HEGINS TOWNSHIP BAND MAROONED IN SNOW
The Hegins Township High School Band under its director Bartel Shade [Schade] rendered a concert at the Farm Show at Harrisburg on Wednesday, January 22. The distinction was given this band on account of the championship it won in the State School Band contest for 1935.
The band left Hegins Township School at 6:30 A.M. Wednesday morning in buses and had a full day at the show enjoying every minute of their stay, but on their way home had experience which will linger thru life. They encountered the short blizzard of Wednesday evening which again blocked the highways with snow drifts several feet deep, and after much trouble along the road, they reached Gratz Community Center, the new hotel at Gratz at twelve o’clock Wednesday night and could go no further. At this new hotel they found a warm, comfortable place after their cold trip and were given the very best attention possible under the circumstances. The only consideration of the hosts was the utmost care for these children during the entire night. On Thursday the road from Gratz to Hegins was still impassable and the hotel cared for them on Thursday and for Thursday night. The kind people of Gratz volunteered to care for those children in the private homes, the hotel not being able to accommodate this large number, there being fifty-two members in the band.
The writer was in telephone conversation with the mother of one of the party and she was not in the least worried since she felt that her child was being well taken care of by the kind people of Gratz. Everything possible is done by the entire community to take care of these children so that their parents need have no worries until they are able to reach home, which may be sometime on Friday.
This story is but one among many experiences of school children throughout our country, these days, since our metropolitan newspapers carry stories of school children marooned in snow drifts and rescued. While these children reached safety without the necessity of being rescued, it was very fortunate that they were able to reach Gratz, where they were at least made comfortable as possible, and cared for and parents worries allayed.
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From the West Schuylkill Press & Pine Grove Herald, 24 January 1936, via Newspapers.com.
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