Birthday Calendar

Before we had Facebook to remind us when everybody's birthdays and anniversaries were, we had the Garretson Band Calendar. It contained the birthdays and anniversaries of every individual and couple in Garretson that cared enough to have their name listed for 25 cents.

I couldn't find an example of the calendar itself, but I did find the receipt for an order placed by a citizen with a band student. In this case it was Dr. Marvin Wingert's bill for 16 listings and 2 calendars (He probably needed one at home and one up at Splitrock Clinic in his office.). 

The calendar also predates the school calendar .pdf that is downloadable at any school's website now. This calendar came out at the beginning of the school year and contained all the school sporting events and holidays. I seem to remember the top part was a gridwork of advertisements and an image of the school band lined up in their uniforms or sitting in the concert semi-circle or some other image of the sort. I don't know who sold the ad spots... I don't remember needing to collect anything for those, maybe Sanders Printing took care of the collection of the logos and money from the sponsors or maybe the band booster parents did that part, I'm not sure.

Band members would go out door-to-door and sell calendars for $2.50 each and a spot on the calendar for a quarter. As per indicated on the receipt in the image, the was done in the spring and then they were printed in the summer and we'd distribute them at the beginning of the school year come August or September.

I remember that as a younger kid, I thought it was so cool to have my name in print and that when August 17th came around, EVERYBODY was looking at my name. I don't remember if I had to share the date with anybody, but I do remember that certain days on the calendar had multiple people listed. Other days in August right near mine were stacked with birthdays. August 13th, for example, always had 4 or 5 people lilsted on it as did a few other days in August. I think I shared my birthday with the anniversary of Allan and Ruth Hammer. 

I don't know how long they continued this project, I'll have to ask around and see... probably right up to the advent of online .pdfs and/or Facebook. I do remember that we kept our's on the side of the fridge. I'd watch the days click by, watching for family members' birthdays or maybe a classmate's. It was the first social network spot that provided so much trivial information. I kind of miss that.

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