trout's mailbag: The Schuylkill Tripartite

             

Dear Mr. Trout:

I have heard the term “Schuylkill Tripartite” but do not know what it means? Do you? I thought it has something to do with toppings placed on a cheeseburger at Renningers Market.

   D.K.

  North of the Mountain

                                             

Dear D.K.:

The Schuylkill Tripartite is a rural legend that has been around for decades. 

It refers to one individual sweeping three of the major events held in Schuylkill County within one calendar year. 

It makes no difference if the calendar is Gregorian, Julian or Chinese.

 A hat trick to some, a triple crown to others, but the winner must win three.

  Legend has it that a county woman during the
 second world war gave birth to the new year baby
 while the father of the child was far away in the
Pacific on his way to Bora Bora. He was an 
anonymous sailor from Dauphin County, she was a
riveter at Eastern Steel.  They hooked up after a few 
drinks at the Circle Bar one lonely April night in 1942
 while the Andrews Sisters played on the juke box, if
 you really want to know.

The legend continued with her winning the Pottsville Cruise in a 1931 Opel but this victory was shrouded in controversy as  by the end of 1942 half of the U.S. automobiles were issued an “A sticker” which allowed only four gallons of gas per week.  This limited the number of cars in the cruise that year to only five, all driven by females as the Cruise regulars all joined the navy and were somewhere in the Pacific, near Bora Bora. Four of the drivers got lost along the way. Many criticized the winner for driving a german car, resulting in cabbage being hurled towards her (cabbage was called victory lettuce back then). This caused the new year baby, in the car seat, to get really fussy.

To make amends, she organized the County’s World War II Rubber Drive and she, by herself, collected one ton of old tires, rubber bands,  raincoats, rubber duckies, teethers, garden hoses, whoopee cushions, goulashes, rubber chickens, koosh balls, bathing caps, hot water bottles, balloons shaped like animals and rubber gloves (not necessarily in that order).  This was all done single-handedly, mind you, as she was holding the new year baby the entire time in her right arm.  That year, Schuylkill County collected more than any other county in the entire United States that year thanks to her. 

The Historical Society has photographs of the large pile of whoopee cushions being bundled for transport at the Union Station.  Every single whoopee cushion in the county was donated during this patriotic endeavor and 1943 will be forever remembered as the County's "quiet year."

After the Rubber Drive ended, in front of the Capitol Theatre and in front of the heap of collected rubber, Mayor Claude E. Lord Boulevard presented the key to the city to her while she was nursing her prize-winning baby. His Honor announced that that she was the Tripartite Champion of the county for winning the new year baby contest, the cruise and the Rubber Drive (as well as possibly winning the second world war too boot). This is the first time the term was supposedly used.

"For evermore no married woman nor married man will ever win the New Year Baby Contest" according to Mayor Boulevard’s proclaimed prophecy; a prophecy which has come true now for over seventy years.

 Any resentment over her driving the Opel during the Cruise soon vanished as the crowds gave her a thunderous applause, causing the New Year Baby to get really fussy. The Third Brigade Band sprang into action, playing a slow lullaby which caused the crowd, the baby, the Mayor and the Tripartite Champion (not necessarily in that order) to fall into a deep sleep. They did not wake up until the war was over or.... so the legend goes.

Over the years the legend has the Tripartite Champion winning the county Spelling Bee, the Shenandoah Kielbossi eating contest, the Hegins Pigeon Shoot, the Girardville Bar Crawl, the Klingerstown Greased Pig contest, the Schuylkill Haven fishing rodeo or the Pottsville Republican Recipe Contest. 

Some contestants have come close, with some winning two events. In 1957 one lucky teen won the New Year Baby Contest and the Spelling Bee, but she came in a disappointing third in the Soap Box Derby due to trouble with the baby seat. 

 I hope this answers your question.

Sincerely,

Trout