- Date
- 1955-03-17
- Kind
- Celebration
- Where
- Holy Cross Parish Hall
- Followed by
- St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 1956
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- celebrationcommunityheritageirish-arranmore
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
The Beaver Beacon’s April 1955 issue reports a March 17 Amateur Talent Show in Holy Cross Hall, presented by the island’s school children and headlined by a visiting baton twirler, followed by a Box Social. This is the contemporary Beacon account that Robert Cole’s 2002 retrospective history cites when it describes a “March 1955 Amateur Talent Show” as part of the holiday’s evolution from house parties to organized parish-hall programs.
Program
A packed house watched the school children’s Amateur Talent Show, headlined by Miss Sally Geier of Dearborn, Michigan, a professional baton twirler who cancelled other professional engagements to perform on the island and who the Beacon says had appeared on Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town. A Box Social sponsored by the Holy Name Society followed, with Bert McDonough as auctioneer and Archie LaFreniere as General Chairman.
Evidence limits
The source is a contemporary newspaper account, not an attendance figure or financial record. It does not name an organizing body for the evening as a whole beyond the Holy Name Society’s Box Social; no article for that society exists in this knowledge base, so carried_out_by is left empty rather than pointed at an organization id that does not exist. The same 1955-04 issue also reports a Beaver Island Club of Chicago party held earlier that spring (covered separately in St. Patrick's Party for Holy Cross Church, Chicago), which is not this island celebration.
Open questions
- Was the Holy Name Society a distinct body from the Altar Society that later sponsors these dinners, or an earlier name for related parish fundraising work?
- Is there a 1955-03 Beacon report of the celebration being planned, to pair with this after-the-fact account?
See also
Sources
- Reports "A packed house enjoyed a fine Amateur Talent Show presented by the school children in Holy Cross Hall the evening of March 17th," headlined by visiting baton twirler Sally Geier of Dearborn, Michigan, followed by a Box Social sponsored by the Holy Name Society with Bert McDonough as auctioneer and Archie LaFreniere as General Chairman. This knowledge base does not have an organization article for the Holy Name Society, so its sponsorship is recorded in prose only, not in carried_out_by.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1955-04_Beaver-Beacon
- The held four-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1955-04_Beaver-Beacon
Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 1955”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-st-patricks-day-1955/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, April 1955, "ST. PATRICK'S DAY." (and 1 further source 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.
BibTeX for “St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 1955”RIS for “St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 1955”