Looking Back: 1987
Excerpts from the Hollis Times
May 1987
A photo of daffodils and tulips "enjoying the late spring sunshine" graced the front page, but another photo showed a very different scene — a magnolia tree in bloom surrounded by 15 inches of snow. The caption read "It's not nice to fool, Mother Nature!" This unseasonable snowstorm hit Hollis on April 29.
On May 23, a large crew of volunteers gathered at the Hollis Elementary School to build a playground. Construction materials included 400 used tires, 30 telephone poles, hundreds of board feet of lumber and hoses, chains, nails, nuts and bolts. The project was organized by HEP, the Hollis Elementary People.
June 1987
The weather was hot and sunny on June 14, 1987 as 106 members of the HAHS Class of 1987 gathered for graduation. Julia Degges was Valedictorian and Linda McGuire was Salutatorian.
The Hollis Strawberry Festival had "an added attraction" — to mark the kickoff of the town's Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, "people were urged to come in Colonial dress." A special prize was awarded to those who could recite the Preamble to the Constitution.
July 1987
Extensive coverage of the June 28 Strawberry Festival reported that 480 quarts of strawberries and 2,500 shortcakes were prepared. Members of the Bicentennial Committee wore period dress, and helium-filled balloons added to the festive atmosphere.
August 1987
The Blue Swan Boutique advertised that it would soon open at the Hollis Village Marketplace, promising "a wide selection of elegant classics to contemporary designer styles." The Marketplace's Grand Opening Festival on September 12-13 featured raffles, gift certificates, live entertainment, and sidewalk sales.
Businesses that had come and gone at the Marketplace over the years included the Blue Swan, Sleek and Sassy Figure Salon, Admiral Woolseys, Heart 'n' Soul Fitness, Hollis Dance Studio, Apple Tree Country, and many more. The service businesses outlasted the specialty stores.
September 1987
The Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution was celebrated with special assemblies at all three Hollis schools and the Fall Freedom Ride bicycle race on September 26.
An aerial photo of the completed Hollis Village Marketplace was notable for what was not in it — the bank building, the east end of the main complex, the new police station, and the elderly housing complex. At its opening, the Marketplace was home to a dozen businesses including Admiral Woolsey's, Dolly's Place, the Hollis Pharmacy, and the Hollis Star Market.
October 1987
Joan Tinklepaugh began her series "Flashbacks – presented by the Hollis Historical Society." Her first installment, "A Day at the Fair – October 23, 1855," quoted Dr. Ralph Emerson, grandson of the Reverend Daniel Emerson: "Agriculture is the surest source for a competent supply of our wants. The estate and the income of a farmer are in a form to yield the highest happiness."
The October issues also advertised the annual Firemen's Ball at the Alpine Grove on October 31 and the Country Christmas Fair at the Congregational Church on November 7 — both traditional events no longer held.
November 1987
Joan Tinklepaugh wrote about the "Road to Improvement" in her "Taken for Granite" column. "The road to improvement is rocky," she began. She questioned road improvement programs that turned "curvy, dusty, dirty, dippy" Hollis roads into "virtual four-lane highways" and called the Hollis Village Marketplace "behemoth brick and wood structures adrift in a sea of blacktop."
She warned that "physical 'improvement' must be considered carefully for it is with us forever, barring flood, fire or earthquake. And once undertaken, these changes should be gentle, unobtrusive and 'make sense' so our eyes and hearts can adjust without rebellion." She concluded that "the Road to Improvement can be expected to have its ups and downs, its twists and turns, but it should lead us where we want to go or it becomes The Road to No Place."
