Wayne County News
"Brinkley Day Edition"
June 16, 1961
Wayne Ready To Celebrate "Brinkley Day" Saturday
Parade To Start At 10 A.M.: Thousands Expected to Attend
Wayne will welcome David Brinkley in style Saturday.
The stage is set for the well-planned "Brinkley Day" celebration which is expected to attract thousands to our town.
All plans are complete - and men will be busy today adding the finishing touches at the high school football field where the crowd will congregate to hear speeches by Brinkley, the famous National Broadcasting Company news commentator, Governor W.W. Barron and Burl Sawyers, state road commissioner.
Various and sundry other state and county and town officials and other dignitaries will be introduced there.
The fun will start promptly at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Brinkley, in whose honor the celebration is to be staged, will arrive in Newtown section of Wayne at 9:45. Bands and other parade units will be missing in that area.
At 10 a.m. a ribbon across the bridge entrance will be cut by Brinkley and he will unveil the new marker designating the bridge across Twelvepole Creek as Brinkley Bridge. This ceremony will be brief. Senator Jackie McKown will introduce Brinkley who will say a few words. Then Brinkley, Governor Barron and others will lead a parade through the town, with five bands in line. The parade will end at the football field around 10:45 and music will keep the folks entertained a few moments until the cars are parked and all have time to get inside the football field.
Senator McKown will act as master of ceremonies and make introductions. Brinkley will speak. Barron and Sawyers will deliver ten-minute addresses.
By 1 p.m. the program will end at the football field and a luncheon for 300 persons will be served in the high school gym.
The "Brinkley Girls", who will have been featured in the parade, will then be among the guests of honor and the Brinkley Day Queen will be chosen - and crowned by Brinkley on the high school stage.
In the afternoon, merchants who have participated in the celebration will give away a beautiful pony in front of the Wayne courthouse.
Bill Coleman, Wayne High School band director, who is in charge of music or the occasion, reports that five bands will definitely be in the parade and there's a possibility others may enter.
Ceredo-Kenova's fine musical organization is the latest to accept an invitation.
Vinson High School, Coleman said, will not be here although an earlier announcement indicated it would.
At press time the following musical organizations were definitely scheduled to participate:
Wayne Grade School band.
Ceredo-Kenova High School band
Buffalo High School band
If others come here they will be welcomed.
The Brinkley Girls, who will ride in convertibles in the parade, are as follows:
Wayne High School - Glenna Damron, Wayne, and Katy Edwards, Ardel.
Buffalo High School - Sharon Maier and Becky Irons.
Vinson High School - Fane Virgallito and Winnie Nugent
Ceredo-Kenova High School - Sandra Skeens and Stephanie Dixon.
Crum High School - Sarah Ann Maynard and Edna Muncy.
A panel of judges to be selected by Julius Fry, chairman of the beauty contest committee, will elect the "Brinkley Day Queen" from this field of ten entries.
Luncheon for the visiting dignitaries and others who have made reservations, will be served by the Home Economics Department of Wayne High School, under the direction of Mrs. Charles Tygrett, at the high school gym.
It is impossible to accommodate more than 300 at the gym.
The luncheon was originally scheduled for the Wayne Methodist Church, but was moved to the gym in order to accommodate more people.
The Rev. Karl D. Finch, pastor of Wayne Baptist Church, will deliver the invocation at the brief ceremonies at the bridge.
The Rev. Basil Hensley, pastor of Wayne Methodist Church, will present the invocation at the football field just before the massed bands play the national anthem to start the festivities there.
The decorations already adorn the fronts of business buildings and "Welcome Brinkley" banners will be hung across the streets.
A special billboard at the Bridge welcomes visitors to the Wayne Community.
All is in readiness for the big day.