July 2, 1953
Two new features will be added to the usual fun and festivities as the Lions club stages its annual carnival at the courthouse lawn Saturday, July 4, according to the announcements from the club this week. One is a new ride, the Kiddy Ride, built by Richard Gonzales and W. H. Thornburg and decorated by Frank O’Leary. Not high nor long, it still offers the little youngsters a swift little ride with a couple of humps good for gasps. At a nickel a ride, four youngsters at a time, the Lions expect to extract plenty of small change from daddies to add to their charity fund.
That ride will be put in operation Friday night before the carnival proper, if it can be completed in time. The other new feature is the ducking pond, wherein those good enough with their aim may trip the trigger with a thrown baseball and dunk somebody in the drink. Those “somebodys” are supposed to be members of the club taking their turn, and Walter Polsky, president, will be the first on the ducking stool, according to reports. Saturday festivities will open with the turtle race at 1:30, in which a total of $10 in prizes will be offered. There will be four heats of 25 turtles each, with prizes of $5, $3 and $2 in each heat.
Winners will go into the finals, with prizes of $40 for first, $15 for second and $5 for third. Rains bring out the turtles, but since there have been no rains there were almost no local turtles brought in so the club this year will run turtles imported from Rosenberg, Texas.
The usual games and concessions will be found on the grounds again this year, as the Lions attempt to raise the major part of their charity funds there on the Fourth. The Pilot club will handle the refreshments as usual. Big gifts to be given include a hand-painted lamp, 2 clock radios, a .22 rifle, a bridge table and chairs, a hassock, a cedar chest, a folding picnic table, an electric barbecuer, an electric deep fat fryer, and a floor lamp.
