Carnival, music, bingo and more for Old Settlers Reunion

After a one year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Wood County Old Settlers Reunion comes alive this week at Jim Hogg City Park in Quitman.

The three-day affair begins Thursday and ends Saturday night with a special “Meet the Bulldogs” program followed by a concert by up and coming country music star Bobby Irwin, a 2021 Quitman graduate.

This year, midway games and rides provided by Sunshine Carnivals from Gilmer will be set up in the front parking lot.

Local vendors will be set up throughout the park each night. The popular Quitman-Lake Fork Kiwanis Club Bingo table will be set up at the new outdoor basketball court and will offer prizes and cash each night from 7 until 9 p.m.

The entertainment under the pavilion will begin Thursday at 7 p.m. with the nostalgic performance of rock and country music classics by Dale “The C” Cummings. Cummings, who is originally from Quitman and now resides in the Winnsboro area, has been a reunion staple for the past few years. Cummings has been on music venues and shows from Branson, Missouri, to Arkansas, Louisiana and myriad oprys throughout Texas. He has played with name acts from The Platters to Eddy Raven, Dan Seals, Don Williams and has sung at the Dallas World Trade Center.

Friday night will be alive with the bluegrass and gospel sounds of identical twins Katy Lou and Penny Lea Clark from Kilgore. The sisters are known as The Purple Hulls, and they have thrilled crowds from East Texas to the hills of Tennessee. The sisters were born to play and sing music together. They were raised on a working family farm near Kilgore. The Purple Hulls play an acoustic brand of bluegrass and gospel music.

The Purple Hulls are popular at major bluegrass shows and festivals across the country where they showcase their instrument playing and beautiful harmonies. They not only tour with various country music artists, but they are talented song writers who write for Nashville’s largest publishing company, Sony.

Quitman’s own Bobby Irwin and his band will hit the stage Saturday night at 7 p.m. after a special “Meet the Bulldogs” where QHS fall sports athletes will be introduced. Irwin has already received many accolades for his Texas music talents. He regularly plays events and clubs throughout Texas.

Irwin’s latest honor was receiving first place at the Texas State FFA Convention talent competition in front of an excited FFA crowd of over 15,000 delegates. Irwin also recently won the TXM Records Texas Troubadour Singer and Songwriter contest against 60 other regional acts and is one of the youngest persons to win the contest.

The first Old Settlers Reunion was held in 1900 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the founding of Wood County. The 1900 and 1901 reunions were held on the courthouse lawn.

Subsequent reunions were held on a seven-acre plot south of the courthouse which is now Jim Hogg City Park. The original lease agreement was $1 cash for 50 years with a right of renewal of the lease for another 50 years.

The Old Settlers Association later donated land the land for a park to the state with the provision the land would belong to the reunion organization one week of each year. The state later handed over the park to the City of Quitman.

Since that first reunion, the event has been held each year with the exception of last year and for two years during World War Two.