Wet Mountain Tribune

As the turkey hangover slowly lifts from local residents, it may be a satisfying exercise to review Thanksgivings past. A trip through the Wet Mountain Tribune archives proved to be especially gratifying. Our Valley forbearers actually celebrated in a very festive public array of Thanksgiving events over a hundred years ago, when the holiday was still fresh and unencumbered with “tradition.” Among them is the flirtation of romance at hand in a number of sponsored dances in the local halls. For example: Who those “Prize Package Girls” were are most likely lost in the mists of history since this advertisement ran on November 4, 1905. But the public events in the early 20th century were not always balls and frolic, contending with one another with…