HISTORY – A true tale of an early Madison Street Festival
MADISON – Long-time Madison resident Gladys McFarlen True, who owned True Grocery with husband Robert Edgar “Pud” True, shared many stories of her life and of a bygone era in Madison in her book “My Life from Wagons to Rockets”. One such story was that of one of the first Madison Street Festivals.
Early iterations of the Madison Street Festival were called fairs but still, like today, took over the streets of downtown Madison with local vendors showcasing their crafts and local residents coming out to mingle. True was one of the pioneering Madison residents who helped start the street festival.
“When we started this, we had nothing but old crafts, and we had a person demonstrate those crafts. For instance, we had somebody who made soap. We had somebody who made dolls. We had somebody who dried fruit. We had somebody who strung chinaberries into necklaces. Somebody caned chairs. The man who lives here that makes violins worked on a fiddle that day. We had buggy rides. The Sheriff’s posse from the county came and rode their horses up and down the street. It was like going back in time,” remembered True.
According to True, it was an occasion to dress up. Ladies wore long dresses and bonnets and even babies had costumes to wear.
The early street festivals also had a sweepstakes with a grand prize, and one year, True was the winner of a fishing car that resulted in a humorous story.
“I did not look at it, or I would not have taken a chance on winning it, but it was a car, and it did run. Pud drove it home while I walked. It puttered along no faster than my walking pace,” recounted True.
True’s daughter, Beverly Young, also described the event, “She was so excited and was thinking of what grandchild could use the car or the money from it. Pop came driving it up from downtown, smoke coming out everywhere. He was sitting on an apple crate because there was no seat and driving with a wheel from a riding lawnmower. We all had a good laugh and a lesson in “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” Pop put that junker out on the corner and sold it for $75.”
Though the street festival no longer hosts sweepstakes, it does distribute grants to community organizations and still creates lasting family memories like True’s story.
