The Village of Peninsula, population 601, enjoys its celebrations. From the Quarry clean up day, to the 4th of July, to Peddlers’ Day, to Christmas in Peninsula. We know how to celebrate. And the 55th anniversary of the sightings of the Peninsula is no exception. If you want to read more about the Python, slither on over here.

As promised, here is a video of this year’s Python Festival. And I have a new skill: I uploaded it to You Tube!

And the winner of my high tech contest (where I drew a name from a hat) for one of our favorite mugs is Rudeek. She will be receiving a mug in the mail soon.  Thanks to all who posted comments and sent mug shots

My Town Monday was started by Travis Erwin.    Travis has retired from the MTM helm, and has passed the torch to Clair Dickson. She has created a blog just for MTM, where she posts links to bloggers who write about their towns hither and yon.

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Take a look at other My Town Monday posts.  You’ll read about places all over this fine blue planet.

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We are getting ready for the python scavenger hunt in the Gallery. If you can find them all, you win one!  Lots of activities are planned in the Village tomorrow. Slither on over here to see.

While you’re in the Valley, wander on down the Towpath to Deep Lock Quarry. Hobo Days will be in full swing.   It starts tonight with the Hobo Jungle Campfire, the official lighting of the hobo campfire. You can enjoy potlatch and hobohemia. Bring a can of soup for the hobo pot.  Breakfast will be at 9:00a.m. tomorrow, and there will be activities all day. The election of the Deep Lock Quarry Hobo King and Queen will be at 3:00 p.m.. The campfire will be at 8:00p.m., and there will be more hobohemia Sunday, from 11:00a.m.-1:00pm. For more information, check out the MetroParks, serving Summit County website.

I talked toNaturalist Pat Rydquist (whose hobo name is Hummingbird) about Hobo Days. Thie is the 6th year of the event at Deep Lock Quarry. 30-40 hobos will camp in primitive campsites there. Hobos were really the first “leave no trace” campers. Number 8 of the Hobo Code of Ethics reads: “Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling.“  For more information about the Code of Ethics, hobo terminology and hobo symbols, go here.

And don’t forget to send me your mug shot. You could win one of our favorite mugs.

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Word War II was going on, and many of the young men from the Valley were deployed overseas. When the story of the Python was picked up by the wire services and Stars and Stripes, soldiers stationed overseas sent letters to the Village. Letters from places people had never heard of.

While the story of the python frightened people in the Valley, it was not nearly as scary as the horrors of war.

The mayor deputized a posse to try to capture the renegade reptile. Although they men of the posse followed up on every lead, they were unable to find the snake.

photo courtesy Your Community News

If you are in our neck of the woods on Saturday, July 18th, come on over to the Village. We’ll be celebrating the python with our Python Fest. There will be all kinds of things to do. Slither on over here to find out just what will be going on. Steve and I will have a plethora of pythons around the Gallery, at 1619 West Mill Street. If you can find them all, you will win a prize.

You can also wander down the trail to Deep Lock Quarry, part of the MetroParks, serving Summit County. Celebrate Hobo Days with food, stories and the crowning of the Hobo King and Queen.

If you’d like a chance to be part of our modern Peninsula Python Posse, post a comment. Last week’s Posse winner was Barbara Martin.  She joins fellow posse members, Amy, Terrie , Sam, Travis, Barrie, and Eryl.

My Town Monday is now hosted by Clair Dickson here. You will find links to other MTM posts all over this fine planet. Travis Erwin is the originator of MTM. Go visit him and say hello. He’s a very nice guy.

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Email me a photo of you with your favorite mug and tell me why you like it. I’ll post your photos  and comments here, and enter you in a drawing for one of our favorite mugs. AND you will have the opportunity to beome a member of the Peninsula Python Posse! How cool is that?  This is what I like in a mug.

Email to : from skilled hands AT g mail DOT com  (you know what to do )

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Last summer, I wrote about the story of the Peninsula Python:

So the story goes like this: back in the summer of 1944, a traveling circus came through Bath Township, which is a short distance from the Village of Peninsula. There was an accident in the local cemetery, and two large snakes escaped. One was found dead, and the other disappeared—for a short while.

Farmer Clarence Mitchell was tending his corn field. He reported that his dogs were mighty nervous for a couple of days; then they refused to go near his field. Mr. Mitchell looked up and said that he saw the biggest snake he had ever seen, sliding along the ground in plain site. Local historian Randy Bergdorf, of the Peninsula Library and Historical Society writes:

The first sighting of the python occurred on June 8, 1944, along Riverview Road in Northampton Township, about halfway between Ira and Everett. Local farmer, Clarence Mitchell, reported that he had seen a snake 15 to 18 feet long cross his fields and slide into the river. It was spotted later that day by Mike Bobacek on the other side of the river, near Szalay’s corn fields on Bolanz Road. Days later, paul and John Szalay saw mysterious tracks, “like from an auto tire,” weaving across their corn field on Akron-Peninsula Road, a few miles south of Peninsula. Those doubting the existence of the python decreased in numbers on June 23rd, when Mrs. Vaughan on Northampton Road saw the snake climb over the fence of her chicken yard with a noticeable lump in its middle.

Multiple sightings of the serpent were reported during that summer of 1944; the mayor organized the local Civil Defense organization into posses. Folks with loaded guns responded to reports of the wayward snake. The then director of the Cleveland Zoo, Fletcher Reynolds, pleaded for the life of the snake. He asked that anyone finding the reptile stay calm and phone him with the snake’s location, so he could come and take him alive. Locals came up with plans to capture the snake, from box traps, to clotheslines and sticks, to music.

By this time radio newscasters, and reporters from the United and Associated Presses were regularly reporting on the escapades of the snake that had become the Peninsula Python. The story was reported in the media that was sent to American troops abroad during WWII. Letters from soldiers came into the Village’s post office. Robert Bordner, a reporter from the old Cleveland Press was one of those who wrote about the snake; one of his stories was published in the Atlantic Monthly, in November, 1945.

Sightings of the reptile decreased; some folks wondered if the entire story was a hoax concocted by Bordner. Those who saw the snake stand by their stories.

What do you think?

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Post a comment and I will enter you in 2009’s first Peninsula Python Posse drawing for an official badge!  You will have a chance to join Peninsula Python Posse members Amy, Terrie , Sam, Travis, Barrie, and Eryl.

As always, Travis Erwin, an official PPP member, is the man at the helm of My Town Monday.  Slither on over there and see what he has to say.

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