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Event

Beaver Island holds its 1959 Fourth of July Picnic

Also 1959 Village Green Picnic

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Date1959-07-04
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Event
Date
1959-07-04
Kind
Celebration
Carried out by
Beaver Island Civic Association
Followed by
Fourth of July visitor weekend and fireworks on Beaver Island, 1960
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
celebrationcommunitytourism
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

The Beaver Island Civic Association held its Fourth of July Picnic on July 4, 1959, on the Village Green, with games, prizes, lunch, and a raffle, reporting a $206.43 profit that helped fund a reprint of the island’s tourist folder.

Program

The June 1959 Beacon previewed the picnic as “a day that all of you will want to enjoy and talk about later,” listing games, prizes, lunch, and “some special surprises,” and inviting readers to mail gifts for a raffle to the Activities Chairman. It gives the site and hours as the Village Green, “from about 1 to 4:30 P.M.” The following issue, printed with the masthead date “July 1952” but internally consistent with 1959 (it announces the departure of Fr. Alexis and the hiring of Mrs. A.J. Roy as the Civic Association’s new Secretary, both dated to this run of issues), repeats the announcement in similar language: “Games, prizes…refreshments of all kinds will feature and hi-lite our Day.” The August 1959 issue reports the picnic complete, with a profit of $206.43, applied toward the cost of printing 5,000 more Island information folders. The same August issue separately previews that year’s Holy Cross Parish Homecoming, “59th Annual,” for August 9.

Evidence limits

No parade, prize winners by name, or fireworks are described for 1959, though several are documented in other years; the sources establish the venue, hours, sponsor, and a specific proceeds figure but not a detailed program. The masthead date on the July issue (“July 1952”) is an evident typographical error in the original printing, not a dating error introduced here; its placement in 1959 rests on its content, not its own date line.

Open questions

  • What accounts for the “July 1952” masthead misprint on the mid-year 1959 issue?
  • Was a parade held on the Village Green in 1959, as in some other held years, and simply not mentioned in these accounts?

See also

Sources

  1. Announces that the Civic Association board "laid plans for the big PICNIC on July 4th," to be held on the Village Green from about 1 to 4:30 p.m., with games, prizes, lunch, and "some special surprises," and a raffle for donated gifts. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1959-06_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held three-page issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the July 4 picnic preview; it does not expand the event’s program or outcome.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1959-06_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Repeats that "The Beaver Island Civic Association is sponsoring their annual Picnic on July 4th," promising "Games, prizes...refreshments of all kinds." The issue's own masthead reads "July 1952," an apparent typographical error; its content (a departing Franciscan pastor, a new Secretary hire) places it in the 1959 sequence between the June and August issues held for that year. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1959-07_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held three-page issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the July picnic preview; the masthead is printed "July 1952," an apparent original typographical error.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1959-07_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Reports the completed picnic "held by the Beaver Island Civic Association showed a profit of $206.43," used toward printing another 5,000 Island folders. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1959-08_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The held five-page issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the reported picnic proceeds and folder-printing use; it does not provide a full income-and-expense account.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1959-08_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island holds its 1959 Fourth of July Picnic”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-fourth-of-july-1959/, accessed [date], citing The Beaver Beacon, June 1959, "COMING ATTRACTION." (and 5 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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