Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1911: New books at the Womans Club Library in Portales included “The Goose Girl” by Harold McGrath, “Freckles” by G.L. Porter and “New Chronicles of Rebecca” by Kate Douglas Wiggins.
1915: Curry County Fair Association officers met to form committees and ordered “a number of big posters which will reach every section of the county in the extensive advertising campaign,” The Clovis Journal reported.
One goal was to produce an agricultural exhibit worthy of the $1,000 prize offered by the state fair.
1941: Duckworth’s drug store in Clovis was attracting a lot of Main Street traffic.
The store had acquired a 131-pound watermelon, almost 2 feet thick in the middle.
It was grown by a melon farmer in Antlers, Okla., who had become famous for growing them large.
M. M. Kerr said he has produced 150-pound water melons and once sold one for $25.
Duckworth’s paid just $2.50 for its publicity ploy; that was the cost of shipping.
1941: The fountain special at Portales’ City Drug: banana splits for 9 cents.
1962: Old Baldy, “the greatest roping horse to ever chase a calf,” was scheduled to be memorialized at the Jake McClure arena in Lovington, the Clovis News-Journal reported.
The chestnut sorrel was buried at the arena after a long and successful career.
Troy Fort, Old Baldy’s last owner, purchased him in 1946 and credited the horse for making him “enough money to buy two ranches.”
Other ropers who saddled Old Baldy included Ike Rude, Clyde Burke, Dick Truitt, Everett Shaw, Jess Goodspeed, Jack Skipworth, and Cotton Lee.
1987: Singer John Pickering was back in what he considered his childhood home as he prepared to participate in the Clovis Music Festival.
Pickering reminisced about moving to Clovis in the 1940s to sing on the radio with the Pickering Family Quartet, and gave his brother Bill credit for introducing Norm and Vi Petty to each other when they were all schoolmates.
Pickering was slated to perform in a gospel concert at the Norman Petty Main Street Studio the coming weekend.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
