Picnics

The Washington Elementary School picnic was held every year in June at the Forest Park Highlands on Oakland Avenue and Skinker Boulevard, next to the Arena. It was one of the most important school days for us, because it signaled that the end of the school year was approaching. It was a day full of fun and excitement, an opportunity to go to an amusement park and spend the entire day there. All my siblings and I, all the years we were students at Washington School, attended those picnics. My mother always made it a point to let her children attend that important scholastic event. Our other Greek friends were just as excited as we were to go to the picnic.

For weeks before the school picnic, my Greek girl friends and I would talk about the picnic constantly; the clothes we would wear on that day, the different rides we would go on, etc. We also talked about trying to save money to spend at the Highlands, but none of us got an allowance or had any way of getting any extra money. It was unthinkable for us to ask our parents for money to spend on rides or refreshments because during the thirties, money was tight for almost everyone, although my mother was generous to us on that day; she did give us money to spend on a few extra rides. The Greek boys were able to get some money, they would go around looking for empty soda bottles to return to the store and get a penny for each one.

The morning of the picnic was an exciting one for us. We couldn't wait to leave the house to go to school, urging our siblings to "Hurry up, hurry up, let's go". We would grab the picnic basket my mother had made up, filled with hot dogs, buns, and other food, and off we would go to school.

Members of the Mother's Club and PTA comprised the Picnic Committee. They would charter buses to drive the students out to the grounds. The buses were double decker ones, and it was a treat to be able to sit in the upper deck, and look down at the people standing on the outside. Sometimes looking down from that height made me momentarily dizzy; nevertheless, it was exciting. To return home after the picnic, it was every man for himself. No transportation was provided by the Picnic Committee, we each had to provide our own transportation home. The organizers of the picnic would accommodate the parents by checking the picnic baskets on the bus to be reclaimed at the Highlands.

Parents were not allowed to ride the buses; they furnished their own transportation to the amusement park. With so many Greek families living on Aubert Avenue, there were many mothers also going to the school picnic. My mother, and any small child she happened to have at the time, who was not enrolled in school, as well as the other mothers, would walk down Aubert Avenue going south one block to Enright Avenue, turn right one block west to Kingshighway Boulevard. They would then board the Kingshighway bus going south to Oakland Avenue, then transfer to the Forest Park streetcar going west to the Forest Park Highlands.

At the school, there was no parade, no band, we simply boarded the buses by room assignment, and left. The buses would arrive at the Highlands before the mothers who were coming by public transportation. As we got off the chartered buses, and got our family's picnic basket, we would make a mad dash for the pavilion to find an empty table, and hold it until our mother would come. The pavilion was an ideal place for the mothers to sit during the day while their children were enjoying themselves, they could visit with each other. The pavilion was sheltered, in case of rain, or from the sunshine, and it was almost in the middle of the amusement grounds. The Highlands had a swimming pool, but we never swam in it. There was also a ballroom dance area that opened at eight o'clock in the evening for dancing.

The children were given a certain number of free tickets, much coveted, from the Picnic Committee for the rides. We relied heavily on those. They were already stamped with the name of the ride they were good for; one was the Merry-go-round, one was for the Airplane Swing, and aother was for the Racing Derby. For some of us, particularly the girls, the Racing Derby was too dangerous and challenging. We were usually able to trade that ticket with the boys for a Merry-go-round ticket, never for an Airplane Swing, because the boys liked the challenge that ride presented, and kept the ticket for themselves.

My sister and I had devised our own plan for going on the rides. We would begin with the Merry-go-round, to get the feeling of the air brushing us as the Carousal was in motion, we sat on decorated wooden horses that bounced up and down, a good feeling of joy and being carefree. Then we would approach the Airplane Swing ride cautiously, because that ride was a little more livelier and intimidating. It wasn't that we didn't want to ride it, but the airplane lifted off the ground, and swung out into the air, and at a little bit of an angle. However, we quickly overcame our fear of the obvious, and valiantly stood in line to get on the ride. Next we went to the Dodgem Cars; it was one of our favorite rides and we really enjoyed it. We had the feeling that we were really driving an automobile, pressing our foot on the accelerator, careful not to hit other cars, moving the steering wheel back and forth, and...then deliberately hitting someone with the thought of teasing them, yelling at each other in fun and screaming. It was great fun.

Another ride that was intimidating to us was the Ferris Wheel. The seats were attached on different spokes of the Wheel, and it did not lay flat, but the Wheel was upright as it turned around. The height of the Wheel was equal perhaps to that of the third floor of a house. The seats rocked back and forth as the Wheel went around, and then there was a great deal of apprehension that if the Wheel stopped to let someone off while we were at the very top of it, we were really in trouble with the seat rocking back and forth amid our screams of laughter. Fortunately there was a smaller Ferris Wheel, that did not reach very high, and the seats were enclosed in a cage. Even though there was the threat of being called a "baby" if one went on that Wheel, we took the challenge and did not hesitate, and rode it.

Sometime in the early afternoon the Picnic Committee had organized games for the children. We would all gather round and enjoy watching the different contests. One contest was that each contestant would stand in a gunny sack, and at the signal, hop to the end of a designated area; the first child to reach that spot was the winner. We never participated in any of the games, we were too self-conscious that we would lose.

By late afternoon, we had used up all our tickets, and gone on the other rides with money our mother gave us, but we were getting tired; however, not enough to leave the Highlands that early! Other students and parents began leaving the amusement park, but we would not budge, we still wanted to stay a little longer.

© 2003 by Jennie Constantinides Vlanton

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