Fawn Grove Fair Hosts 14 Southern York County Bands
Massed Bands in 1932
A friend recently shared a panoramic photograph taken by Hoffman Studio, Hanover. Part of it is shown above.
The photo is captioned “Southern York County Band Association, Aug. 20, 1932.” He looked at the newspaper microfilm, at York County Heritage Trust, of the Glen Rock Item. Sure enough, the weekly issue, dated Thursday, August 18, 1932 lent further light on why the bands were gathered.
The article also raised some questions. Since there are probably a lot of people around that attended the event, perhaps someone can provide some answers.
First, some excerpts from the article:
“FAWN GROVE FAIRThe annual Fawn Grove fair opened Wednesday at Morris park and it will continue until the end of the week. Exhibitors were given until noon Wednesday to get their entries in place for judging, which began Wednesday afternoon. Premiums this year total $1,800.
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Saturday, the closing day of the fair, a band concert will be given afternoon and evening, when 14 bands with more than 400 musicians will be present. Bands from Fawn Grove, Rinely, Spry, Potosi, Brodbeck, Stiltz, Felton, Shrewsbury, Dallastown, Jefferson, New Salem, Penn Grove and Glen Rock, members of the Southern York County Band association, will give a concert en masse.”
The questions:
The article says 14 bands will perform (it lists 13), but there are only eight shown on the photo: Brodbecks, New Salem, Jefferson (Codorus), Shrewsbury Trumpet & Drum Corps, Glen Rock, Potosi, and Penn Grove (Porters). What happened to the other five or six? Was another panoramic photograph taken of the missing bands? Has anyone every seen one?
Another question: Does anyone know anything about the all-woman Shrewsbury Trumpet & Drum Corps? Is there any significance to their white uniforms with capes?
And: Where was Morris Park? A present-day map of Fawn Grove shows a short Park Street off Rocks Road, running parallel to Main Street. Was that the park? It’s hard to see in the photocopy I scanned, but there is a nice farm on the rise in the background. That might help with the location.
Any ideas or comments?
