Flooded with Fun

Irrigation day was as important as any holiday to us. When we were older, we helped the neighbors put the metal plates into the ditch that rerouted the flow into their yards and gardens. Horrocks had raspberry plants they watered; Giles had grass to water; Grandma Moulton flooded her yard. We loved romping through water in our swimming suits or shorts. Never mind that the water was cold enough to turn your lips blue in early summer. It was a time for moms to bring their kids together for fun for free. Mud and water were more entertaining than any expensive toy.

Later on in the day, neighborhood kids planned little parades where we'd ride bikes, pull wagons, twirl batons, and dress up in funny garb to walk down the street in parade regailia. We did circuses in our back yards. The only circus we had ever seen was on TV. We had seen lots and lots of horse parades. We also had two great parades every summer during fair days. Our town was the only town I know of that had the parade go down one side of main street and then when they reached the other end, they turned around and came back on the other side of the island; we got to see the other side of the floats and bands as they marched back from whence they came. We saw the exact same parade the next night but we were always there for both parades.

There was a little parade in Charleston on the 24th of July, Pioneer day celebration. Then everyone congregated at the Charleston park for a day of fun topped off by a fabulous fireworks show at the end of the day. They had a talent show where local talent was showcased most of the day. I remember doing a song and dance number to "By the Sea" on the flatbed truck they had fashioned into a stage.

Back to some of our summer pastimes, We made tents out of quilts hung over our clotheslines. Large rocks would hold the corners of the quilt out so we could get into our makeshift tent. We took old catalogs and cut out paper dolls. We cut out a mom and a dad and the children. They had lots of different clothes (We just cut out the same model in a different outfit) We spent hours cutting and laughing and pretending they had exciting adventures. We had shoeboxes of paperdolls by the end of the summer. We also played house where we were the characters with dramatic lives.

We had jack tournaments on smooth concrete porches. We played chinese jump rope and regular jump rope. We ran through sprinklers and went swimming at the Wasatch Motel swimming pool. Sometimes we'd go to the hotpots (Midway had two swimming pools, the Homestead and the Mountain Spa, that were warmed by geothermal hot springs) and swim.
We took swimming lessons every year at the Mountain Spa.

Every yard had a sandbox but Seiters was the biggest and most fun. More people could fit in it and they also had a huge swing set. We'd loosen our shoes and have a shoe kicking contest. Just as we reached the furthest point forward on our swing, we'd kick off a shoe as far as we could send it flying. Then someone else would take a turn. At the end, the person whose shoe was the farthest from the swing was the winner. We also jumped out of the swing to see who could land the furthest without breaking a leg. We had to time our launch at the most forward low point.

When it got later in the day we'd play "Anti-I-Over" at Seiters. They had a freestanding garage that we'd throw a tennis ball over. The kids on the other side would try to catch it. If they dropped it, they threw it back saying Anti-I-Over. If they caught it, they'd run around the other side of the garage and try to hit someone on the other side with the ball. Then they had to stay on the other team. The goal was to get the most people on your side.

Our parents knew we loved those games and we had to get our work done before we could go play. It was great incentive to work quickly. Softball games in vacant lots were an every-day occurance. We played Butts up, Flies out, and kickball, too. Night games started as soon as it was dark. We played dozens of hide and seek variations like No Bears are Out Tonight, Eggs and Bacon, Sardines,and Kick the Can. Summer was a time to celebrate.