Monday, June 7, 2010

custer, NOT custard!

on to the next craze - Custer, as in Gen. George, as in Battle of Little Big Horn - yeah, THAT Custer...he grew up in Monroe, led the Michigan militia, helped win the Civil War with key battles in Gettysburg, fought in 1812, and yes, then there's that whole Native American aspect of his career - love him or hate him, he's an icon here in Monroe, and this week marked the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the Custer Statue that stands in town, as well as the beginning of the annual Custer Week celebration...

i name the title of this post as such, because it used to crack us up when we'd get an intern fresh in to town, and they'd be like, "so i have to go to the "Custard" Statue - where's that?" and we'd have to tactfully explain that it's Custer, not Custard, as in a general, not a dessert...ha ha


anyway, it being such a milestone event, our paper has joined in the Custer craze, and was bound and determined to cover the bejeesus out of this one! what of the events should we focus on to cover, asked an editor - well, everything was the directive....so, thursday was to kick it off with a Custer Expo - a conference of the Little Big Horn Associates was in town for the anniversary event, and they were to have an expo of vendors and historians, collectors, etc, set up from morning to night - but, when i went there, 3 times mind you, the place was all locked up with nary a soul in sight...hmm, hope this doesn't set a tone for how this whole thing is going to play out, because we have extra pages and very high turn-out expectations for our coverage of the official friday start of events....


needless to say, thursday was a light day.....friday, i got in early to swing by and see if they were doing anything (supposed to be open again from 8 am to 9 pm), but still nothing, so i just headed down to the square, where a civil war-era brass band was to play, relatives of custer and of the original statue committee were to be on hand, re-enactors of Libbie (his wife, who was played by another Monroe icon - Kaye Lani Ray Rafko - who won the Miss America pageant in 1980-something) and Pres. Taft, who attended the original statue dedication, were to be there mingling in character through the crowd, a 1909 Model Z Oldsmobile (the car in which Taft arrived back in the day) would be on display, a canon will be on display, too, a group photo of the assembled (like the one they did at the original event) would be taken for publication in a national magazine, and local businesses would be decked out in period costume and other Custer/patriotic regalia....and we need photos of all of that


funny, even as Libbie, she still had the pageant wave going on!


well, it all went pretty much as planned - bryan and i had to double up on the morning events, because the brass band was running that day - so he focused on that, and i was to get the rest...which was totally do-able....


except the group photo happened before the event was slated to start, and the businesses aspect, well, let's just say i didn't see much in the way of Custer decor and was told by one business that they were going to hang a Pepsi banner in the window, because it's the only thing they had that's red, white and blue....okay, so you see where all THAT'S headed! bryan did find a Custer poster in a window, so i guess we vaguely got that one covered, but still, nowhere near what we were led to expect to find


not sure why i like this, or if it even works, but i just do!

anyway, after that, i headed out of town a bit to the old Custer farmhouse - bought by George and his brother Nevin and their wives - George only lived there shortly, if at all, because he wanted to be out west, blazing the trail and battling it out at places like Little Big Horn (some may argue he should have stayed in Monroe, but so goes history) - the conference attendees were on a bus tour of local Custer sites, and the farmhouse was naturally a big stop, so i was on tour bus duty...

the tour was pretty much confined to looking at the historical marker in the front yard and the front of the house, because the current owner really wasn't into the idea of people roaming around, so, it wasn't so cool for visuals, but it is what it is, as the saying goes


liked the button on this guy's cap - Custer for President - hmmm, not sure certain members of the Indian nations with whom he dealt would agree, but an interesting detail that speaks to the event, nonetheless


later that afternoon, the official rededication of the statue would take place - the mayor will speak, a member of the historical society will speak, and they will unveil a "secret" new addition to downtown Monroe...

so, again bryan and i double up, cos they want video, and we've gotten access to a building across the street so we can shoot the crowd from that angle...so, i go to the building, which was kind of lame, especially since the assembled crowd wasn't nearly as big as i think was anticipated - i mean, back in 1910 they had nearly 30,000 people in attendance - we'd be lucky if the count was over 300 - so, i shot a bit from up there, then went down to street level to shoot some more....


and such was the end of the Custer events for the day (for me at least - poor bryan had to cover the banquet that evening - i.e. Custer relative speaking at podium as people ate dinner - not a visual dream, to say the least)

saturday, it was a Civil War military encampment demo at the park near the statue, then district finals softball and baseball in the afternoon...went out to the park, and hmm, no one's there, and we have been given no contact info, so i figure, maybe they're starting late, go home, get coffee, check the paper for any other info, and go back - still nothing - not even anyone out there pitching a tent in preparation to get started - weird, so i head out to another historical site where they're holding an 1812 Militia Muster - i figured someone out there may have some info on what's up with the other re-enactors - but they have no idea - and since i'm there, and we were going to have a freelancer cover this event for us sunday, i may as well just shoot something while there and save us the cost...


had planned to go back to the park again, but i got a call from the weekend reporter -wtf - no one's here, what are we gonna do? so i tell him where i am, and if there's still no one there, i'm guessing they just blew it off (lame!), and maybe we should do this for sunday 1A, but that will leave them without this as planned for monday - so, he calls the editor, and they have something they can throw in for monday, so just cover this for sunday instead...so i keep shooting


and then i gotta scoot, cos i have to get to a town in the next county for my sports....
i arrive, and it turns out the sports guys got the times wrong, and the softball finals are over, and the baseball semi-finals are just finishing up....and i'm not sure if our team is winning or not, cos if they lose, then i have NO pictures! so i shoot the pitcher quickly, then ask around and find out they're winning, so they'll play the finals - phew! except now i have an hour to wait....so i wait....

and luckily the predicted storms, which looked to be threatening the horizon don't move in while the game is on, and then it's back to the paper to edit and get it in, then home to put in my galleries from the day's pics, and then i am off again, for 3 whole glorious days!

1 comment:

Cynthia Ramnarace said...

Kim, thank you for the reminder of how HARD community journalism is. I'm exhausted just from reading that! And you didn't even get to the "twister hits Dundee" part :)