Blackhawk’s long standing traditional Old Fashioned Political Rally is nearly here!
Blackhawk Homemaker’s Club has been diligently working to build a platform for politicians to speak on and recently completed it with the help of volunteers, including Chancery Clerk Casey Carpenter.
Rhonda Mitchell, Vice President of the Blackhawk Homemaker’s Club, said the rally has been going on since the 1960s, when the Carroll County Counsel for Concerned Citizens began holding a fundraiser to keep a bus running from Blackhawk to Carroll Academy during the school year.
She said they began cooking the chicken dinners and sold tickets for the meal. Politicians were invited to give speeches and they contributed their time to the fundraiser. Mitchell said the rally has been important to the community for many years because it brings them together and reminds them to be proud of their community. She explained that it really became a political hub for high-level state politicians. Several governors even dropped by during their campaigns.
The rally was passed on to the Blackhawk Bus Association as a fundraiser before the Homemaker’s Club took it up.
This year, the fundraiser is to help build a community building in Blackhawk after the March 24 tornado destroyed the historic Blackhawk Schoolhouse building completely.
The Homemakers had nearly finished remodeling the Blackhawk Schoolhouse on March 24, and they left planning on finishing the next morning, said Mitchell. When they arrived at the site the next morning, the building had been decimated.
She said they thought about canceling this year’s rally, but they decided to dedicate the rally to the schoolhouse this year.
Constituents in Carroll County are invited to come out to the rally on July 15 starting at 2 p.m. Food will be served at 4 p.m., and tickets are $15.
