Remembering Saratoga Days

One of this Watermelon Warrior’s favorite past times is hitting antique stores to find vintage stuff from the South Hamilton area, and recently I found this great old school hat.

This hat is from the famous Saratoga Days that were held north of Stanhope back in the day. And since this Watermelon Warrior was too young to remember the exact details, I contacted Stanhope Mayor Harold Hove (one of the original organizers of the event) to get a little background on an old summer tradition.

Saratoga Days were kind of like another Watermelon Day and from other accounts I have gathered, just another good reason to throw a great party (hey, we can’t argue with that). It was held on a property northeast of Stanhope near the Boone River Valley, where now Dr. Marty Hove recently had his Medical School Graduation Party. The event was free with everything donated and drew crowds from all over the area. The hat pictured above was sold to help raise money for the event. They also held an annual raffle to help keep the event free to everyone who showed up.

Festivities started at 10:30am with a parade on the gravel road in front of the Saratoga Days grounds. There’s no false advertising in the hat above. According to Harold, there were games for the kids and tons of food. They usually went through 2 hogs and 8 turkeys. One year in addition to the hogs and turkeys, they even barbequed a goat! Of course, beverages were all around as they went through at least 12 kegs of beer each year. The day of partying ended with a huge bonfire on the Saratoga Days grounds.

Thanks to Harold Hove for the background stories on Saratoga Days. If you have a favorite memory or have more details to add to this Saratoga Days post, email us or add your comments below.

CAMPUS NOTE: Do you have pictures of vintage artifacts or events associated with the Stanhope Metro Area that you would like to share? Send your pictures and stories to Stanhope State by emailing stanhopestate@yahoo.com and we’ll post your stories.