East Shelby church hosts Old Tyme Day on Sunday

By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 18 July 2019 at 1:00 pm

Photos contributed: Josiah Olsen waves an American flag as he waits for a hot dog at East Shelby Community Bible Church’s Old Tyme Day last year. The event returns on Sunday.

EAST SHELBY – The East Shelby Community Bible Church will again sponsor its Old Tyme Day on Sunday, beginning with a church service at 10 a.m. The church is located at 5278 East Shelby Road.

Visitors are invited to bring the entire family for an afternoon of food and fun in West Jackson Corners, the 1800s village built by the congregation across the road from the church.

There will be samples of classic dishes cooked in a log cabin, fresh breads baked in a beehive oven and served with homemade butter. Visitors may also enjoy all-you-can-eat homemade pies, hot dogs, hand-spun ice cream and popcorn, all for a penny.

Tony DiGuilio helps a young visitor at the woodworking station in West Jackson Corners during last year’s Old Tyme Day.

Other activities include kids games, wool spinning, candle making, basket weaving, old fashioned photos, horse and buggy rides and horseback riding. Also featured will be weaving on an old-time loom, a working blacksmith shop, a woodworker’s shop, a sewing shop, barn, penny candy store and a mill with waterwheel fed by a sluiceway.

This year’s Old Tyme Day will feature a musical competition. The East Shelby Choir has divided into two groups, with the ladies joining the sweet Adeline group called the “Honey B Flats,” and the men forming a barbershop group called the “Hound Dog Harmonics.” The two groups will sing barbershop-styled music and compete against each other for the audience’s votes.

The crowd will be asked to judge the choirs on their style, presentation and their costumes. The competition will include one major concert and several extra performances.

Before the day concludes, visitors are encouraged to come inside the church, where information detailing the history of the church and its founding parishioners from the 1800s will be laid out for viewing. This will include old-fashioned pictures, personal letters and articles. Some names of these historic members can be seen during a wagon ride to the East Shelby Cemetery, located about a mile from the church.

Youth from East Shelby Community Bible Church perform an old-fashioned dance in a miniature barn in West Jackson Corners.

Pastor Erik Olsen conducts the choir in singing old fashioned songs during last year’s Old Tyme Day in West Jackson Corners, the 1800s village constructed by East Shelby Community Bible Church.

Charlie Silvernail of Basom masquerades as the mayor of West Jackson Corners during an Old Tyme Day in West Jackson Corners.

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