WHS hosting Freedom Celebration Saturday
Jul. 2—The Whitesville Historical Society will be hosting its "Freedom Celebration" to honor and celebrate all veterans Saturday, July 2, at its headquarters, 10143 State Route 53, Whitesville.
Leslie McCarty, historical society president, said Friday that the event will be sponsored by AARP of Kentucky and will be 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
"It is to honor veterans," she said. "Veterans are welcome to come and I am the MC."
The event program includes music by Mackenzie Bell, the Apollo AFJROTC POW/MIA Presentation Team, while Major Gen. Allen Youngman will be the keynote speaker.
"He is going to talk about the price of freedom," McCarty said.
The event will also include lunch and feature veteran information booths.
The Whitesville Historical Society is also putting out a call for area residents to submit their favorite family recipes for a planned cookbook.
McCarty said the hope is that the cookbook can serve as a fundraiser for both the upkeep of the historical society's building as well as the restoration of the historic Stinnett House that it also owns.
"The Historical Society is all about trying to preserve history," McCarty said.
The cookbook will create a permanent record of the family recipes that have been a part of the Whitesville community for generations. It is also a way to pull together many of the recipes typically made for the annual "A Taste of Whitesville" event that is typically held each August.
"A taste of Whitesville is supposed to be a recipe that has been passed down in your family," McCarty said. "You make that dish and you bring it, you can share the recipe."
McCarty said an example of this would be her husband's grandmother's meatloaf, which features shredded carrots for a unique twist.
Those that would like to submit a recipe can scan, email, or send a photograph to Geralyn Boyle at 270-222-0734 or gboyle.whs@gmail.com. Multiple recipes will be accepted from the same person.
The deadline to submit a recipe for the cookbook is Aug. 15, 2022.
McCarty said that with the ability to look up any recipe at any time, the tradition of passing down physical recipe cards is becoming a thing of the past.
"Food is such a big part of everybody's culture, everybody's family, so it is kind of a neat way to preserve that part of our heritage," she said.
While publishing church cookbooks was once a common community activity for decades, even that is not as common as it once was.
"We have kind of lost that cookbook, touching that piece of history," McCarty said. "It is just kind of neat and makes you feel close to your community and close to family."
