This Date in Fairfax History-June 15,1910- Alumni Banquet

[MikeF9]

This Date in Fairfax History- June 15, 1910

The first Bellows Free Academy Alumni Banquet was held at the school. This is a chance for BFA graduates to get together and welcome that year's graduating seniors to the Alumni. This year's alumni banquet will be held Friday June 18th at the BFA High School Gym.

For clarity purposes, the gym in the old end where you used to have lunch before 1999, and where they used to play basketball in the 50's and 60's, and used to be called the Old Gym, is now called the Middle School Gym.

The New Gym, located in the high school end and was built in 1973, is called the High School Gym.

The gym in the Elememtary is obviously called The Elementary Gym.

[Dick Brown]

mike    Thanks for the info on the first Alumni Banquet and also on the current one  . Does this mean that the meal for the gathering is catered in the high school gym , or is the Kitchen Staff still doing it ?? Since the upcoming banquet is the 100th anniversary, is there a special speaker , or is there a website to get a program for the evening ?? Was there a cafeteria in the original building ( remember there was no gym which explains why the town was attending a basketball game in the Grange Hall the night that the school's boiler blew up ) or was the gathering held in the school's Chapel ? The first last Chapel was held in June, 1904 , of course.

[MikeF9]

Let me do some checking as to where they held the first alumni banquet.
BFA opened in the fall of 1904, so the first commencement exercises were '05.
Not sure about a special speaker, but I do know they are expecting a large turnout. I will check on that as well.

[Dick Brown]

Mike   Thanks for doing the checking.   Of course you're right about the first Last Chapel.  Although the school was established and organized in 1903, it stands to reason that classes didn't start until the Fall of 1904 , therefore putting that school year closing event in June, 1905.
One of the nice features and values of the Fairfax Historical Society, of course, is that since those who would be able to tell us about past events  have passed, the Society has documents that are able to provide more then speculation to questions and, in fact , are still collecting items for future inquires. An important part of Fairfax's
future for sure !