In honor of the 60th anniversary Kiwanis Club of Statesboro Grice Connect worked with Gary Mikell, Kiwanis Club of Statesboro Historian to walk back down memory lane over the past six decades of Kiwanis service to our community.
Began by Brooklet Kiwanis Club
In 1960, the population of Statesboro, Georgia was 8,356. Just east on U.S. Highway 80 was the hamlet of Brooklet with a population of just 557. And yet in Brooklet, a group of men had banded together in 1949 to forged a vibrant civic club with the founding of a Kiwanis Club over the following decade.
By 1960, Brooklet Kiwanian Joseph Ingram was serving as lieutenant governor of District 8 of the Georgia District of Kiwanian. Ingram would make the nine-mile trip to Statesboro with an evangelistic zeal to spread the seeds of the club’s enthusiasm to the bigger neighboring town.
The official birthdate of the Kiwanis Club of Statesboro was on a leap year day. On February 29, 1960, a permanent organization roster was issued by Kiwanis International.
Josh Lanier, a local jeweler, was elected first president. The first board of directors were Belton Braswell, T. W. Rowse, Naughton Beasley, William Franklin, Bob Ussery, Isaac Bunce, and Avant Edenfield.
Women involved early
Although the new Statesboro Kiwanis Club membership was restricted to males only, two women was instrumental in its formation. Local pianist and entertainer Emma Kelly provided a musical background for the fellowship at each of the Thursday club meetings. Eloise Hunnicutt, who had become a local radio personality, lead the club in group singing. Both women would play a pivotal role in the club’s first fund raising effort, as well.
Battle with City to bring the fair to town
In 1962, Bee’s Old Reliable Shows was looking for a location to erect its rides due to an abrupt cancellation of its carnival by Evans County officials who deemed carnivals to be unacceptable entertainment in Claxton. Tal Callaway said Bee’s Old Reliable also broached the subject with him about having a local organization help the carnival host an annual fair.
According to Wyatt Johnson, Myrtis Akins and club member Wayne Dollar of the local UGA Extension Agency had also expressed a desire for an agricultural fair in the area. Fortuitously for Statesboro, the Metter Kiwanis Club, which had been conducting an agricultural fair, decided to discontinue their project. The Metter group offered to sell all of their equipment, including pens and booths, to the Statesboro Kiwanis Club for $500. With the relationship with Old Bee’s carnival having been established, the elements came together in 1963 for the Kiwanis Club to try a full-blown county fair in Bulloch County with an agricultural theme.
Callaway remembered raising the prospect of the fair in the city with then Mayor Bill Bowen. Callaway recalled, “He [Bowen] said, ‘I’ll tell you one thing. There will never be a fair in the City of Statesboro.’” The mayor expressed the same concerns of rowdiness and gambling that had caused the cancellation of Old Bee’s carnival date in Claxton, Callaway said. However, the Statesboro Kiwanians were able to secure permission from Parker’s Stockyard on Stockyard Road to allow the use of an area adjoining their facility for a fair. The location was just outside of the existing city limits.
Brown Childs First Fair Chairman
The early development of the Kiwanis fair efforts was influenced as much as anyone by Brown Childs, who was a local real estate broker and auctioneer and who would serve as the first club fair chairman. According to Johnson, Childs researched several years of weather records and determined that the third week in October would be the optimum time to conduct a fair without rain.
“We rented tents back then,” remembered Brown Childs. “We couldn’t get them until Thursday so we had to set the entire fair up between then and Sunday.” the club voted by a margin of one vote to purchase the Pembroke Highway tract from John Rushing for $20,156.00. Kiwanian Jeff Owens changed his mind at the last minute to sway the result.4 The deed was signed on November 7, 1964. The Rushing property would be the permanent home of the Kiwanis Ogeechee Fair on Fair Road.
The club even dabbled with bringing in bigger named entertainers in 1970 when country singer George Hamilton IV and movie cowboy star Tex Ritter and their bands performed. But afterwards the club settled in on more local talent, such as Shorty Smith and his Peapickers or Gary Barnes and Sundown.
Kimsey Dickey brings agriculture to the forefront
In the following decade, new members were joining the Kiwanis of Club of Statesboro with an infusion of fresh blood and new ideas. From the original 25 members needed for a Kiwanis charter, the membership number had risen to 59 Kiwanians in 1970. The new recruits included Kimsey Dickey, who had joined the Statesboro Kiwanis Club in 1967. Dickey was employed with the Federal Land Bank (now AgSouth Farm Credit Association) and was tied heavily into the agricultural community in Georgia. According to a later fair book dedicated in his honor, Dickey was instrumental in arranging a new addition that would help revolutionize the way the Ogeechee Fairgrounds was used.
In 1971, the State of Georgia and Bulloch County Commissioners agreed to fund the construction of a Livestock and Agricultural Center for the display of livestock if the club would allow it to be placed on the Fairgrounds. The building was dedicated at the 1971 fair by Lt. Governor Lester Maddox, who had been Georgia governor when the funds were approved, and Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin.
Kiwanis President Thurman Lanier becomes Mayor of Statesboro
The relationship with the city took leap forward in 1970. Charter member Thurman Lanier who was serving president of the Statesboro Kiwanis Club in 1970 was elected mayor of the City of Statesboro. He would serve as mayor for the next 20 years. Then in 1985, Kiwanian Robert Cox was elected chairman of the Bulloch County Commissioners and served until 1992.
The Pancake Tradition
“I remember when the Pancake House was built and how that became the new tradition,” recalled Joe McGlamery. “The Pancake House was in large measure the vision of Marion Brantley. He worked for Robbins Packing Company, and certainly he knew good sausage when he tasted good sausage. And he had that vision that this could become a major part of the fair experience for families to bring their kids out and eat pancakes and sausage at the fairgrounds.”
After serving as fair committee chair for two years in 1999 and 2000, Kiwanian Don Whaley became the key figure during the next two decades for the continued success and popularity of the Pancake House. In a 2007 interview with the Statesboro Herald, Whaley estimated the Pancake House was selling about 350 pounds of sausage each day of the fair and for about 2,100 pounds for the week. In the 2010 dedication of the fair book to Whaley, he was designated the “#1 Pancake Flipper”.
Brenda Mascarello becomes first female president
In 2000, local banker Brenda Mascarello was inducted as the first female Kiwanis Club president. At the time, there were only eight female Kiwanians. By January 2020, the number of female members had grown to 24. Following in Mascarello’s footsteps as president of the Statesboro Kiwanis Club were Molly Sisson in 2006, Barbara Price in 2010 and Trish Tootle in 2016. Ashlee Corbin become president in 2020.
Colson and the Pease's put their mark on the club
Rivaling the herculean task of Brown Childs is Darrell Colson, who joined the club in 1991. Colson served as solo fair chair in 1998 and then for four straight years from 2006 to 2009. Colson also served as fair co-chair with Walter Pease in 2013 and 2014. Pease also had served as sole fair committee chair for two straight years 1991 and 1992. Keeping the job in the family, Walter’s spouse Deb Pease served a fair committee chair in 2018.
When Deb Pease became the first female Fair Committee Chair in 2018, she summarized the job for the Statesboro Herald in a simple phrase, “I stomp out fires.”
Rodeo Expansion
Kiwanian Bill Anderson, a retired U.S. Navy captain, was one the founders of the rodeo. “The Kiwanis Club in Statesboro was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its fair when we decided we wanted to find a second event to put on each year,” said Anderson. “In October we host a six-day fair, so it was natural to pick a spring event," Anderson added. “We were pretty audacious that first year when we held the first annual rodeo; we were thinking it would be a success and it would continue.” Anderson said it is a great feeling to know the rodeo has become a staple event each spring in Statesboro.
T.L. Hagan, Sr. brings community building to fairgrounds
In 1965, some Kiwanians were concerned about the purchase of the fairgrounds because of its distance from the City of Statesboro. By 2020, the club granted a water and sewer line easement on the edge of the property to service growing development in the area.
T.L. Hagan, Sr. first raised the idea of a community building on the Kiwanis Fairgrounds around 1980. After two years of discussions, Hagan had plans for the building drawn up and presented to the club membership in 1982. On the initial vote, the club rejected the idea. However, Hagan continued to keep the idea in the club consciousness. Eventually, the club’s Board of Directors appointed a formal committee headed by Hagan to fully explore all options and alternatives available in constructing a community building. In 1988, the Club approved financing and construction of the present Kiwanis Community Building.
Wall of Honor
A realization arose that the club had a venue to erect a lasting memorial to the members whose dedication and commitment to Kiwanis had been demonstrated in articulable ways above and beyond the call of duty. The concept was born of a Wall of Honor as a visual display of the names of Kiwanis heroes. The tangible remembrance would be bronze plaques placed on a special designated area of the Community Building.
To date, 11 Kiwanians have been memorialized on the Wall of Honor. Each of them has appeared numerous times in the telling of this story because they and their friends are the story. While they each made a concentric blend of contributions, it seems that each of them also shone even brighter in one category: founders, administrators, culture builders and work horses
The Leadership
Presidents: 2020-2021 Ashley Corbin; 2021-2022 John Banter, 2022- 2023 Chris Wiggins; 2023-2024 Matt Anderson; 2024-2025 Marilyn Hale. Lisa Turner is the 2022-2023 Fair Chair.
