Reed Clark, whose family has lived in Londonderry, NH for generations, remembers going to Old Home Day as a boy. “It was a bean supper,” he said, “no booths or parades. A gathering of families. 1400 people lived in town and about 100 went to Old Home Day.”
Reed’s Dad took the family every year in a 1938 Buick Special.
Mary Tetreau
The Old Home Day Celebration parade brings joy and excitement to many spectators who line Mammoth Road, but I bet you have no idea how many people are involved in the actual parade. With all the bands and groups the parade draws about 1,000 participates. That is a lot of noise, screaming and people in one location. That is why it is very important that the rules of the parade are followed. The most important tidbit of information is there is never any parking for anyone at the Middle School. The parade is staged and begins at the Middle School. The parade needs every inch of space in the Middle School parking lots for line-up anyone parking there will be towed or very harshly asked to leave. When dropping off your child who is participating in the parade try to car pool, and designate and adult leader to be at the parade by 8:30 to watch over your child. The volunteers are too busy to keep tabs on your children. They are responsible for the line-up and coordination of over 1,000.
If you should have further questions, go to the website under events, visit the parade link; you will find all of the rules of the parade. We want everyone to have a safe and happy Old Home Day Celebration.
Kathy Wagner
Old Home Day Chair
Today the Old Home Day Committee sponsored an ice cream social for Mrs. Slozak’s class at Matthew Thornton. Her class using their great imaginations came up with the idea of “Apple Fever” as the 106th Old Home Day Celebration’s theme.
The 17 member Old Home Day Committee had to choose between 7 different possibilities for this year’s celebration theme. All of the ideas were from our very own 4th graders here in Londonderry. We received possible themes from all of our elementary schools. I want to thank all of the classes at South, North, and the additional classes from Matthew Thornton that forwarded your wonderful theme ideas.
The kids were so funny. They sure ate a lot of ice cream. We had chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. I think the cherries; whip cream, chocolate sauce, jimmies, and M&Ms made the sundaes awesome.
The 3rd graders should start thinking about next year; some lucky class out there will be next year’s winner.
Kathy Wagner
Old Home Day Chair
Thanks to our wonderful local Boy Scout Troop 426 the Old Home Day Celebration now has a new staircase for our reviewing stand. Paul Carbone’s Eagle Scout project was to construct access stairs with railings for the Old Home Day Parade Reviewing Stand and he also designed a handicapped, and elderly viewing area for our spectators.
Paul constructed a portable wooden stairs to allow our guests to walk the ground to the deck level of the reviewing stand. The stairs were designed to be tipped onto an integral wheeled base to allow for easier transport for storage between events. Prior to Paul’s stairs dignitaries and elected officials used a stepladder as access to the reviewing stand. This was extremely unsafe and not easily climbed by everyone.
The Old Home Day committee wants to give Paul a big thank you for his hard work on our stairs, and for his belief in community involvement. Thanks to all you scouts everywhere, it is so nice to see young adults giving back to the community.
Kathy Wagner
Old Home Day Chair
Thanks to Ashley Varese who picked up the OldHomeDay.com website and wrote about it in the Eagle Tribune!
The artical is HERE
Who said you can not teach an old dog, new blogs!
OHD Answer Pup
John Robinson was snooping around the Old Home Day publishing pound, and scooped the story before we even were able to “post” the site. Nice job John published in this weeks Londonderry Times.
OHD Answer Pup
Can I join the Old Home Day Committee? When do you meet? Where?
The Old Home Day Committee meets on the third Thursday of every month at 7PM. They meet in the police station, enter the door turn left. Everyone is welcome! It is a lot of fun and if you are new to town it is a great chance to meet new people! Take a look at our present group, here. It takes a lot of volunteers to make this happen, over 10,000 people come out for the event. (And one Dog)
OHD Answer Pup
But why is it not called Old Home Days?
The old timers (respectfully presented) get very upset when you use the term, Old Home Days. The fear is that if you use this term rather than the approved term Old Home Day, it will break a sacred link. We are one of just a handful of towns that have held Old Home Day for 106 years with out fail. If one year we were to call it Old Home Day’s the ghost of Gov. Rollins would certainly strip the honor of our never ending celebration! Even though in 1899 he actually declared the nation’s first statewide “Old Home Week” to be held annually the third week in August. (source State of New Hampshire, New Hampshire State Council on the Arts)
If you do make an error, when you type www.oldhomeday.com www.oldhomedays.com or www.oldhomeday.org no need to worry! They all take you to the same place, Londonderry, New Hampshire – Old Home Day.
By the way NEVER call it OLDE HOME DAYS! It will give away the fact that you are from out of state!
OHD Answer Pup
The theme for the 2005 Londonderry’s Old Home Day is “Apple Fever” thanks to Mrs. Slozak’s fourth grade class at Matthew Thornton. The class came up with the theme and as a thank you from the Old Home Day Committee, they will be eating ice cream on Tuesday, May 24th.
This is the second year that the theme has been selected by one of our 4th grade classes. This has become a Old Home Day tradition, and we hope that it lasts for many years. It is important that our children feel that they are part of this community event.
The OHD Parade on Aug 20th at 10:30am RAIN or SHINE will have another great parade. Our own Londonderry Police Honor Guard will once again lead us off, followed by the winner of the Police/Fire Softball game. The Ancient Order of Hiberians Pipe & Drums will make their first appearance in Londonderry and ofcourse our own LHS Marching Lancer Band & Colorguard, the Salem Blue Devils and the Muchachos Sr. Drum & Bugle Corp. have signed on again. We’ll have the Bektash Shrine Clowns, Mini Bike Patrol , Cycle Patrol, and Mini Kar Patrol always favorites of kids and adults alike. Miss Londonderry, 1st NH Regiment, the 3rd NH Regiment will march and then be at the Morrison House demonstrating a battle camp, ther Nutfield YMCA, St. Mark & St. Jude K of C , and Little Mr & Litttle Miss Londonderry 2004 will be joining us this year. As more groups sign up we’ll do updates.
Kathy Morse, OHD Parade Chair
The 2019 Old Home Day Brochure is available for downloading. Keep checking for more updates as more events and booths are finalized.
This year the theme for the 120th Old Home Day Celebration is "300 Years of Family and Friends." The winning entry came from Ms. Murphy's 4th Grade Class at South School.