The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-08-05
ME- RCHANTs HELD
FIRST OUTDOOR
MEET At HEDGES
Gathered with Employees Thurs
day at Popular Resort
MORE THAN 200 ATTEND
Water ard Field Sports Take up
Larger Portion OF the
Afternoon

Between two and three hundred pei
sons--nearer three hundred than two
took part in the first annual outin'
Thursday afternoon OF the Benning
/ ton Merchants association at Hedges
! lake With the best possible kind o
weather. perfectly clear sky and
moderate temperature, and deter
mination on the part Of every one In
attendance to MAKE the occasion an
enjoyable one, the outing was bic
success in every particular.
There wasn't much in the way OF 0
set program, and perhaps that was
one Of the reasons why every one TAX
ing part had such good time. II
wasn't function, just get together
OF the business men Of the communi
ty and their families, their employees
and their families, and none cared to
bother with program of any kind.
Messrs. Griswold, Solomon and
Fienberg of the committee did man.
age to put through a portion of the
sport program, but they had diff
cult task in securing contestants.
Those who might have participated
were too busy visiting, watching the
swimmers and having general good
time themselves to pay any attention
to Instructions. BY persistent efforts
the committee finally drilled some
enthusiasm into the crowd and a por-
tion OF the program was carried out.
The different events were not plan
ned to break any athletic efforts but
to create amusement and in this re-
spect the committee certainly scored
high.
There was too much of breeze for
the candle race for swimmers but the
umbrella race went through. Accord
ing to the conditions the swimmers
we're to carry an opened umbrella
around a turning flag and back TO the
diving float Frank Cloes was the
winner and Elliot Worthington was
second
In the balloon race the swimmers
forced small toy balloons over the
course without touching the little
floats with their hands. E. j. Cook
was the winner and II. A. Wilkinson
was second.
The swimming race was won by
Kenneth Worthington with Sam Lee
vim second. The winner. young boy
gave a remarkable exhibition of the
Australian crawl stroke.
The tug Of war between employers
and employees developed the most EN-
thusiasm. The older men at first
gained some of the rope but the EN-
ployes had better staying qualities
and eventually won.
Mrs. Howard Estes won the needle
race and also the newspaper race.
The centipede race was eventually
won by the employers. The first
heat was tie but in the second the
EMPLOYERS developed better team
work and won by small margin.
The Paul Revere race was won by
II. l.. Barnes and Jimmie Deyito.
II was impossible to make record
of second and third places in any of
the events. No one took the trouble
to make an entry. Each and every
contestant jumped into the thing and
at the finish mixed with the crowd
Luncheons were served on the long
tables at the pavilion at 6 o'clock. A
little later the orchestra got busy and
the dancing floor was soon filled to
remain in that condition until late in
the evening.
Barring an automobile accident
near the Farmers Inn, there was not
a single incident to mar the record OF
a perfect day One Of the cars in
the long string while being passed by
q truck went into a ditch and was
considerably damaged. A little girl
passenger was also slightly injured.
Cars began leaving the rendezvous
at the . tofice before 2 o'clock and
shortly after that hour all were on
their way. Not so many cars as had
been expected put in an appearance
and it became necessary to engage
two trucks. These were occuIed by
some of the younger people who un-
doubted'y enjoyed themselves more
than had they been distributed in
pleasure cars.
The detour over Gypsy lane, neces-
STATED by the repairs being made ON
the Colgate road. made portion Of
the trip uncomfortable as this section
OF highway is certainly in wretched
shape. At Hoosick Falls the cars
lined up for the last leg of the jour.
ney and by o'clock all had gathered
at the resort.
A large majority Of the retail places
OF business was represented in the
gathering. A few OF the merchants
did not attend but II is probable that
they will all be on hand another year.
The committee on arrangements put
a large amount of hard work into the
affair and, is entitled to much credit
for the big success accomplished. AL
ready some of those in attendance are
talking of the 1922 outing, 1t has
been suggested that a year from now
an entire day be given to the event
so that a more elaborate program
may be carried out. For first an.
nual," however the event OF Thurs
day was everything that could be ex-
pected.