Plenty for all at Ragersville Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social

Three scoops of black cherry ice cream at 150 calories each, plus a dollop of strawberry topping at 200 calories, add a handful of nuts – but no one was counting calories in any way, shape or form at the annual Ragersville Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social June 26. The old schoolhouse, log cabin, cheese house replica, and museum, all operated by the Ragersville Historical Society, were also open.

"This is an annual event. I've been coming every year," said John Young. "How much ice cream have I eaten? Today they accuse me of having had three sundaes, but I've only had two."

Young paused as he took another spoonful of his sundae. "This is to honor our dairy farmers and the people from our community. People just give a donation. This is a wonderful community around here; I've got to tell you that."

E.J. Youngen, sitting beside Young at the table, agreed. "This is all right. We need this kind of event, and they picked a good day. I've only had one bowl of ice cream."

The others laughed as they insisted that Youngen was on his second, not first bowl.

Jim Doll, who lives south of Ragersville, had already finished off his second sundae.

"I pass through here every day, so I stopped in," commented Doll, as he leaned back in his chair and stretched. "They were serving butter pecan, cherry, and vanilla, from Smith Dairy. It was all good. I had strawberry topping twice."

A moment later, Sharon Hisrich, who is Young's daughter and was helping to serve guests, brought over a fresh sundae and sat it in front of her father. "Go ahead, Dad," she said. "I'll eat whatever you don't want."

Joe Christner lives on Ragersville Road, and he, his wife, Nina, and several friends from Wayne County stopped by the social. He commented that his chocolate chip and strawberry sundae was "delicious."

"We had a nice time, and I got to see stuff that we normally just drive by. I've never been in the historical society buildings before. I learned things about Ragersville I did not know," admitted Christner. "I picked up a flyer for the car show in July, so I intend to be here for that, too."

"This ice cream social raises funds so we can keep having the museum and the buildings here, so other generations can enjoy it, and learn about Ragersville, just like I did today," he said. "(In the museum) I saw the skeleton of the infamous Jeff Davis. That was interesting to me; I did not realize that he was hung in Ragersville, and that it was named Hangtown for awhile. There is good and bad in our history, just like any small American town."

Ray Hisrich lives nearby, and is the president of the Ragersville Historical Society. He paused for a moment to recall the history of the event.

"I think the ice cream social started in the early 1980s. We had it at the old schoolhouse. When we added the church, and then added on the pavilion, we really got it going. Today we had more people than ever. We never care what the numbers are, but there were least a few hundred, and people came and went. We had a spelling bee for kids and adults in the schoolhouse at 1:30. We had a 92-year-old lady, Bernice Yakely, who won last year and took runner up this year. This started out as a little thing and has grown.

"We're open on Sundays from 1 to 4. We have good community support. It is all community based, and everything we have is given by our community, all of the artifacts, and any money that comes in."

Hisrich motioned toward those gathered around the tables.

"There are all kinds of stories here," he noted, and then grinned slyly before adding, "And most of them are true."