OXFORD – The Oxford Community Band held an encore concert performance on Thursday, Aug. 11, at the Oxford Historical Society’s (OHS) Ice Cream Social at the Depot-Museum. There was music, ice cream, a Blackhawk’s yearbook display, an Oxford business souvenirs exhibit, an exciting fund-raising raffle basket drawing; and a special sing-a-long tribute to Oxford hero Uri Tracy.
The Oxford Community Band’s summer concert performance series was scheduled to end on Aug. 4, but they came back one more time for the Oxford Historical Society’s Ice Cream Social one week later. Musicians played beneath the overhang of the D.L. & W. railroad depot (built in 1914), Francis Wilcox conducted, and a large crowd turned out for this pleasurable hour of music and delicious ice-cream. The ice cream was provided by the benevolent Steve and Sherry Behe, and it was served with panache by the congenial duo Bruce Wackford and Marv Hamstra. It was sold at the old-fashioned price of 5 cents a bowl, but several generous donations were made.
Many people browsed the exhibits inside the museum. The “Oxford Business Souvenir” display contains many interesting items and promotional giveaways. There are calendars, ice scrapers, wooden rulers, thermometers, matchbooks, key fobs, salt and pepper shakers, etc. Names such as The Corner Shoppe, the Emerson & Lewis Co., the First National Bank, Chenango Tractor, Ray’s Esso Service, are on them. These mementos are a representation of local history with business and people’s names, dates, the relevance of the item, and even the economic climate. It is still on display in the Depot-Museum and can be viewed on Thursdays from 1 to 3 p.m.
Oxford yearbooks, which go back to the 1930s, were on display. Several alums enjoyed browsing them and reminiscing, like Laura Lepera Clark, class of ’86, and her young son Danny. One particular yearbook was titled the Tracynian after Oxford Academy’s founder, Uri Tracy. The Tracynian was the Class of 1944’s, who were celebrating the sesquicentennial (150th) celebration of the Academy’s charter at that time. Thursday’s event brought together graduates of the Class of ’44 - Barb Volk Bogie, Mary Holmes Howe and Rachel Vigus.
