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Holy Cross Parish 59th Annual Homecoming Celebration, 1959

Also 1959 Beaver Island Homecoming · Holy Cross Parish 59th Annual Homecoming Celebration

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Date1959-08-09
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Event
Date
1959-08-09
Kind
Celebration
Carried out by
Holy Cross Catholic Church
Followed by
Holy Cross Parish completes its centenary Homecoming celebration, 1960
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
celebrationcommunityheritagereligion
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

Holy Cross Parish held its “59th Annual Homecoming Celebration” on Sunday, August 9, 1959: a noon dinner, a 3:30 p.m. parade and a 9:30 p.m. dance. The September Beacon reports a good crowd, a roast-beef dinner served by “the ladies of the parish,” and a first-place parade float for the Beaver Lodge.

Program

Dinner. Roast beef, served by “the ladies of the parish” — likely the Holy Cross Altar Society, though the September report does not use that name this year. Held at noon per the August notice.

Parade. 3:30 p.m.; the Beaver Lodge won first prize for “the most interesting float.” No other results are given.

Dance. 9:30 p.m. No music or venue is named.

Evidence limits

The August notice is a display advertisement and the September item a short unsigned recap; neither gives a dinner count, financial total, full parade result, or venue. No source names Holy Cross Hall or the Parish Hall this year, so spatial_status is approximate rather than known.

This year’s “59th” ordinal is one of two 1955–1959 ordinals (with the 1955 “55th Annual Homecoming and August Dinner”) that, subtracted from their printed year, both give 1900 — in tension with the 1932 founding narrative told by the August 1964 Beacon “Homecoming Issue.” See the hub article, Beaver Island Homecoming, “Origins” section, for the full discussion; this article does not resolve it, only supplies one of the two data points.

Open questions

  • What does “Holy Cross Parish” sponsorship in 1959 (compare the parish centenary Homecoming the following year) imply about the relationship between the parish and the Altar Society, which is credited by name in other years but not in 1959’s report?
  • Where was the 1959 dinner held? Not stated.

See also

Sources

  1. Display notice: "HOLY CROSS PARISH 59th ANNUAL HOMECOMING CELEBRATION SUNDAY AUGUST 9. GALA CELEBRATION. PROGRAM INCLUDES: Dinner 12 Noon. Parade 3:30 P.M. Dance 9:30 P.M. Come and meet all your old Friends." The notice does not name a venue. This is the source, together with the September report below, for the "59th" ordinal discussed in the hub article's founding-date question. Read in the in-repo data/ tree. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1959-08_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held five-page issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the Homecoming program notice; it does not name the venue or provide an attendance result.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1959-08_Beaver-Beacon
  3. The issue closes with a reminder for the annual Homecoming on the second Sunday of August. The masthead is misdated in the original issue; the article is assigned to the 1959 sequence from its internal content and archive issue label. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1959-07_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held three-page issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the August Homecoming reminder; it does not name the venue or provide an attendance result.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1959-07_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Reports: "A GOOD CROWD was on hand for Homecoming Day, August 9. The ladies of the parish served a wonderful roast beef dinner. The Beaver Lodge won first prize for the most interesting float in the parade." Gives no dinner count, no financial figure, and no other parade results. Read in the in-repo data/ tree. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1959-09_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The held three-page issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the Homecoming report; it does not expand the attendance, meal, or parade record.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1959-09_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Holy Cross Parish 59th Annual Homecoming Celebration, 1959”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-homecoming-1959/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, August 1959, "Holy Cross Parish 59th Annual Homecoming Celebration." (and 5 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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