and hot dogs and hamburgers as a fund-raiser throughout the afternoon. After the break in the evening, singers who have not been scheduled will have a chance to sing. The June 1 lie JUIIC singings have a long and proud history and many people still remember them, including Christine Samples, who remembers attend ing as a child. “We would get dressed in our Sunday best, ride down to Cumming in the back of a pickup and spend the day,” she said. “I remember the weather was usually very hot, but everyone enjoyed seeing one another and enjoyed the singing, too.” “My mother carried us to the June singings from the time I was born until I became an adult,” said Hazel Hansard. “After that, I went on my own. After I j3«il jMk ** r * .9L 111 ,4g Mg rW W K?v Photo/Tom Brooks Big Creek Elementary School’s Odyssey of the Mind team includes, from left, Jonathan Stephens, Josh Butler, Collin Berggreen, Nathan Stephens and Charlie Durham. was married, my husband and I contin ued going until it stopped. At the time we had nothing else to do so everyone went. The town was full of people. It was hard to walk down the sidewalks, but everyone enjoyed seeing one another and listening to the singing.” Recently while browsing through some old copies of the Forsyth County 'A 1905 and 1977. In the interview, Hardin remembered the June singing as a big event and in the early years, “[The square] was crowded like everything.” He did not “recollect seeing an auto mobile there at the first one. [The auto mobiles] began to come in 1910. There wasn’t many up till then and mighty few then.” The 77-year-old Hardin remembered that M.T. Wallace was responsible for starting the first singing in the “brand We would get dressed in our Sunday best, ride down to Cumming ... and spend the day... was delayed until construction of the courthouse was far enough along to hold the singing. The singings started and ended with the life of the courthouse. The 1978 singing was canceled because of the burning of the courthouse. Mr. and Mrs. Emory Williams, who lived in the Daves Creek community, were married at the singing in 1905. Mrs. Williams remembered the early News, I ran across an article about Walter Hardin, who was bom around the . turn of the past \ century. Hardin had a store on Hwy. 9 north of Bm Cumming and gal had not missed Bl a J une s ’ n ß‘ n 2 BgU since 1905, BB when the ggw singings became a per- JHB manent event in Forsyth County. B The newspaper F was dated June 22, 1977 and Hardin had not missed a single singing for the 72 years between spanking new cour thouse before the courthouse was even finished.” According to the article, the June singing in 1905 was not held in June, after all, but on July 5. The first singing I • ■ ’— WE _ W nl 11. &JH ! 11 -tr 1 » TVTI .7 ■ I I L _____ Photo/submitted ■ Ebenezer Methodist Church, like many of the churches in rural America at the turn of the 20th century, was warmed by a wood stove in the winter and cooled by nothing more than open windows and doors in the summer. Left, the har- ‘ vest moon graphic was illustrated by local artist Rick Rennick in 1998. singings. “The courthouse yard would be working like bees,” she reported. “Folks went from far and near to that singing. We always carried our lunch.” When lunchtime came, “most of us would go to cars, buggies or wagons to eat.” For June 2000, the City of Cumming is being joined by the Andean Motor Company, Ingrams Funeral Home, the Forsyth County Singing Class and the Forsyth County Historical Society in sponsoring the singing. The June Singing 2000 will be Saturday, June 17, from 4-9 p.m. at the Cumming Fairgrounds featuring a wel come from Mayor H. Ford Gravitt; mod- Big Creek Elementary’s Odyssey team attends world championship By Amanda Johnson Special to the Forsyth County News The characters in the movie “Baby Geniuses” have nothing on six kids from Big Creek Elementary School. Last weekend, after months of prepara tion and preliminary competition, die school’s Odyssey of the Mind team made it to the world finals, held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. First- and second graders Charlie Durham, Collin Beiggreen, Josh Butler, Katie Kuhlhorst, Nathan Stephens and Jonathon Stephens finished 20th, placing them among the brightest, most innovative students in the world. Odyssey of the Mind, or OM, is a pro gram for students from kindergarten through college designed to challenge them mentally and help them develop effective problem-solving skills. The OM process lasts all year. First, the team chooses one long-term problem to work on from a list of five different challenges. There are problems to engage all differ ent kinds of students. Some of the prob lems are theatrical in nature, some involve building vehicles and machines, and others are technical like the one selected by this year’s team at Big Creek. Big Creek Elementary sent seven teams to competition this year, but the winning team worked on the problem called “Shrinking Structure.” Their challenge was this: to build a balsa wood structure between 9-1/2 and 10 inches tall, which would shrink to between 8 and 8-1/2 inch- erators Jimmy Fagan, Boyd Parks and Jeff Bagley; a reflection on June singings from Gerald Blackbum; a his torical account from Mrs. Winnie Tailant; and several performances, including the following: • Soloist Dr. Melissa McGinnis • Trinity Worship Center Church of God Choir (John Barrett, director) • Amicalola Falls Baptist Church Choir (Andrea Ford, director) • Soloist Carol Anderson • Piedmont Methodist Church Choir (Tom Bartow, director) • Just Three • Buford Church of God Choir (Rodney Cundit/Shawn Tanner) Theyplaced 20th out 0f52 teams in their division. 99 es when it was crushed. Then, the crushed structure would be tested to see how much weight it would hold. The structure itself could weigh no more than 15 grams the weight of four nickels. The only materials the team could use were balsa wood and glue, and they could spend no more than $75 on all their materials. But building the structure was only part of the challenge. The team also had to write an original skit that centered around the idea of shrinking. They performed the skit while the weight was piled on the structure. The entire process lasted less than eight minutes. f Big Creek’s team chose “Shrinking Structure” at the beginning of the 1999- 2000 school year, and they started prepar ing immediately. The students had to do all the work themselves. Coaches Lisa Stephens and Sharon Durham could teach and advise the students, but they could not do any construction or preparation. Big Creek’s team put their structure to the test at their region competition on March 25 at Greater Atlanta Christian School. At competition, the team not only presents the solution to its long-term prob- Scenes from graduation: I Celebrating the Class of2oool g 1 pagesbißß • Christ the King Lutheran Church Choir (Jack Brolin, director) • Mayfield Baptist Church Choir • Harmony Grove Baptist Church Choir (directed by Karen Martin) • Living Water • Silver City Adult Choir (directed by I Roger Slaton) • Goss Family Singers • Haw Creek Youth Choir (directed by Pam Power) • Happy Christian Trio • Parks Trio • Soloist Jon Heard • Soloist Evelyn Castleberry • Soloist Terry “Chief’ Frady • Forsyth County Quartet. lem, but must also participate in a sponta neous problem, where the team is given a problem or question it has never seen before and has two to three minutes to respond. The scores of the long-term and spontaneous problems are combined to get the team’s total. The Big Creek team’s structure held 250 pounds in the long-term competition, and they earned exemplary spontaneous scores. They finished second at region competition, arid they advanced to the state finals, which were held in Milledgeville on April 15. At state, Big Creek’s structure held even more weight, finally breaking at 385 pounds. Again, the team finished second, qualifying them to attend the 21st annual Odyssey of the Mind world finals, held last weekend at the University of Tennessee’s Thompson Boling Arena. The contest really was a world competi tion, with teams from China, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Australia, Belgium, Hungary, the United Kingdom and the Bahamas, among others. Big Creek’s team met students from all over the world, and they enjoyed trading lapel pins , with the other teams. Big Creek’s OM team fared well. Competing with other students from kindergarten to age 12, they placed 20th out of 32 teams in their division. Their structure held an incredible 440 pounds before breaking. With kids like these, it’s easy to see why Big Creek Elementary is a state School of Excellence.