WAUPACA COUNTY POST

July 19, 1923

PAGEANT PUT ON BY LEGION NOVEL EVENT

PAGEANT “WAUPACA” WILL BE PRESENTED BY THE AMERICAN LEGION

ON JULY 30-31 AND AUGUST 1

            Rehearsals for the Circus and Pageant which the American Legion is presenting at the Penney Baseball Park July 30-31 and August 1, are in full swing.  The pageant, entitled “Waupaca”, depicts early history of Waupaca city and has a cast of over two hundred people.

            The first scene is a rocky path and woodlands, which is now known as Waupaca.  It was inhabited by Indians of the Menomonie tribe.  In this scene alone there are between thirty-five and forty people; two Indian chiefs, one a Menomonie and the other of the Chippewa tribe.  There is also an Indian Princess of the Chippewa tribe.  The scene is laid at the foot of Main street before the white man came.

            The second scene is laid in the year of 1949 when Joseph and William Hibbard, Martin Burnham, E.C. Session and a Mr. Pratt, started out from Plymouth, fifteen miles west of Sheboygan, on foot, seeking the much-talked-of Indian lands.  They had to blaze the trails but finally after many hardships, landed on the virgin soil of what is now Waupaca city.

            Scene three shows the cabin of Mr. and Mrs. Cooper. Mrs. Cooper was the first white woman to grace the city of Waupaca.  However, Weyauwega, nine miles distant, had quite a settlement of women.  These women, from time to time, would come to Waupaca to visit Mrs. Cooper, and at this instance she is visited by what we call the Peggy Girls, who are on their way to celebrate the wedding of a pioneer friend, E.C. Session, who has gone back to Vermont to bring a bride to the newly found country.  They laugh, sing and dance.  All seems peaceful enough when suddenly, without warning, the Indians bare down upon them, ransack the cabin and set fire to the settlement.  Only the timely return of the pioneer men can save the white settlement.  From this time, peace was made with this tribe, the white man showing the Indian he was a friend and not a foe.

            Scene four shows E.C. Session bringing his young bride all the way from the green hills of Vermont to this wilderness.  The arrival of the newlyweds is celebrated by all the old-fashioned songs and dances of that period, and the festivities come to an end by all doing the good old Virginia Reel.

            And now scene five is Waupaca, celebrating the homecoming of our boys from France.

            Here is shown all the modern dances of today, with the South American Argentine, the dance which is all the rage in New York.  Twenty of our kiddies in the parade of the wooden soldiers; the big ensemble with the full cast on the stage; our boys returning and the Spirit of Patriotism which is WAUPACA.

            The Circus is a conglomeration of fun and pink lemonade.  Here you will see the animals from the African Jungle doing tricks that no animal but those of our own making could do; clowns that will do the funniest stunts imaginable.  The snake charmer, charming the most vicious reptiles that a butcher shop ever made; the Siamese Twins who will be a most wonderful attraction; the strong man who can lift anything from 1,000 pounds up without his mittens.  Bo-Go is our wild man.  He does not care what he eats, even ice cream, and is very fond of children..

            The street parade at 7:00 o’clock ….