HISTORY OF THE LAKE CITY LIONS CLUB
Note: Scanned documents are underlined and can be viewed by clicking on the links.
The Lake City Lions Club was organized on December 9th 1946. The first organization report was issued the following day with 12 members, and by completion on January 13th 1947 the club had 41 members and 1 transfer member.
Our sponsoring club was the Macclenny Lions Club. Charter night was held on Tuesday January 14th 1947 at the Robert Arnold Restaurant located at 900 S. Marion. The 1947 committee appointments and road sign photograph are also included as part of the founding documents
Shortly after the club was founded, the members embarked on a major project - a swimming pool for the entire community. Members raised money through various events. The major fund raiser was the annual Tobacco Queen Contest. Other fund raisers were broom sales, a Chicken Bar-B-Q as well as solicited donations from local businesses and individuals. All members participated and by the mid fifties the pool in Young's Park, was opened to the public. Club members who were on the building committee included J.B.Hiers, I.I.Moody, X.L.Lindsey, Art Butler, George Etheridge and others. The pool did business as the Youngs Park Recreation Center, Inc. An audit report from 1958 makes interesting reading as to the activity of the pool.
In 1961 the club sponsored the first of many dances in conjunction with the Tobaccco Queen Contest, Again donations were received from various sources. Robert R. Pedlow Jr. was the Club President when the first Tobacco Ball was held. The Top Hats Dance Orchestra provided the music for that first ball. Ticket prices for the first four Tobacco Balls were $5.00 per couple, but were raised to $7.50 for the fifth annual ball. Other providers of dance music were the Al Murphy orchestra and the Charlie Spivack orchestra. Several photographs from the annual tobacco balls are shown on the hosting website. The Reporter picture show's Lion President Pedlow at that first Tobaaco Ball in 1961 together with District Governor Finley. The four Lions in the next photograph are (L.to R.) Paul Geibeig, I.I Moody, Bob Dobelstein, and Paul Fike. These gentlemen were Club Presidents from 1962 thru' 1966. They were joined in the next photograph by the Tobacco Queen. Several Lions in the photograph of the 13th Annual Tobacco Ball have been identified. They are back row (L to R),Theo Kirby second guy, and George Etheridge third guy. Front row (L to R) Jimmy Tyson is first, and Murray Hagen is fourth, If any one can identify others, please advise the webmaster, In the final photograph the Tobacco Queen from earlier picture is joined by Lou Schwartz. By 1972 the club was also sponsoring a Valentine's Dance each year, preparations for which were published in the Reporter.
Sales of candy for Halloween and Christmas, and light bulbs were fund raisers in the seventies. Club members were split into teams of eight and assigned their sales territories.
More to come...
