Please tell me Peabody can count on you
Come Saturday night, you will get a chance to avow your support for this community. Do you think Peabody is a good place to live? Are you glad you are not raising your children in Kansas City or Wichita? Have you invested in, or do you work for a local business? Do you want that business to succeed?
If you answered yes to any of the above you should plan to attend the Peabody Main Street benefit auction at the American Legion Saturday night. There will be a scrumptious steak feed — rib eye steak grilled the way you want it (since you will be doing the grilling), potato bar, salad, and decadent "to-die-for-desserts" provided by some of Peabody's finest cooks. How can you beat a deal like that for 10 bucks?
Following the steak feed is a sale of items you won't find anywhere else!
The Main Street people will offer you the chance to name the sports complex and circle drive at the city park. You bid the most, you get to pick the name. Main Street will buy and install the signs and they will remain in place until the next auction. At that point, the signs will be yours to do with as you please.
Framed reprints of early Peabody photos also will be offered. Ask Grandpa if he remembers "Sailor Jack" driving a promotional car for Dodge back in the 1930s. We have Sailor Jack with the promotional car in front of Temple Motors.
You can buy an early print of a downtown Christmas tree with a crowd gathered around it or one of a volunteer fire department. Tibbens Service Station used to occupy the spot where the grocery store now is and another was in the building that now is Peabody Sausage House. You can buy a picture of either.
There is a shot of a 1930s downtown rally showing Coca-Cola advertising on a building wall and streetlights all the way to Doyle Creek. A group of five Watchorn Corner photos including the hotel, a women's baseball team, and one that will be sold of little Ron Gaines on the porch of his parents' house in that oil field town.
PHS alumna Becky Ediger sent West Wing M&Ms, a Secret Service golf shirt and jacket — be the only one on your block (or golf course) to own one!
You will be offered one-of-a-kind hand crafted items from some of Peabody's most talented people.
Memorabilia includes several early post cards and advertising items. And you can bid on certificates from businesses and individuals for discounts, monthly specials, or free items.
Whatever you spend above the actual retail value of your purchase is tax deductible.
But the best part of this is that you will be helping your community. The funds Main Street raises will be used to promote Peabody. They will help attract families and new businesses.
So, if you own a home or business here, work here, want to raise and educate your children here, or if you have a fondness for Peabody's history and presence, you should support it Saturday night.
Every teacher and school board member, every member of the city council, historical society, Kiwanis, VFW, Sorosis, Mother's Club, PTO, American Legion, and Athena should be there. The boards and staffs of Legacy Park, Westview Manor, Peabody Housing Authority, Alumni Association, and Peabody Community Fund need to help.
Where will you be if Peabody isn't here? It's time to step up and help keep this community viable. If you won't, who will?
— SUSAN MARSHALL
