Happy 89'er Day. Any Memories?

[Prunepicker]

We all know that April 22 is 89'er Day. The day celebrating the famous
land run of 1889.

When I was in grade school we got to dress up in 89'er garb, i.e. old
west.

After lunch we re-enacted the Land Run on the playground. We'd all
line up on one side of the playground, with selected Sooner's hiding.
Teachers gave us Popsicle sticks to mark our claim. At NOON a whistle
was blown and we went running to stake our claim. After we marked
our land we went to the land office to make it legal. There was a
teacher pulling a wagon that said JAIL with a kid in it. It was a very
cool history lesson about Oklahoma.

[Snowman]

I don't think anyone was allowed to cheat when the classes in my grade did it

[OKCisOK4me]

4th grade at John Ross Elementary in Edmond, that was the 100th anniversary of the Land Run--we were SPECIAL. I haven't dressed up in Western garb very often but that was one occasion for certain. We had four in our group and used a Red Flyer Wagon so there was no room for accidents like the one out in Mustang yesterday. I have one pic from that day somewhere.


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[MadMonk]

I never did this because I didn't grow up here, but my kid's did this in their 4th or 5th grade a few years ago. The project was centered around them working as a team and building a covered wagon to use in the land run. They used stakes and string to claim a spot of land in a big field on the school grounds and brought a picnic lunch to eat on their newly acquired homestead. It was pretty fun watching them do all this.

[PennyQuilts]

We used to dress up and because school was near the Cowboy Hall of Fame, as it was called, then, we would hike over there and have a picnic on the grounds. It was fun. I always sort of felt bad for the Indians who were displaced, notwithstanding that they'd displayed earlier tribes when they arrived (many by force). But as a child, it was always a lot of fun and exciting. My people weren't part of any of the land runs and I was always amazed that some of my classmates were actually related to people who were.

[Joe Kimball]

Yes! I loved this! It happened every year I attended James L. Dennis from 1988 (i.e., 1989 of the same school year) to 1992. 1989 was special, of course. It was REALLY done up with storefronts and fenced-in areas that resembled the actual action that day 100 years prior, along a red-dirt utility road amidst creeks scarce changed from statehood (the area surrounding the school was VERY undeveloped then).

Now, if I remember correctly, actual participation in the land run was limited to the sixth graders (of whom we were the next to last class in elementary school) and one class from a younger grade. Four of us each were assigned to a homesteading family, if you like, and we brought stakes and a tent or whatever. Food, I guess, too; a lunch I bought at an auction a la "Oklahoma!" and blessedly absent of Ado Annie's three day bellyache pie. We'd run in the usual manner, I staked a plot below a tree with brown yarn and railroad spikes I had, and we had the class over for a sit and it was beautiful. I'm glad it persists.

[ou48A]

The real 89'er day is in about 40 days when it will be 89 days until kickoff!

[ylouder]

Wring thread.