After the columns were submitted, I was informed that this year, the December 21 and 28 issues will be combined into a single issue published December 21, 2023.
Neither installment made the Granville Sentinel this week. Therefore, the business recap writeup intended for December 28 will be reworked as the first column of the new year, for January 4, 2024.
I am making an important announcement regarding the "Granville Then and Now" column.
Back in October I made a post regarding the discontinuation of the column in September, formerly published in the Granville Sentinel from July 2020 to September 2023. I told the story of my column, and how I lost my way due to unforeseen and unwanted pressures made against me and the column I worked so hard to build up over three years, which made me decide that I had had enough.
Upon ending the column in September, I received requests to resume writing the column, including from people at the Granville Sentinel. I received more requests in October, including an email from someone high up in the Sentinel. I thought on it, and discussed the matter, but due to other things that I caught wind of, I said that I would only resume the column if it was assured that the Granville Sentinel bound book collection stayed right where it was (and is), in the Granville town historian office.
In December, I sent an email reiterating that I would resume the column, so long as the bound books stayed where they are. The proposal was accepted on the 12th, and as of today I have already written the two traditional entries that sum up the year: the Christmas greetings entry, and the yearly business recap entry. These are anticipated to be in the December 21 and 28, 2023 issues respectively.
The "plans" mentioned in the October announcement, have turned out to be utilizing both a resumed "Granville Then and Now" column, as well as an online blog site. Whether this site will continue here or on a different platform, remains to be seen.
I thank everyone again for their support to "Then and Now" in the three and a half years it originally ran, and hope and ask for your support and encouragement going forward with the resurrected column.
Erik Pekar
An index of the online writings column published here from time to time.
September 12, 2022 - New cars for 1957 model year from car dealerships in Granville and vicinity
December 10, 2023 - Fair Haven Outlet was open Thanksgiving Day in late 1960s
By Erik Pekar
For some years through 2019, many stores and chains were open early morning of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Some stores took it further to the change of day at midnight on Black Friday, and others even opened the evening or afternoon of Thanksgiving Day.
Changes in 2020 and the years since have resulted in the return of more sensible morning openings on Black Friday, and the return of peaceful Thanksgivings with stores closed.
This change was received warmly by many of all ages, but the long-timers who remember "the good old days" would have especially liked it.
With that in mind, we present a rare exception to the "closed on Thanksgiving Day" rule from the "good old days".
This excerpt of an advertisement for the Fair Haven Outlet in the Nov. 27, 1969 issue of the Granville Sentinel clearly reads the following: "Open Thanksgiving Day - 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. - All items on sale beginning Thurs. thru Sunday (while quantities last) Open Sunday noon to 6 p.m."
The Fair Haven Outlet was located in Fair Haven, Vt., on Prospect Street (Route 4A), on the north side of the road next to the Castleton River, just west of the corner with Main Street (Route 22A).
Other than the anomaly of being open on Thanksgiving Day, this Fair Haven Outlet ad is otherwise the typical discount store ad of days gone by. Discounted pricing of gift items included a slinky for 49 cents, a rhyme top for 49 cents, the game Yahtzee for 49 cents, and a Tonka mighty loader for $4.99.
There also was a mini-ad for appearances by Santa. Again, there is the unusual event of Santa seeing hours including time on Thanksgiving Day.
The Fair Haven Outlet conducting business on Thanksgiving Day was the exception and not the rule; most businesses in that era closed for Thanksgiving, and reopened on Black Friday with regular business hours.
