Parties!
The Mary-Etta party rooms were huge. The two rooms, the Amber Room and the Gold Room, were connected by two sets of double doors, which could be closed to accommodate two separate events, or left open for one big party. The rooms were accessed by climbing up four or five steps that rose from the hotel lobby. Throughout the year, service clubs such as Rotary and Lions Club met once a week for lunch. By the time I was twelve, I helped serve most of the noon luncheons during the summer months. I believe it was the Lions Club men who sang at every meeting before we served them. I remember standing with the other waitresses just inside the kitchen door, balancing an oval, metal tray of filled dinner plates, until we heard the strains of "Waiter, waiter, waiter, won't you wait on me?" That was our cue to enter the Amber Room to serve the men who were waiting for their food.
The party rooms were often used for wedding receptions, proms, and other teen dances. I remember lying in bed on sweltering summer nights with my bedroom window open, listening to the sounds of loud music blaring from the party rooms below. There came a point, though, when Mom and Dad no longer allowed teen dances because of the potential for drug use and alcohol abuse, fights, and even attempted bathroom abortions.
For many years, the Mary-Etta offered a once-a-month Sunday Smorgasbord. The cooks always outdid themselves for this event. The salad table contained a magnificent smoked salmon, pickled herring, relish trays, and numerous salads designed to please every palate. The cooks wore chefs' hats for the occasion, and stood behind the main serving table to cut and serve several choices of entrees and potatoes. Another table offered an array of delicious desserts and homemade pies, some with four inches of merengue. Waitresses served drinks and cleared the tables efficiently to make room for more diners. When we moved to the Mary-Etta, the first Smorgasbord fell on Mother's Day, which was undoubtedly the biggest day of the year. Fortunately, the cooks and other staff knew exactly what to do, but Mom and Dad were understandably nervous about it. In fact, Mom found a family to take us kids with them to church and Sunday School, so we were out of the way for the morning. (I remember sitting in the back of the church that we would soon consider ours; I was not especially engaged in the service, because we were used to sitting closer to the front where we could see and hear what was happening in the worship service.)
The Gold Room was bright and airy, with floor-to-ceiling windows all along the east side of the room. The draperies were disintegrating after years of hanging in the sunny windows, so Mom purchased yards and yards of gold burlap, the cheapest heavy fabric available, and set up her sewing machine in the Gold Room one week during the summer so she could construct new draperies. The Gold Room had beautiful marble mosaic tile floors and mammoth Art Deco light fixtures. It was truly a showplace, even with burlap curtains.
The Amber Room was a larger, darker room, with only two smaller west windows, an aging hardwood floor, a piano, and a stage on the west side of the room. When it wasn't being used for meetings or parties, Dan, Laura, and I, along with several of our friends, would often commandeer the stage for our own productions. I was able to take piano lessons for the first time, too, because we finally had access to a piano for me to use for practice.
We loved to roller skate with our friends in the party rooms. It was bigger and better than any roller skating rink. Our skates were the metal, clip-on kind that had to be tightened onto our shoes with skate keys that dangled from strings hung around our necks. I remember the change in sound and sensation when our skates moved from the Gold Room's marble floor to the wood floor in the Amber Room. The wood floor in front of the stage had become uneven due to its age, providing additional challenge as we turned the corner and skated across that end of the Amber Room. Dan and his friends raced around the rooms, each trying to outdo the other with their exhibitions of speed. I worked more on technique, learning to skate backwards proficiently.
Dad was an avid hunter. Our whole family often accompanied him to hunt for ducks, geese, pheasant, quail, rabbits, or even squirrels. However, he and Mom always left us kids at home with a babysitter when they went to the ranch near Gordon for deer hunting. Many years, during the winter, Mom and Dad would invite friends and acquaintances to a wild game feed in the Amber Room. Everyone who hunted would bring some kind of wild game, along with pot-luck side dishes to share with the group.
Everyone in our family helped move chairs and tables to accommodate all kinds of events. Moving and setting up those heavy, old eight-foot folding tables was an excellent weight-lifting activity. On the weekend after Thanksgiving, we all pitched in to decorate the party rooms and the rest of the hotel for Christmas. Sometimes, we invited friends over to help, making it into a party for all of us, complete with hot chocolate and cookies or popcorn. It's great fun hanging yards of metallic roping, and decorating five or six Christmas trees, when the job is shared with lots of people. Taking down holiday decorations was a necessary chore usually accomplished, by our family alone, on a dreary New Year's afternoon.
The Mary-Etta party rooms were well-used by most of the people who lived in Fairbury, but they were used even more by my family. At the time, we didn't realize just how much we appreciated the party rooms. Now, when I attend a meeting or wedding reception, I find myself comparing the accommodations and service to that of the Mary-Etta. Somehow, the current venues often come up short. In my memory, the Hotel Mary-Etta provided the best.
The party rooms were often used for wedding receptions, proms, and other teen dances. I remember lying in bed on sweltering summer nights with my bedroom window open, listening to the sounds of loud music blaring from the party rooms below. There came a point, though, when Mom and Dad no longer allowed teen dances because of the potential for drug use and alcohol abuse, fights, and even attempted bathroom abortions.
For many years, the Mary-Etta offered a once-a-month Sunday Smorgasbord. The cooks always outdid themselves for this event. The salad table contained a magnificent smoked salmon, pickled herring, relish trays, and numerous salads designed to please every palate. The cooks wore chefs' hats for the occasion, and stood behind the main serving table to cut and serve several choices of entrees and potatoes. Another table offered an array of delicious desserts and homemade pies, some with four inches of merengue. Waitresses served drinks and cleared the tables efficiently to make room for more diners. When we moved to the Mary-Etta, the first Smorgasbord fell on Mother's Day, which was undoubtedly the biggest day of the year. Fortunately, the cooks and other staff knew exactly what to do, but Mom and Dad were understandably nervous about it. In fact, Mom found a family to take us kids with them to church and Sunday School, so we were out of the way for the morning. (I remember sitting in the back of the church that we would soon consider ours; I was not especially engaged in the service, because we were used to sitting closer to the front where we could see and hear what was happening in the worship service.)
The Gold Room was bright and airy, with floor-to-ceiling windows all along the east side of the room. The draperies were disintegrating after years of hanging in the sunny windows, so Mom purchased yards and yards of gold burlap, the cheapest heavy fabric available, and set up her sewing machine in the Gold Room one week during the summer so she could construct new draperies. The Gold Room had beautiful marble mosaic tile floors and mammoth Art Deco light fixtures. It was truly a showplace, even with burlap curtains.
The Amber Room was a larger, darker room, with only two smaller west windows, an aging hardwood floor, a piano, and a stage on the west side of the room. When it wasn't being used for meetings or parties, Dan, Laura, and I, along with several of our friends, would often commandeer the stage for our own productions. I was able to take piano lessons for the first time, too, because we finally had access to a piano for me to use for practice.
We loved to roller skate with our friends in the party rooms. It was bigger and better than any roller skating rink. Our skates were the metal, clip-on kind that had to be tightened onto our shoes with skate keys that dangled from strings hung around our necks. I remember the change in sound and sensation when our skates moved from the Gold Room's marble floor to the wood floor in the Amber Room. The wood floor in front of the stage had become uneven due to its age, providing additional challenge as we turned the corner and skated across that end of the Amber Room. Dan and his friends raced around the rooms, each trying to outdo the other with their exhibitions of speed. I worked more on technique, learning to skate backwards proficiently.
Dad was an avid hunter. Our whole family often accompanied him to hunt for ducks, geese, pheasant, quail, rabbits, or even squirrels. However, he and Mom always left us kids at home with a babysitter when they went to the ranch near Gordon for deer hunting. Many years, during the winter, Mom and Dad would invite friends and acquaintances to a wild game feed in the Amber Room. Everyone who hunted would bring some kind of wild game, along with pot-luck side dishes to share with the group.
Everyone in our family helped move chairs and tables to accommodate all kinds of events. Moving and setting up those heavy, old eight-foot folding tables was an excellent weight-lifting activity. On the weekend after Thanksgiving, we all pitched in to decorate the party rooms and the rest of the hotel for Christmas. Sometimes, we invited friends over to help, making it into a party for all of us, complete with hot chocolate and cookies or popcorn. It's great fun hanging yards of metallic roping, and decorating five or six Christmas trees, when the job is shared with lots of people. Taking down holiday decorations was a necessary chore usually accomplished, by our family alone, on a dreary New Year's afternoon.
The Mary-Etta party rooms were well-used by most of the people who lived in Fairbury, but they were used even more by my family. At the time, we didn't realize just how much we appreciated the party rooms. Now, when I attend a meeting or wedding reception, I find myself comparing the accommodations and service to that of the Mary-Etta. Somehow, the current venues often come up short. In my memory, the Hotel Mary-Etta provided the best.
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