Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Early Settlers: Lorraine Biagini and Joe Presti, Campbell High School graduates of the class of 1943, reminisce at the 110th Early Settlers and Heritage Reunion. Presti, who ran the lower hurdles in track and field while in high school, attended the event wearing his original letterman's sweater.
Early Settler's Day celebrates 110 years of valuable Campbell history
Longtime city residents trade stories and share memories from the past
By Moryt Milo
For 110 years Campbell residents have gathered to celebrate Early Settlers' Day. The event began in 1892, as a way for neighboring farmers and friends to spend time together, and its original purpose has remained the foundation of the event.
"It's all about visiting and asking each other who's here," Campbell Mayor Jeanette Watson says. "For some [attendees] it's been a long time between visits."
The event also has the distinction of being known as the second oldest continuous public celebration in California, the oldest being the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena; quite an accomplishment for a small farming town that began with only 5,000 citizens and slowly grew to 38,000 residents, Campbell Vice Mayor Dan Furtado says.
On Feb. 18, past and present Campbell residents once again gathered to meet, eat and reminisce about the past at the Campbell Community Center.
Former resident Carol Hansen, 63, who lives in San Francisco, came for the fifth time. Her Danish father, Hans Hansen, owned the Taste Good Bakery on Campbell Avenue near the railroad tracks. The business is considered one of the longest-operating ventures in downtown Campbell, serving customers from the 1930s to the 1970s.
"I really enjoy coming back," she says. "Growing up in Campbell was special. It was such an idyllic place."
For Hansen, like many who attended the luncheon, the loss of the farms and the abundant orchards is often the talk. Many remember Campbell as a quiet rural town.
For Campbell residents Peter Yerkovich, 91, and his wife, Ida, 90, yesteryear was synonymous with orchards of prunes, cherries and apricots that filled the land along Payne Avenue and Winchester Boulevard. Yerkovich's father, Tony, purchased the land when they moved to Campbell from Salinas in 1925.
In the beginning, Yerkovich's father had two acres of apricots and eight acres of prunes, but in 1940, he bought the adjacent 10 acres of land and developed it into a cherry orchard.
"There was nothing on those 10 acres," Yerkovich says. "It was a vacant piece of property." Today a shopping center sits on the property, with a Safeway, and condominiums developed on the back part of the property.
The Yerkoviches, who have lived in their home on Alice Avenue for 64 years, have seen office parks, shopping centers and homes replace the canneries and farmland that were once the mainstay of the community, and although Ida admits she misses the splendid orchards, she says with a sigh, "Time moves on and things do change."
But it's remembering Campbell's past, through the oral history of longtime residents in their 70s, 80s and 90s, that makes the event special. It's a rare chance for anyone interested in knowing Campbell's history to hear stories, that will be lost and forgotten once the elders of the community are no longer around to share their experiences.
"I enjoy meeting the people each year and listening to their different stories," Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Betty Deale says. "It's the only way to hear about Campbell's past."
It is also why the Early Settlers' Committee decided to open its luncheon to anyone interested in learning more about Campbell's roots and no longer limit it to residents or community members who have lived in the community for 40 years or longer, Furtado says.
He also says the event's name was changed from Old Settlers to Early Settlers because people thought it made everyone sound old.
But no matter what the name, the event's past has a rich history. From its simple beginnings as a picnic lunch and patriotic flag-raising celebration on July 4, 1892, at the newly established Campbell Fruit Growers Union in downtown Campbell, to February in 1895. Its festive floats and marching band parades from 1939 to the late 1960s were also popular.
The parade used to be a large community draw, with thousands of people attending, Watson says in her book Campbell, the Orchard City. People from Campbell and neighboring towns came to watch a variety of marching bands, which included the Campbell Grammar School Band and the Campbell High School Band.
The parade also had numerous floats representing businesses and organizations like SunSweet--the dried fruit company, Future Farmers of America and the Red Cross.
The parade originated at the Campbell Grammar School--the present day Heritage Village Offices--and ended at the Campbell City Park on Gilman Avenue.
"I have fond memories of marching in the Early Settlers' Day Parade," Marge Elizondo, 78, says. "My children [Larry and Joni] both marched in seventh and eighth grade when they went to Campbell Grammar School."
For Elizondo, this was her first Early Settlers' Day luncheon. It was a conversation with Ida Yerkovich that brought her to this year's event.
"I'm so glad I came," Elizondo says. "There are a lot of familiar faces."
Exactly the reason longtime resident Anna Mae Miller was attending.
"I've been coming for as long as I can remember," she says.
Miller has lived in the area for 54 years--originally on the border of Campbell and Los Gatos. During the last 22 years, Miller has lived on Alice Avenue.
"When I was diagnosed with macular degeneration [an eye disease], I wanted to live closer to town. My home on Alice was only two and a half miles away from everything I needed and I didn't have to worry about driving."
Miller says this once-a-year event is a wonderful opportunity for her to see old friends.
"I'm so glad Campbell has continued the event," she says. "It is something very special."
It was also special for Ray Mathis and Carl Field, both 77. The pair have been friends since graduating together from Campbell High School in 1943. They talked about their fathers owning grocery stores on Campbell Avenue.
"We were competitors," Field says. "But when we ran out of something we would go to each other's store and buy what we needed. It was a friendly competition."
Campbell, California
