You know you're from Wolcott...

At a recent Christmas gathering with friends (in which all of us have known each other since 3rd grade), the topic came up why a significant portion of the town’s population has been born and raised in Wolcott. Some, like me, grew up here, moved around and came back home. Others have called our town home from day one. The idea of hometown pride has been further resonated with the start of a Facebook page called You Know you’re from Wolcott, if… The page is part class reunion, town history lesson and part happy hour chatter (minus the bar bill). It was the brainchild of Dawn Barzda Stevens who, like many of us, love what our little town has to offer and wanted everyone to have a chance to chat about it. To date the page now has 200+ members, and there is not a day when my Facebook notification does not ring with an inquiry or comment from someone who grew up here. Let’s see, today someone posted about the three swimming areas off of Chestnut reservoir. What where the names? This lead to further comments and childhood memories including a comment from one who mentioned she met her future husband there. For the record it was Arrowhead, Bucks Hill, and Sandy Shore. I also see we are now going down memory lane of teachers in town. Who had this person, and what was the name of the Wakelee School Principal. The cool part about this is that it is being used by people who moved away years ago and want to reconnect with the town. One person was struggling with street names so someone else jumped in to lend a hand with the streets and their faded memories. Food and drink are always a big hit too. Someone recently posted if anyone remembered the “Night Owl,” while others mentioned the original Me-Ma’s or LaQunita’s or even the Long Acre Inn. I had my first battle with a lobster at Long Acre…the Lobster won. Of course the Mickey Mouse rock was brought up, as was the little league field by the golf course, Lewis School, Chris the Ice Cream man (featured here last year by the way), and countless other tid-bits about our town. Two things of note, if you are not from here, you will have trouble with this page, but if you grew up here this is a history lesson that truly brings you down memory lane. One more thing, the page is a bit addictive. I can’t play Candy Crush or other similar mind traps, but put up a posting about Diamond Oil from 1972 and you have my attention. Throw in a side order of memories about the original A&W restaurant on Wolcott Road and I can safely say you had me a Root Beer. All kidding aside, this is one page worth checking out. It’s by email invite only, but search it and one of us will let you in. After all, you must be from Wolcott.