SMARTSVILLE "S" CELEBRATION
By Kit Burton
"Huell Howser and friends in Smartsville"
Our party on November 22, 2008 to celebrate our success in getting our "S" back was a real hoot. Several of the Rough and Ready Fruit Jar Pickers showed up early and played until 1:00 pm when the Bear River middle school band from Wheatland arrived and entertained us for about 30 minutes. The Bear River band included several youngsters from Smartsville and they performed a nice variety of tunes. They appeared to be very competent and organized and we really appreciated them being a part of our celebration.
For about 30 minutes we were pleased to have some short speeches from some of our town’s leading citizens and others that have been instrumental in Smartsville’s recent shining events: John Waskiewicz, Letty Litchfield, Brian Bisnett, Lane Parker, Kathy Smith, and our Yuba County Supervisor Hal Stocker.
Huell and his delightful photographer Cameron, came to Smartsville to film the segment for California’s Gold on October 27. He spent about five hours filming various parts of the Smartsville/Timbuctoo area and was excited to learn that we were having a party on November 22 to celebrate the return of our "S." As promised, Huell and Cameron the cameraman (don’t you just love that) came back to Smartsville on the 22nd and were the life of our party.
Huell Howser needed to leave us at about 3 pm to catch his flight back to LA so we had to finish the speeches a little sooner than we otherwise might have. Everyone had an opportunity to have a piece of congratulatory cake and coffee or punch and to buy a few souvenirs. The church was open for inspection and we even rang the bell a couple of times.
At Huell’s request we played a little more old-fashioned string band music for a few minutes while he filmed some additional interviews and then about 50 of us caravanned out to Highway 20 at the CDF fire station so that he could film us with a yellow stick-on letter S on the CalTrans sign. Cameras were flashing amid a lot of smiling and laughing as Huell clowned around in his inimitable style.
Smartsville’s segment of California’s Gold is expected to be aired on PBS sometime in January. Stay tuned.
From the Big S" PV Courier column, December 2008
For more information onthe return of the S to SmartSville click here.
