Name/Title
We Reap a HarvestEntry/Object ID
2023.50.19Scope and Content
"We Reap a Harvest" by Donald Sessions Winner of the 1940 "Know Your Tourist Week" Essay Contest
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Spring is once again in the air, and summer will soon be ushered in. For many people summer means a vacation, but not for the people of Saugatuck, Michigan's greatest summer resort. The first robin is a sign to start working; everyone is kept busy from sunrise to sunset, and our family is no exception.
My father owns an IGA store and meat market combined. This keeps father, mother, a butcher and a boy busy from seven o'clock in the morning until eight or nine at night, serving the summer guests and vacationists with a smile. This also keeps me busy half or two-thirds of the time doing odd jobs, waiting on trade and delivering groceries.
I also work for the Tri-Co. Telephone company as messenger boy. I am called out at most any hour of day or night to deliver telegrams, and to call people who have no telephone to the office to talk long distance. I cover a large territory in working for the telephone company. I go from the many yachts in the river to houses far cut of town. The tips and regular pay I receive are very welcome.
There are also many odd jobs to do. I take care of people's dogs while they are gone a day or two or care for young trees during spring and summer, before the owners are here to stay. I also mail letters and deliver notes for people.
Many people rent rooms and cottages during the summer, and our house will have several rooms to rent this year. My sister is now old enough to help care for these rooms, which have to be spick and span, bedding laundered and beds made, and a fire going to keep hot water.
But we are not the only ones who profit from the summer resort season, the vacationists also receive large returns from the money they spend. Meals, rooms and amusements are very inexpensive. Many people come early and stay late.
Saugatuck is located about 160 miles north of Chicago and has a colorful history. In the old days Saugatuck was a lumbering town, and exported fruits by boat. Our population is about 600 in winter and 5,000 in the summer.
Saugatuck is a town of many activities; there is hiking through our famous sand dunes, and peaceful walks through the woods which are across the beautiful Kalamazoo river; also golf, tennis, shuffleboard, boating, fishing, bowling, swimming and bike riding.
Saugatuck's Oval, the only municipally owned oval in the United States, is an oval of cement on the bluff of the lake. It is about three blocks long and wide enough for two cars to go abreast. About 250 cars can be parked at one time. A lifeguard is on duty a greater part of the day for safety to the bathers and swimmers. The drive through the woods to the Oval and Lake Michigan is beautiful. To reach the lake and Oval from Saugatuck one must take the old chain ferry (the only one in Michigan) or go through the village of Douglas, which is another beautiful little town on the Kalamazoo river.
There are seven different churches in Saugatuck and Douglas which cordially invite you to worship with them.
In this essay I have tried to show how the tourists and people of Saugatuck reap a harvest.
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To the Vacationists
Saugatuck is the place to spend
Your week's vacation or week end.
Come for a day or for a year
We're sure this place you will hold dear,
On the shore of Lake Michigan
Come, yes, and bring along a friend;
Boating in the Kalamazoo
You'll not regret, we assure you.
Horseback riding, golf and tennis,
Yes, but this is not the finish,
Fishing and Mount Baldhead to climb
Good food to eat at any time.
I could really write much more
about the Big Pavilion, too,
the brightest spot in Michigan
Or how our art schools began.
But now I must be on my way
For I have work to do this day.Context
This essay and poem by Donald Sessions of Saugatuck received the cash award in the "Know Your Tourist Week" essay contest for 1940. The contest was co-sponsored in Saugatuck by the West Michigan Tourist and Recreation Association and the Pokagon Club of Saugatuck, an association of civic-minded businessmen. Sessions' father, Stuart Sessions, owned the IGA store in Saugatuck 1928 to 1945 and left to become a teacher at Starr Commonwealth in Albion. In the tourist booklet of 1947 the IGA store is called Kruger's and is located in the Heath Block on Butler Street in downtown Saugatuck. Later the store was owned by the Francis family. From January 1, 1970 to the spring of 1981 that portion of the Heath block was occupied by the Saugatuck-Douglas District Library.Collection
SDHS NL Inserts, Commercial businesses, 1930+ Tourism, activites, tours and attractionsCataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2023.50Acquisition Method
Found in CollectionNotes
SDHS Newsletter insert pagesLocation
* Untyped Location
Digital data in CatalogItRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Sessions, Donald Douglas c1926-, 308 Butler/American Spoon/Sessions IGA/General Notes
Note
This information was OCR text scanned from SDHS newsletter supplements. A binder of original paper copies is catalog item 2023.50.01Create Date
November 8, 2023Update Date
November 18, 2023