Woodsboro Day hailed a success

(11/20) Woodsboro Day, the town’s annual festivities celebrating the local community, which returned this year to its traditional one-day festival, was hailed as a success by all those who organized and attended the festival.

Events kicked off early Saturday morning when the Woodsboro Evangelical Lutheran Church threw open their doors, providing a welcoming atmosphere as visitors perused countless items generously donated by the community alongside delicious hot and cold kitchen offerings.

If you couldn’t find what you wanted, Main Street was lined with yard sales – selling just about anything anyone one could hope to find at a yard sale.

Many, once done shopping for hidden treasures, made their way up to the Woodsboro Historical Society’s Train Station Museum, where they not only got an introduction on the town’s rich history, but a chance to step back in time and send an authentic telegram, transmitted via Morse code, to anyone in the county, experiencing the wonder of the telegraph system just like a resident could do 100 years ago when the station was an actual railroad station with a full-time telegraph operator.

However, unlike in the true days of telegraphs where messages traveled over wires via dots and dashes, the messages from the participants partaking in the Historical Society’s event were transmitted via short wave radio to operators near the recipient’s home – where they were translated back into standard words and then delivered to the recipient via a phone call or a text message.

So, while not 100% a truly authentic transmission of a telegraph message from end-to-end, it did give visitors a unique insight to how words were converted into dots and dashes and then converted back to words 100 years ago.

Joel Rensberger, President of the Historical Society, expressed gratitude to everyone who supported the Historical Society. "It makes an enormous difference in bringing family events to the community year after year. Large or small, it all makes a difference," Rensberger said.

"It's an exciting time for the Society," Rensberger said, "as we are pivoting from train station restoration to expansion! We are currently working on potentially obtaining a lease and vintage train car to be part of our display. Train cars are not small, so, with continued support, the people of Woodsboro and the surrounding areas may very well soon have a new landmark that is just as big or bigger than the current museum building/station."

"This involves new tracks to be laid, an exciting crane delivery, and [when completely finished] a restroom and story for both train enthusiasts and history buffs alike." More information about Woodsboro Area Historical Society, including museum hours and events, can be found at woodsborohistoricalsociety.org.

Last year, Woodsboro tested a two-day format in hopes of drawing a larger crowd, but the extra work necessary for the additional day taxed many of the volunteers upon which the festival depends, and the limited turn out of the second day drove the return to the one-day format. "Doing everything in one day means there is more to do for everyone on that day, which results in less downtime between events," said one participant.

While the one-day format did result in the sacrificing of the 5-K run, the music festival as well as a wine and beer garden, which were added last year, it had the town’s park packed from early afternoon to dusk.