Small Town Treasures
By Sue McFarland
(The 48th Annual Conway Festival of the Hills celebrates “Conway’s Small Town Treasures” on Sunday, October 4th, 2009)
Some of our greatest historical and artistic treasures we place in museums; others, we take for walks. – Roger Caras
What is a treasure? And how is one successful in finding treasure? In the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, the main character Indiana Jones, treasure hunter and archaeologist, is on a quest for the Holy Grail. In Judeo-Christian mythology the Holy Grail was a wine cup used by Jesus, a religious figure and member of the working class. The grail is rumored to be imbued with great power, including bestowing the gift of immortality on anyone who drinks from it. During the climax of the film Indiana is challenged to pick out the Holy Grail from a host of wine cups. As his eyes can the assortment of cups (bejeweled, silver, gold, glass, porcelain) they come to rest on a simple clay form and he states “…there’s the cup of a carpenter.” Needless to say his guess is correct and Indiana escapes with the prize. This scene illustrates the most important quality of a successful treasure hunter- you have to be able to recognize the treasure when you find it!
Field Memorial Library (photo by Michele Turre)
In Conway there are many treasures- the swimming pool, the Festival of the Hills, and the Field Memorial Library to name a few. These are the jewel encrusted cups easily recognized by all. But it’s the “clay cup” treasures of Conway that make it unique among all the other small towns.
In a small town, information is one of the most important treasures. So what if treasure hunters are too far out to access high speed internet? The best small town search engine is the human Google at the general store. Yes, it’s important to know what’s happening outside of town borders, but no newspaper is going to know where the favorite snowmobile trail is blocked by dead fall or what day the Firemen’s pancake breakfast is this year. Additionally, in this microcosm of a Wal-Mart, the store carries everything treasure hunters are sure to run out of. Along with the canned cranberry sauce, heavy cream, light bulbs and whiffle balls, treasure hunters know where to find the tubs of red worm bait in the milk cooler.
Sometimes treasures are fleeting. Treasure hunters recognize when they’re in the right place at the right time. The true treasure hunter knows the exact spot on the right street for the best view of the dueling Fourth of July fireworks that bloom magically from surrounding hillsides. The successful treasure hunter can make the call when the perfect snowstorm hits and they can slap on skis and schuss down Cricket Hill to Whately Road before the plows scrape the conditions away.
Treasures can be special places. For older treasure hunters it’s a place like the local tap room where they can order pizza on a Sunday evening and teach kids the concepts of geometry, physics and bar etiquette while playing pool during the wait. (The angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection; kinetic energy can be transferred from one object to another; do not place Shirley Temples on the rail of the pool table.) Really good treasure hunters have discovered the frosted mugs that are always stashed in the hallway refrigerator. For young treasure hunters it’s the rite of passage when parents deem they’re old enought o spend the summer swimming at Murphy’s Hole.
Treasure hunters are acutely aware of the nature of a place. They know the wet paw prints on the asphalt road belong to a family of foxes that make their way between property lines down to the ball field every summer evening between fix and six. Treasure hunters know the wading heron reclaims his morning swim at the Conway pool in September after all the kids have gone back to school.
Treasure hunters know the most precious of treasures are often the things overlooked and discarded by others. So let us toast small town treasures and the treasure hunters who search for them- just make my parting glass out of clay.
