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Gleason Presents
Minerals Day 2017
Jim Johnson
GleasonOnline.com
Minerals Day 2017 Registration Desk
On Friday,
October 6th the the Gleason Downtown Revitalization Committee (GDRC),
along with the full complement of Gleason Clay companies (Gleason Clay Company,
Old Hickory Clay Company, Lhoist/Spinks Clay Company,
and Imerys/K-T Clay Company) hosted the Third Annual Minerals Day at
Mike Snider Park.
It is fitting that this event was again held in Gleason as
the City of Gleason has been a major producer of clay since it was first
discovered in 1926 on the W.R. Crawford farm two miles west of Gleason.
Famous for its generous deposits of Ball Clay, Gleason is generally viewed
as the Ball Clay Capital of the Nation.
Other Sponsors included
Gleason Lumber Company, Meridian Brick, KR Trucking, Simply Southern
Café and Catering, Southern Printing N’ Graphics, K&D Designs
(Kenneth & Debbie Byrd), Earthen Vessels Pottery & Bistro,
Sims and Sons Trucking, Tri State Truck, Power Equipment, Scott
Equipment Co., Thompson Machinery CAT, Pepsi, Union City Forklift,
Komatsu Machinery, Volvo Machines, and the Bank of Gleason.
Minerals Day 2017 began at 10:00 am and
lasted until 2:00 pm. Upon arrival, all registrants were encouraged to sign up for
drawings for a wide variety of door prizes provided by Minerals Day vendors.
Winners were announced throughout the day by Brent Eugley of
Imerys/K-T Clay Co.
Large numbers of those in attendance commented
on the fact the Mike Snider Park was a beautiful venue for this
event, providing for ample parking, plenty of room for vendors to set up
their booths, a large tent that allowed space for eating as well as
mineral-related educational presentations. Adding to the ambiance of the setting, the weather was excellent with
blue skies and sunshine throughout the day.
Chilled canned drinks were abundantly
available, iced down in the bucket for a Wheel Loader. Some of the biggest
and juiciest hotdogs one could imagine were grilled and hand wrapped on site
by the owners and crew of Simply Southern Cafe.
Chips, snow cones, popcorn, and cotton
candy were also provided by other businesses.
There was also an abundance of valuable and
highly sought after door prizes that included fine pottery pieces hand made by Mr.
Jim Keeling of Earthen Vessels and Pottery, numerous scientific calculators
and electronic
tablets, custom made for school use, numerous toy
replicas of equipment used in the mining industry, caps, coolers, folding
chairs and backpacks donated by sponsors and participating businesses, as
well as cash prizes donated by the Bank of Gleason.
Brent Eugley of
Imerys/K-T Clay announces door prize winners
Many seemed to enjoy watching Mr. Jim
Keeling making some beautiful pottery items from ball clay mined right here
in Gleason in the
Earthen Vessels
Pottery booth.
Mr. Jim Keeling shows how to make beautiful pottery with
Gleason Ball Clay
Along with the great setting, good weather,
door prizes, free food and other giveaways, the major focus of Minerals Day
2017 was on its educational component, designed
to help
school age children develop an increased awareness of
the role that the clay industry has played in enhancing the Gleason
community over the years and help them understand the importance of clay and
associated
minerals to the City of Gleason as well as in other
cities, towns, and states throughout the country.
Students inspect some heavy mining equipment
This educational component consisted of
multiple clay mine tours as well as
mining-and heavy equipment related presentations, that were enhanced
by the presence of excavators, dozers, an articulated truck, and the
world famous "Gleason Shredder" being on site.
Students watch a minerals-related Video Presentation
If one can assess the the success of an event
such as this in terms of overall attendance, the number and range of schools
that bussed students in to attend this event, the overall number of students
who participated and the unsolicited very positive feedback given by those
who attended, by all accounts this Third Annual Minerals Day was a
huge success.
Here it can be noted that there was just over 600 middle and
high school students in attendance that
were bussed in from Weakley and Henry County schools. There were 11
school busses from these two counties that were observed in the parking lot
at one time. Total attendance was approximately 1,000 people.
The City of Gleason has reason to be very
proud of the contribution that the clay industry has made to the local
community over the years and of those clay companies that are based in
Gleason and who have made this Third Minerals Day possible.
Gleason Clay Companies - Minerals
Day 2017
[Imerys/K-T Clay Company; Gleason Clay Company; Lhoist/Spinks
Clay Company; Old Hickory Clay Company] |
