BLADENBORO — The 23rd annual Fun Day at the Bladenboro Historical Society may have turned out to be more fun for Mother Nature on Saturday, as rain swept through the area for a handful of hours.
But organizers refused to be deterred, and some of the events planned for outside were brought inside.
“I can only remember one other time in the 23 years that we had rain,” said Joyce Walters, one of the organizers. “I think that was just a few years ago.”
Despite the rain, the day was kicked off with the annual pancake breakfast — and was a huge hit.
“It was the best pancake breakfast we’ve ever had,” Walters said. “We had about 300 people come for that.”
The first event to be moved indoors was the Fun Day’s opening ceremony, performed by the West Bladen High School JROTC, followed by the singing of the National Anthem by Miss Bladenboro Lindsay Herring.
Other events inside the Historical Building included face-painting and tours of the museum rooms on the second floor of the former schoolhouse.
The Fun Day did have at least one casualty because of the weather. The bounce houses remained deflated all morning and the planned camel and horse rides were canceled.
“I don’t think anyone would want to ride a wet camel,” Walters joked.
Fun Day organizers waited out the showers and, when they began to subside, the grills outside were fired up for cooking pork loins, folks were filling bags of boiled peanuts and vendors began organizing their wares. Even the dunking booth was put into service.
While the day-long event is an opportunity to raise money for the upkeep of the Historical Building and its museum, the event has a much bigger purpose.
“This is a time for the community to come together and be able to see what we have here,” Walters said. “We enjoy having people stop by even if it’s just to see the rooms in the museum.”
The weather Saturday began to break in earnest by noon, and attendance swelled.
— W. Curt Vincent can be reached by calling 910-862-4163.
