The Gatherings That Shaped the Events We Now Love:

A historical journey through the City’s festivals and celebrations

Though the tagline for the City of Celina may have recently been changed to Life Connected., this concept is nothing new to residents and friends who have spent years in and around this community.

Since the turn of the 20th century, when J. Fred Smith first laid out Celina’s now historic Downtown Square, lives of generations of Celina families have connected around that beloved parcel of land that still beckons current residents and our guests to engage together at events and festivals each year.

Today, Celina residents are accustomed to a regular annual schedule of events that celebrate the heritage of our hometown while embracing the exciting days ahead. Crowned by the annual Celina Cajun Fest held on the Downtown Square each May, the events calendar for the City is one that allows folks here to live up to the city’s motto.

Yet, a look back in time reveals that these events and festivals stand on the broad shoulders of similar activities across Celina’s history that have always made this place a friendly and welcoming community for those who lived here or for those who just stopped on their way through town.

Among the many events that took place throughout our history, there are several notable and memorable ones that are important because they set the precedence for the gatherings that this community enjoys today. Old photographs and archived copies of the Celina Record newspaper tell the stories of these treasured and memorable celebrations that happened in the city, and most often, around the historic Downtown Square.

Like the celebrations of today, they brought out families, vendors, shop owners, city leaders, volunteers, farmers, residents of all ages, prizes, music and dancing, and most of all, the connecting of lives among those who for decades called this place their home. A quick overview of some of these festivals and events of yesteryear should allow everyone who enjoys Celina’s celebrations today to appreciate them all the more.

Saturday Drawings In Celina

After revisiting Celina several years ago, Shirley Smith Clark penned her memories of one of her favorite childhood memories from her earliest days in her much-loved hometown. She recalled going to the Square two times a week as her family ventured downtown on Sundays for church services and on Saturdays to go shopping with her mother.

Her mom would carry eggs to town from their hens and would sell them to friends they met. With the money earned, they would have fun buying a few things for themselves, along with the items they needed for the week. But the most memorable part of each Saturday trip was well worth the wait, she remembered.

“I remembered we always stayed in town until late in the afternoon, waiting until four o’clock before we started home,” Smith Clark wrote. “No matter what time we arrived in town, we always stayed until after the ‘drawing.’” She shared that a man named Johnny May, decked out in a Stetson hat and khaki pants and nice shirt would hop into the back of a random pickup truck parked on the Square with a big wire tumbler holding the names of everyone in town.

Store owners or merchants from Celina would donate cash prizes or merchandise each week, and Mr. May would have a local child reach in and pull out a resident’s name that had been registered at the shoe shop. Because the drawing was a “must be present to win” affair, the Square would be packed waiting to see who was picked.

In the rare event someone wasn’t present, the prize was carried over to the next week, and the pot would grow along with the suspense. Longtime Celina residents still love remembering and do miss those drawings still today, and a few of them can tell some great stories about the time their names were called.

The wire basket sits today in the Celina Area Heritage Association Museum along with the memories of how shop owners around the Square worked hard to bring the community downtown to support their local businesses. Today’s Holiday Gift Tour and so many other gatherings that call people to Celina’s most sacred space owe a debt of gratitude to the vocal cords of Johnny May and a basket full of paper strips that made a difference for the winner and for the small businesses that were and still are the heart of this city.

LYNN D. STAMBAUGH FUN DAYS

Lynn Stambaugh was the president of a bank in Celina, but his contributions to this community transcended his Monday through Friday occupation. For generations of Celina residents, much more notable than the parkway that bears his name today was the annual Fall celebration that bore his name in Celina for a quarter of a century.

Ask anyone who grew up in Celina about the annual festival they remember the most, and they will undoubtedly tell you about the town’s annual Lynn D. Stambaugh Fun Day that everyone looked forward to as the place where the best memories were made.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Fun Day was an all-day event, much like today’s Cajun Festival, that filled up the Downtown Square with activities from morning until night. Though the schedule changed each year, different groups in the community would host different parts of the day.

The morning might begin, as it did in 1996, with a Pancake Breakfast hosted by the Celina Volunteer Fire Department. A fun run would follow that encouraged participation from local athletes and those just wanting to get some great exercise with friends. The Celina High School Band would usually perform. A “Little Miss Celina” contest would be held. The drill team and cheerleaders would perform between tractor pulls and ice cream contests.

A quartet might sing gospel favorites, and soloists would also take the stage throughout the day. A barbecue dinner would be enjoyed, and then an evening of music and street dancing would carry into the night.

Years later, the event names changed, and the crowds have grown a bit. The singers come in on buses and perform on a massive stage now. But the love of events like these that started decades ago and united families and friends for many years, still accomplishes the same purpose each time locals gather today.

Holidays In Celina

Just this past December, thousands gathered at the historic Downtown Square for Celina’s Christmas Tree Lighting. The Square magically turned into a winter wonderland as merchants and the City worked to prepare the launch of the holiday season for Celina residents and those who would come through town in the days and weeks to follow.

This event is always a town favorite that throngs of people anticipate for months in advance of the holidays. But did you know that this event is a longstanding Celina tradition?

when the Bobcat football team’s playoff game was scheduled on the same night as the event. Quickly recognizing the impact the game would have on attendance, the patriotic Christmas celebration was postponed until after the football team brought home a win, and only then could the holidays begin in Celina.

CELINA CENTENNIAL & U.S. BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Although the original date of the first Christmas celebration around the Square is unknown, the Celina Record during World War II definitely mentions very similar celebrations with lights, trees, carolers, and visits from Santa.

Eventually the event transformed into Holidays in Celina, due to the fact it took place just before Thanksgiving and took on even more of the shape of the event familiar to residents today.

One such year that had two very memorable moments attached to the event was the 2001 Holidays in Celina. In the earliest aftermath of the terrorist attacks on America in September of that year, along with the traditional Christmas colors and fare, the square was decorated with American flags and red, white, and blue more reminiscent of a Fourth of July celebration.

Residents still recall the immense patriotic pride shared throughout this community in the aftermath of 9/11, and that event captured it beautifully. The evening featured Christmas songs by Celina choirs and the arrival of Santa on a Fire Department apparatus. However, the other memorable occurrence of that beloved celebration came

1976 was as patriotic and personal as any celebration Celina ever experienced. That year marked the 200th anniversary of America’s independence and the 100th anniversary of Celina’s founding. Bumper stickers were made and sold. The Bobcat cheerleaders painted a bicentennial mural on the side of a building welcoming people to the square. The paper reported that months of planning and preparation went into the celebration on the historic Downtown Square, “Community, business, and personal property improvement and beautification started, in some cases, nearly a year ago.” Further work was done to prepare the Square, including the planting of flowers that would be in full bloom by the celebration and adding a new aluminum flagpole.

On the day of the event, July 3, 1976, Mrs. Albert Perkins won the pie contest. Dona Thomas and Jason Ousley won the children’s costume contest. Linda Kinney and Ricky Carey took home the prize in the three-legged race.

The Celina Record noted of the day-long celebration, “Following the dedication of the new flagpole, crowds lining the Square were treated to cars, horses, pretty ladies, floats, and entertainment by the Shriners Band as the colorful parade moved through the square.”

As the day continued, Mrs. John Rothfus, Jr. won the quilt raffled by Fidelis Inter Se, and the Celina Jaycees won a tug-of war contest with the Volunteer Fire Department. The day concluded with a fiddling contest, a greased pig contest, and a raffle for a CB radio. Music and dancing finished the evening, as eventgoers still recall this as one of the most fun events hosted in the city. And like so many of these events people remember, this celebration preceded the Splash & Blast festivals Celina residents still enjoy today.

Celina ISD Halloween Carnival

One of the most anticipated events on the calendar each year took place around Halloween and was held at the school building that, today, serves as the administration building on Colorado Street. Inside the old gymnasium and on the yard of the school, the young and the young-at-heart would come early and stay late for an evening of old carnival classics.

Residents who still remember those fall festivals tell of the town grandmothers all baking fabulous cakes for the cake walk. Kids would bob for apples and pitch washers. Teachers and coaches would volunteer to work the games, and kids would stand in line at game after game hoping to win the prize.

One resident recalled a football coach working one of the games one night. The student eagerly waited his turn and paid his quarter to play the game. With great success, he was granted free tries for a bigger prize. When he had finished his turn, he had won the grand prize and remembers how awkward it was when the football coach presented him with a box of cigars for his accomplishment.

Also recollected by several old timers was the haunted house that was held on the stage in the old gym each year where the older students would work tirelessly to scare the lights out of younger students. All the while, parents would gather on the lawn where a band would be set up on a flatbed trailer and live music would close out the night

Today’s Beware! of the Square carries on several of these traditions and is a tip of the hat to the Halloween carnivals of yesteryear.

The list goes on and on of the deeply rooted tradition of festivals and citywide celebrations across Celina’s history. There were the old Trade Days that set the stage for Friday Night Markets. There were fun runs and balloon festivals and festivals in the park. All of these treasured pastimes shared a single purpose which was to bring together the residents and friends of Celina and to honor the friendships and love woven deeply through the fabric of this community.

Today, the festivals and citywide celebrations have grown a bit. They have a few more activities, bigger headliners on stage, and draw quite a few more people to the Square or the parks than their predecessors did.

However, their purpose remains the same—they honor a heritage and history of bringing people together to celebrate a shared and beloved culture, and they reflect the heart and hometown feel of this incomparable city.