The Romeo Peach Festival is four weeks away. You know what that means. For this month, we will once again cover one past Peach Queen each week until August 29, when the festivities began.
Let's start with Ruth Sheardy - one of the earliest Peach Queens. In 1934, the 19-year-old from Lake Orion was crowned with that title. This is a case where we don't know what made the judges select Ruth. The only two things that we can go off on are descriptions of her looks and the judges themselves. The August 22, 1934 issue of The Romeo Observer recounted that she was slender, blonde, five feet and five inches tall; wore "a black formal dress and black shoes, set off with a white bracelet, ring and necklace;" and had blue eyes.
Moreover, the names of the judges were listed in that same edition. They were H.W. McCullough, a Detroit jewelry designer; Lee Redman, a well-known portrait photographer; and John S. Coppin, an artist and caricaturist. It's safe to conlucde that Ruth's looks and how she dressed herself in the competition were enough for her to win the Peach Queen title.
Like in the years prior, Ruth carried out her duties by representing local peach harvests as well as bringing attention to the orchards and the Peach Festival no matter how big or small the audience was. She and her maids of honor gave peaches to children at the Detroit Receiving Hospital, and she even traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Also, her coronation was aired on radio over the National Broadcasting system through the courtesy of the National Farm and Home Hour.
1934 was one of the most significant years for the Peach Festival because of what happened prior. On the afternoon of Thursday, August 2, a "tornado" wreaked havoc on the village. There was rain, hail, and a 100-mile gale. No person was killed, but there was plenty of property damage caused by the storm. These included destroyed crops, uprooted trees, smashed windows of store fronts along Main Street, demolished barns, and unroofed churches. The most significant of this damage belonged to the First Methodist Church (today, it's known as the Romeo United Methodist Church). The south side of the edifice's roof was removed, and its 165-foot steeple was moved. As a result, hundreds of bricks were loosened in the foundation. A photograph was taken of the steeple after the storm occurred. It can be seen below.
For safety reasons, the spire was removed, thus altering the look of the First Methodist Church ever since.
Romeo wasn't the only place in which that storm came through. Northern Oakland County and much of Macomb County also experienced damage. This included Washington Township; Mount Clemens; Davis; Rochester Hills; and Lake Orion - Ruth Sheardy's hometown.
The people in Romeo went without electricity and telephone lines for days. It didn't help that this was also during the Great Depression, so things were likely tough for them already.
Luckily, the Peach Festival was weeks away. Ruth was declared Peach Queen just two weeks after the event, and people were certainly excited for the festivities despite the hardships. To compensate, the festival's organizing committee circulated wooden "nickels" good in any local stores free of charge during the event days. This got the attention of the Chase National Bank, who wanted to acquire some of those nickels as part of their collection of moneys of the world. The Romeo Community Archives houses the letters the bank sent regarding the wooden money in the Romeo Peach Festival Collection.
There's a reason why the Romeo "tornado" of 1934 still gets talked about 90 years later. It demonstrated the Romeo Peach Festival's communal and courageous spirit like no other. In addition, it managed to get the town more national attention. Despite all the tragedy, people still looked out for each other and wanted to have fun.
To learn more about the 1934 storm, you can come to the "The Romeo Tornado of 1934" presentation at the Romeo District Library Kezar Branch on Thursday, August 8 at 6pm. It will be hosted by Emily Malek - our archivist - and Larry Sobczak - editor of The Record.
In the meantime, you can learn more about Ruth Sheardy, other Peach Queens, and the Romeo Peach Festival in general by locating the Romeo Peach Festival Collection here and/or contacting the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org to see said collection in person.
Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Romeo Peach Festival Collection, 1934