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Event

Beaver Island Homecoming parade and dance, 1958

Also 1958 Beaver Island Homecoming · Island Homecoming Sunday 1958

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Date1958-08-10
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Event
Date
1958-08-10
Kind
Celebration
Followed by
Holy Cross Parish 59th Annual Homecoming Celebration, 1959
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
celebrationcommunityheritagereligion
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

The 1958 Beaver Island Homecoming was held Sunday, August 10, with the customary ham-and-beef dinner, parade and dance. The September Beacon reports 403 dinners served and names two of three parade prizes; the October issue corrects the omission of the third, a Holy Cross Church children’s float, and credits parade chairman Joe Grossel, mayor of Harper Woods, with organizing the parade “again this year.”

Program

Dinner. Ham and beef, 403 served.

Parade. First prize: Beaver Lodge’s float featuring Doc Ludwick’s St. Bernard dog with a brandy cask. Second: a Medical Center float staging mock surgery, with Sharon Grossel of Harper Woods as the “patient,” Skip McDonough and Lil Cole as the nurses, and “Doc” Luton and “Doc” Neill of Detroit as the surgeons. Third (named only in the October correction): a Holy Cross Church float made entirely of children, themed on the sacraments as taught by the parish sisters. Judges were picked at random from the crowd by chairman Joe Grossel, who also supplied the prizes.

Dance. Music donated by the Don Garthe Five of Traverse City — Bob Hodges (piano), Ernie Rokos (tenor sax), Don Garthe (bass), John Klang (drums), and Russ Black (trumpet) — with their wives accompanying.

Lot giveaway. Won by Mrs. Edith (Gallagher) Berhans of Lansing; the source does not say what the lot was or who donated it.

Evidence limits

No source names a venue for the 1958 dinner, parade or dance specifically — unlike 1957 and 1967, where Holy Cross Hall/Parish Hall is stated directly — so took_place_at is left empty and spatial_status is approximate rather than known. No source this year attributes the event to a sponsoring organization; the parade chairman, Joe Grossel, is a private summer resident (mayor of Harper Woods), not identified with the Civic Association, the Altar Society, or the parish. No financial total is reported for 1958.

Open questions

  • What year did Joe Grossel first chair the Homecoming parade? The October 1958 note implies continuity (“again this year”) that cannot otherwise be dated before 1957 from sources held here.
  • Was the dinner held at Holy Cross Hall, as in the surrounding years? The 1958 sources do not say.

See also

Sources

  1. Reports that a "small amount of landscaping is planned before the Island HOMECOMING Sunday Aug. 10th" near the Strang Print Shop, fixing the date. It is an incidental mention that describes no Homecoming programme itself. 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 · 1958-08_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held four-page issue scan is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the incidental Homecoming date notice; it does not provide a complete programme.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1958-08_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Reports "the annual Beaver Island Homecoming held Aug. 10th featuring the famous Ham and Beef dinner, Parade and Dance," with 403 dinners served. Parade results: first prize to a Beaver Lodge float featuring "Doc Ludwick's St. Bernard dog complete with brandy cask"; second to a Medical Center float depicting two doctors ("Doc" Luton and "Doc" Neill of Detroit) performing surgery on Sharon Grossel of Harper Woods, attended by nurses Skip McDonough and Lil Cole. Dance music was "donated by the 'Don Garthe Five' of Traverse City": Bob Hodges (piano), Ernie Rokos (tenor sax), Don Garthe (bass), John Klang (drums), Russ Black (trumpet), with their wives accompanying. A lot given away at the event was won by Mrs. Edith (Gallagher) Berhans of Lansing. 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 · 1958-09_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the Homecoming report; it does not expand the attendance, parade, dance, or prize records.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1958-09_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Corrects the September issue by naming the third parade prize winner, "the Holy Cross Church float composed entirely of children," themed on the sacraments taught by the sisters. Credits "Chairman Joe Grossel, mayor of Harper Woods, Mich., who also supplied the prizes," for "such a fine job of parade organization... again this year," implying he had also chaired it previously. Judges were "chosen by the chairman at random from the crowd." 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 · 1958-10_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The held five-page issue scan is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the third-prize correction and chairman notice; it does not expand the Homecoming or parade record.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1958-10_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island Homecoming parade and dance, 1958”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-homecoming-1958/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, August 1958, Historical Society landscaping note. (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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