A celebration in Halls Mill

It's more than a community club -- it's a community. The Triangle Community Club in Halls Mill is where residents of the area gather for meetings, picnics, dancing and more. And now, they are gathering for the community center, not just at it.

"The heating and air unit is in great need of repair," said Daphne Motes. "We used a lot of fuel last year, which depleted our funds."

Motes said the building also needs painting and some other repairs. She and several others have organized a "Heritage Days" celebration in Halls Mill today and Saturday to help raise funds for the clubhouse.

"The idea came from Randall Crowell and Earl Adcock," said Motes, Crowell's niece. "They both have antique tractors and antique farm equipment and have gone to several area shows. They thought this would be a good way to do that."

Heritage Days will be held today and Saturday starting at 7 a.m. each day at the community club off Halls Mill Road.

A talent show will be held on tonight, with finals on Saturday. Call Stacie Paschal at 607-7794 for information on the talent show.

"It was just something to bring people out," Paschal said. "Knowing how big the talent shows are now, we thought that would be something people would like. People enjoy listening to the various talents around the community. We hope there's a good turnout."

She said the show would be more along the lines of "America's Got Talent" than "American Idol," since any talent is welcome, not just singing. There is no age limit for the contestants.

The organizers are still looking for vendors for the craft fair and the farmer's market. A $20 booth fee covers both days of the festival.

The Mid-State Cloggers, with Motes as the instructor, will perform both today and Saturday. There will be an ice cream supper tonight at 6 with homemade ice cream.

A tractor parade will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. Wheat threshing, a skillet toss, and a sledge hammer throw are scheduled, and a softball tournament will be held.

There will be plenty for the kids to do, too, which is appropriate, since the community club was formed largely for them.

"In the charter, it states the purpose of the club -- 'The betterment of the community and for the moral and uplift of the young boys and girls.'"

There will be a dunking booth, a fish pond and a pedal-tractor race (although any pedal-powered vehicle will be accepted.) The race takes place at 9:30 a.m. Saturday for children ages 1 to 11, with three different age categories. Every child will get a ribbon.

The origins of the current baseball field by the clubhouse can be found in a game, but children weren't the ones playing it.

"The Halls Mill Tigers use to play on that field," said Motes. "They had a regular following. They still have reunions today. Back then, they had area teams with grown men and they would play every Sunday afternoon at any given community."

The Halls Mill Triangle Community Club started out as simply the Halls Mill Community Club, exactly 50 years ago.

"I didn't realize that until I had to look at the charter for some information," said Motes. "It was established June 19, 1958."

Somewhere along the way, "Triangle" was added to the community name to reflect the area around Unionville from which it drew members. Some of those original members are still around.

"We're going to do some special awards," said Motes. "There are five of the charter members still living and still in the area; and two people who donated land to the community club. We'll be giving them a special presentation at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

"What we want to do with our Heritage Days is, well, we used to have Fourth of July picnic with bingo and a dunking tank. We would all get together -- we want to bring that kind of gathering back."

Preserving not only the community, but its history, was what the festival is striving for, she said.

"I guess you could say, through this and the Sorghum Festival, we're just trying to preserve the past so people can understand how we became the way we are," Motes added.

Along those lines, Crowell will give demonstrations of wheat threshing. There will also be a demonstration Saturday of "working dogs," German shepherds trained in rescue and other services.

Concessions, including hamburgers and hot dogs and roasted corn, will be available all day.