A Peek into Summers County’s Past: Alderson’s 4th of July Celebration

In the 1960s and ’70s, Alderson had some big names perform for their concert series. To name a few; Tex Ritter and the Boll Weevils, Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, Kitty Wells, Bobby Wright, Johnny Wright, Bill Phillips, Ruby Wright and The Tenn. Mt. Boys, Johnny Russell and The Heckels, Roy Drusky & The Loners and Penny DeHaven, Patti Powell and many others.

After Grandad passed in 2018, Mom and I went through his things and found almost every year the 4th of July book the town has put out since 1963 each year. And the posters you see here (the reason they are in such bad condition is he had them tacked up on the wall on the back of his barn in Talcott).

It was under a shed roof but the sides were open and they were exposed to the elements. Somewhere in my collection, we have a ticket stub for the Kitty Wells and one for the Tex Ritter concert. Just to show you I have always been a “local history nerd,” I took the Tex Ritter poster, the book he had autographed and his ticket stub to my mass media class in high school to do a presentation on them in 2002.

The black and white photo is of Granddad “Uncle Jake” standing beside the Traviln Hillbillies truck in 1969. The poster you see on the passenger door is advertising the Kitty Wells concert. He would get these posters and place them on the truck to advertise for the 4th committee during the parade. After it was over he would remove them and tack them up on the wall of the barn. That is how we have managed to save seven of these rare posters.

Look at the price for admission to Kitty Wells, Johnny Wright, Bill Phillips, Bobby Wright, Ruby Wright & The Tenn. Mt. Boys show, adults were $1.50 in advance or $2 at the gate and children under 13 were only 50 cents. Things sure have changed since then. 

Thankfully the Tex Ritter poster is still in good condition. I intend to frame them each under plexiglass to preserve them for future generations. In all of my years of collecting, dealing in antiques and attending auctions I have never seen another one of these posters.