The Centerville Community Group will host its annual fall celebration of the past from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the H&W Dime and Dollar Store, 659 Arkansas 225, 8 miles east of Greenbrier.
The public is invited to the event that organizers call Old Ways From Old Days. There is no admission fee. Parking is also free; visitors are asked to reserve the closest parking spaces for people who have mobility challenges.
Shirley Pratt of the Happy Valley neighborhood, which she calls a “suburb” of Centerville, said this event “is a celebration of skills and customs in remembrance of the self-sufficiency mindset of previous generations.
“Many people are growing increasingly aware of their roots in the ‘old ways from the old days’ as they learn to live a more self-sufficient life,” said Pratt, who grew up in the area, a daughter of the late John and Maggie Jackson. “Most homesteading skills of today are surprisingly similar to the skills of past generations.”
Pratt said examples of the skills and customs that will be demonstrated or exhibited Saturday include sawing logs with a crosscut saw, antique tractors and engines, beekeeping, making poultices to relieve inflammation or treat wounds and food-preservation techniques.
Various food items and other “old days” theme items will be available for purchase. Visitors who have an interesting object from the past to show and describe to others are invited to bring it along for all to learn about and enjoy stories of how it was used.
“Also, visitors who have a ‘mystery’ item to identify are invited to bring that item along as well,” Pratt said. “These items may be featured in sort of an Antiques Road Show area.”
Other organizers of the celebration include Randy and Gail West, owners of the H&W Dime and Dollar Store, which Randy built 21 years ago. Gail West is a daughter of Jackie and Delilah Hosman of Centerville; her ancestors, the J.P. Henderson family, moved to Centerville in 1900.
“Gail and I were visiting one day, and I told her that it hurt my feelings that we did not know our neighbors anymore,” Pratt said. “She agreed, and we thought it would be neat for everybody to come and mingle and get to know each other again. It was really her brainchild.”
Pratt said the Centerville Community Group is made up of only a few people.
“Five to 10 people … the number is fluid, depending on life schedules,” she said. “We all feel strongly about our mission of sharing information and education experiences pertaining to living a more self-sufficient lifestyle.
“Presenters and instructors for our events reach beyond our nuclear group,” Pratt said. “We started Old Ways From Old Days several years ago as a fun way to build a greater sense of community and connectedness among neighbors out here in our rural area of the county, while at the same time sparking reminders of the many self-sufficiency skills our ancestors knew as their everyday life.
“Since we are so far out from emergency services, we know we would be far down on the list of those communities to receive help in the event of widespread disasters. Neighbors would rely on neighbors for help in those times, and it would be much smoother if people actually knew their neighbors and had already built friendships with each other. Old Ways From Old Days is only one of the events we host as a public service for the Centerville community and beyond.”
Pratt said the Centerville Community Group also hosts classes as a public service to the community, all based on learning skills in order to live a more self-reliant lifestyle.
“We have hosted a couple of cycles of emergency-preparedness basics,” she said. “We also presented classes in self-defense, solar power for the home, growing herbs, high-tunnel gardening, edible and medicinal plants, making tinctures, making potting blocks for seedlings, making cheese, soap and kefir, and canning dried beans. Several more classes are planned for next year and beyond.”
Pratt said the Centerville Volunteer Fire Department also holds community events. She also noted that Centerville United Methodist Church, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, is also a place where the community often gathers for events.
Pratt, who is a naturalist and a retired botany teacher, will demonstrate how to make sauerkraut at the upcoming fall celebration.
“Kraut is one of the significant contributions of the early explorers and colonists to America,” she said. “Without this source of vitamin C on those long voyages to the New World, our forefathers and mothers might have died of scurvy.
“They might have had some fruit, but fruit would spoil. They made sauerkraut using cabbage, salt and water, and that would not spoil.”
Another participant in Saturday’s celebration will be Stacy Pierce and her children — Josie, 12, and John David, 7. They live in Springhill, but Pierce said she has been coming to these events for several years.
Stacy will demonstrate the use of poultices, and Josie will make bath or kitchen sponges from luffa gourds, which are part of the cucumber family. John David will assist his mother and sister.
Stacy said she believes poultices are “first in the line of defense” for such things as aches, burns or scrapes.
“Try it first, and if it does not work, seek medical help,” she said, adding that she uses common household items such as potatoes, onion, garlic, aloe vera and charcoal to make poultices.
Marsha Rawls is a newcomer to the Centerville community, moving there about two years ago from Conway. She will also take part in Saturday’s event. Rawls will show children how to make paint from berries, herbs and glue.
“I am retired from two major corporations and was looking for a more simple way of life,” Rawls said. “I have been so drawn to this community; I just love it.”
For more information on Old Ways From Old Days or for directions to H&W Dime and Dollar Store, call Gail West at (501) 679-4043.