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Showing posts from April, 2014

Garbage Day

Although Oakville, like the rest of Garrett County, was bitterly cold, crowds of people lined the streets near the Governor's Mansion.  It was December 26th and whole families had traveled into town, some from as far as 20 miles away, to celebrate Garbage Day.  Once a year on the day after Christmas (which the English call 'Boxing Day'), the Ancient Order of Garbagemen (AOOG) donned their traditional gray overalls, jackets and stocking hats.   Once a year, the Garbagemen practiced their traditional arts.  After larding its axles and touching up its paint, an actual antique garbage truck, the only known example within 500 miles, was carefully pulled from the Garbage Museum.  A team of six chestnut mares was harnessed to the swingle-tree on the front.  At dawn, they began the ten-mile journey all the way to the Governor's Mansion.      Old people came out to see the truck as it rolled along, smiling and waving at the Garbagemen, riding the sideboards and backboards in the