Spring Festival and Lilacs

It was a balmy 70 degrees this afternoon when I arrived home. I walked into the back yard and the perfumed scent of lilacs filled the air. It quickly took me back to my elementary school days and Rees Elementary School. (This is not a picture from my Spring Festival...I'm really hoping my mom has a few pictures.)

I'm not sure when school children began celebrating spring by dancing in schoolyards, their teachers leading them, often awkwardly, through the steps, their proud parents gathered round, snapping pictures and clapping along. It is a peculiar urban rite -- called Spring Festival in Nebo School District -- that has been around, it seems, for as long as the public school system itself.

My memories, of course, are from the spring years of 1956 - 1962. Flowers were actually picked from every neighborhood yard, placed in very ordinary containers, and brought to the school to line the auditorium. The sweet smell of lilacs will always remind me of those childhood days. I remember my kindergarten class doing the Hokey-Pokey , I think my 4th grade class did the Maypole, and by sixth grade we were coordinated enough to do the Jitterbug.

When I was a student teacher, in the spring of 1972, the tradition still continued. I was in Santaquin, Utah for my 2 semester of training. My cooperating teacher was the director of the Spring Festival. The first day I went into the classroom her husband had a heart attack and I had to quickly step up to the plate to see that the dancing steps were ready to go for the big event. Oh what an experience!

I have now been teaching for 30 years...there are no more Spring Festivals. Now our emphasis is on accountability and assessment, it has become very hard, in the spring, to put on an event like this. May and June are testing months at our year round school ~ no time for fun like DANCING.

What a shame!The Spring Festival was a big celebration, with a different theme every year. It was special. It really was. Now I just have the smell of spring lilacs keep that memory alive for me.