Looking through the current exhibit at the Historical Museum, I was struck by the fact that with all the changes in town over time, there are some events that have spanned the years. One that comes to mind is the Rochester Boat Race on Memorial Day that began in 1934. Another is the annual clam bake. A third is the continued existence of Boy Scout Troop 31. These three events all share a common element.
The boat race started by Jim Hartley for his 4H group was later sponsored by the Rochester Brotherhood. This was the same organization that held the annual clam bake and sponsored Troop 31 when it separated from Troop 30.
The Rochester Men’s Brotherhood was a non-denominational group begun in the 1950’s that met in the First Congregational Church Hall. They worked to help townspeople who were going through hard times. They planned community events in conjunction with the Grange.
When the Brotherhood disbanded after 15- 20 yrs., the Fire Association, in many ways became the “new brotherhood”. They took over planning and putting on the annual clambake, stepped in to make sure that the boat race continued, and joined with the Rochester Grange to sponsor Boy Scout Troop 31.
When you look back through town history, you also see members of the Fire Department and Association active in the various town celebrations, fielding a baseball team, being on one end of a tug of war or putting on a muster. And, of course, then there’s Donkey Baseball (cue the picture of the donkey in a baseball helmet).
Duffy Clapp, former fire chief, remembered what it was like to participate in such a game. He was involved in hiring a traveling company. They brought the donkeys (nice, that you didn’t need to bring your own). The rules of the game had the pitcher and catcher on their own two feet. The basemen were on donkeys but could get off to field a ball but then they had to climb back into the saddle. The pitcher had to stay in a defined box.
What Duffy remembered most was that the donkeys were trained to take off when the batter leaned to hit the ball and then to stop short on the way around the bases, sending the rider over its head and onto the ground. Maury Gifford and Freddie Randall also took part.
Dave Watling is sure that he heard of donkey basketball being played at the Women’s Club, but so far no one has come forward to agree with him.
By Connie Eshbach
