Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Nick Bingham, left, and Scott Alder cook up some pancakes and bacon at the 24th annual Pima Heritage Days festival Saturday.
By Jon Johnson
PIMA – The weather was picture-perfect Saturday as throngs of people descended upon the W.M. Carter Farm Museum for some rib-sticking vittles, good tunes and great conversation at the 24th annual Pima Heritage Days.
Pima residents past and present gathered to sample the cowboy breakfast of endless pancakes and bacon thanks to cooks Nick Bingham and Scott and Joyce Alder, heaping amounts of scrambled eggs thanks to cooks Shawn Wright and Pima Councilor Dale Rogers and his family, the ever-present Tang to wash it down and homemade Dutch oven biscuits courtesy of Russell and Jonnett Woods, with assistance from their daughter, Missy Woods.
After filling their bellies, the adults moseyed around the museum looking at the artifacts and displays while the children played games and examined the old firetruck and cotton wagon.
The event actually began Friday with a quilt show and continued into the night with a barbecue pit dinner at the Clyde Davis Cafetorium, which Eastern Arizona Museum curator Edres Barney said was well attended.
The two-day event is a fundraiser for the museum, which is run totally by volunteers and is open Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The event commemorates the founding of Pima on April 8, 1879. This year, the Sanders and Ferrin families, along with longtime first-grade teacher Stella Brown, were highlighted. Lucy Ferrin, who was a Sanders before marriage, organized the front display, including artifacts and pictures from the families.
“This chair belonged to my dad’s grandpa,” Lucy Ferrin said. “He came and lived with my grandma, his daughter-in-law, and brought the chair. Then it ended up with my dad and now my brother has it. It’s really comfortable.”
The festivities kicked off at 7 a.m. with the singing of the National Anthem by Sapphire Sound, made up of Sharon Watson and her two daughters, Amanda Howard and Brianna Watson. The group has only been together for about four or five gigs but having her daughters sing with her has been a wonderful experience, according to Sharon Watson.
“It’s so amazing,” Sharon said. “I love the harmony.”
The event also featured a raffle for an Emerald Star quilt created by Anna Jane Jarvis, who spent more than 20 hours working on it, a Helenite emerald pendent by Stauer donated by Barney and a window planter box made and donated by Tricia and Ron Garrett. The emerald theme was used because the Eastern Arizona Museum and Historical Society of Graham County will celebrate its 55th anniversary July 24.
