 Scotty likes to make it known that he is 93
1/2 years old; not 93, but
93 1/2. "I'm fortunate that I can still drive and do other things," he
admitted.
Scott sold popcorn at that first fair and for the next three as
well. "I had a popcorn stand with a popper, and I sold popcorn for
10 cents a bag," he recalled.
Scott was a student at LCHS and a graduate with the Class of 1935. To
make some side money, he sold popcorn at the high school's games, and
when the fledgling fair announced they needed vendors, he said he
would work that first fair.
John said that the first year the three-day fair earned him a net
income of roughly $20, "and in those days that was a lot of
money." Scott also took his popcorn stand to the state fair for the
10-day run back in those days and said he also made "real good
money for the times" back then.
Scott married Iva, who he proudly said was the first May queen at
Lincoln College, and they had three children.
Scott, after high school, worked for Union Biscuit Co. out of
Saint Louis and had central Illinois as his sales territory. It was
after eight years with the company that Scotty saw a grocery store
for sale in Blue Mound.
It was there, in a town of some 1,400, that Scotty built a grocery
store business that would rival a much larger market.
With a twinkle
in his eye Scotty said that for 30 years his grocery store
proudly carried the slogan, "Scotty's Grocery, Famous for
home-killed meats." Scotty explained that a local slaughterhouse
provided the freshest of meats, and people from surrounding areas
would come to his store to get the very best in fresh meat. "We sold
a lot of meat," he said without embarrassment.
The store was obviously an anomaly in a town that size, and Scotty, a
Cardinals fan, said that every year he would take his 35 employees
from a small-town store to a Cardinals game as a sign of his
appreciation for their efforts.
Scotty, at 93 1/2, is retired now and doesn't have any specific
hobby except that he says, "I enjoy visiting with people and friends." Today he was
visiting another old friend, the fairgrounds, and although the
grounds couldn't talk back to Scotty, in a way it was as if two old
friends were meeting again to renew memories.
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As sharp as anyone half his age, Scotty compared today's fair over
that first fair 73 years ago. "Oh, back then it was much smaller.
There weren't as many vendors or other things as there are now." He
also noticed that the old grandstands he had his popcorn booth under
have been replaced with a newer one.
Scotty recalled that in the mid-'30 the big event of that time was
Chautauqua Days out at the Chautauqua Commons. "If you can spell
that, go ahead and put it in the story," he said.
Scotty has a razor-sharp memory and told everything about how the
Chautauqua Days event was set up. "There were about 180 cabins
around there and a huge amphitheater that held maybe a thousand
people. That was the big event around here until the fair started,"
he recalled.
He also has a love affair with baseball, and when he talked about the
team he was on as a young man, the Blue Devils, he went around the
horn telling who played every position on that team. "Emil Verban
was my third baseman," he said, "and of course he did pretty good in baseball."
Scotty was a pitcher, and he laughingly said, "I could throw a pitch
over the backstop better than anyone."
He remembered with an insatiable smile that after he tore up a knee
and had an operation that he still pitched. "I would go out to the
mound on crutches," he said. "Then I would lay them down and start
pitching."
Scotty also recalled that in those days in Atlanta they had the
first lighted ball field for evening games. "That was really
something to play under the lights," he said.
As the rain continued, Scotty revealed why, with so little at those
early fairs, he kept coming back to sell popcorn. With a twinkle in
his eye, matched by most young men at today's fair, he answered,
"The girls."
[By
MIKE FAK]
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