Vicinity Items

A mammoth pleasure excursion and basket picnic has been arranged to run from Streator to Dayton on Tuesday, Aug. 18^th. For three years similar excursions have left there, and this promises to be the most enjoyable of all. Dayton’s beautiful scenery, fine shade, and unequaled reputation as a pleasure resort is unsurpassed, and Streator people, having no such beautiful or romantic camping out places near their city, have to come this way for such beneficial pleasures.¹

A basket picnic was a popular event to raise money for charity. The women prepared picnic lunches in beautifully decorated baskets, filling them with their own personal culinary specialties. At the auction, all the baskets were anonymous, although it is possible that some husbands or beaux may have received a hint as to the identity of a desirable one. As the auction proceeded the men and boys competed to bid on baskets, and the winner would not only get the basket, but would share the lunch with the lady who created it.

1. The Ottawa Free Trader, August 1, 1885, p. 8, col. 4