Madison Messenger - April 3rd, 2022

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April 3, 2022 - MADISON MESSENGER - Page 25
Annual JA Alumni Association banquet returns
The Jonathan Alder Alumni Association will hold its annual
banquet this year following a two-year hiatus due to
the pandemic. At 6 p.m. May 28, the banquet room doors
at Der Dutchman will open with dinner served at 6:30.
The cost is $25 per person. Pre-paid reservations are
required. Make checks payable to the JA Alumni Assn.
and mail to P.O. Box 82, Plain City, OH 43064. For additional
information, call Pat Anderson at (614) 403-9236.
This will be the first banquet in 78 years without the
presence of the late Mary Andrews Mitchell, who lent
her time and prodigious talents to the Alumni Association
and many other local groups and activities.
The Alumni Association has a long history, beginning
with the Plain City Alumni Association, which was
formed in 1889, just three years after the first senior
class graduated from the Union School on South Chillicothe
Street.
The earliest alumni banquet for which present-day
organizers have a record is the fifth, which was held in
1893 in the “K. of P. Hall” (probably the Odd
Fellows/Knights of Pythias Opera House on Gay Street).
The newspaper article reports that the doors opened at
8:30 and nearly 90 guests attended. The program began
at 10 with music and recitations. Dinner followed with
a number of toasts and responses. “The rest of the
evening was spent upstairs in conversation and music
until 2 o’clock when all left feeling that one more joyful
season had passed.”
The social hour at the 1894 banquet was described
as “old friends renewing acquaintances and reviewing
the scenes of the past year and relating experiences in
the college, on the farm, in politics or in business and
in teaching. For it is a well known fact that these young
men and women are not of the fossilized kind who, when
the diploma is received, think that is all life’s activities,
but they are an active progressive band, climbing up the
ladder of success to the temples of honor and fame.”
The 1894 banquet was notable for a municipal innovation.
“The hall was lit up by the new incandescent
lamps until half-past one when darkness was declared
at the power house by the stoppage of the dynamos….
The winking of the electric lights warned the people
Public invited to submit art for exhibition
London Visual Arts Guild extends an open invitation
to residents in Madison County and surrounding communities
to participate in an art exhibit called “Images.”
This special exhibit will be held May 5-29 at the London
Arts Center, 121 E. First St. An opening reception is set
for 2-4 p.m. May 6. The reception and show are free and
open to the public.
This will be the guild’s second open-to-communityshow
at the arts center.
A Mayor’s Award will go to the participant whose
work is closest to the theme. People’s Choice Awards
also will be given.
For more information and art drop-off deadlines, stop
by the London Arts Center: Tuesdays, 4-7 p.m.; Thursdays
and Sundays, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; or Saturdays 10 a.m.-
2 p.m. Or pick up applications at Relevant, Yesterday’s
Ewes, Yes & Amen, or Mimi’s Village Pickins, all in
London.
that it was time to go, so good byes were said, when the guests and
others stepped out into the moonlight and each sought his sleeping
place.’
The Plain City Historical Society has a partial collection of banquet
programs from 1910 on. Some of the early menus might raise
a few eyebrows. In 1921, bread and butter, pineapple salad, olives,
pressed pork, brick ice cream, angel food cake and coffee were offered.
In 1944, the Plain City Alumni Association published a roster of
graduates from 1886 on. The Historical Society has a list of graduates
up to 2018, mostly from Plain City and Alder, but also some
older ones from Canaan, Monroe and New California.