Hendrickson sisters, ca. 1940. Left to right: Viola, Effie, Ethel, Laura, Julia, Nina, Della, Amy.
On July 3, for decades, this family of sisters was cooking and baking up a storm, getting ready for the annual Hendrickson July 4 picnic. I remember attending Fourth of July picnics with the Hendrickson clan at the homes of almost every one of them.
It was always a feast. Most impressive was the table of assorted pies for dessert—fruit pies and cream pies and lemon merinque—accompanied by ice cream from a big brown paper canister. There was coffee and lemonade, no liquor. We were Baptists.
For many years, the lemonade was made with real lemons, cut in half and squeezed, the juice combined with water and sugar in a big cold crock brought up from a cool cellar or basement.
Lawrence Bergfalk, Ethel's husband, was sought out by the kids to blow up firecrackers. He always had some, and he always had a new trick to demonstrate...carving whistles from willow branches, a visual trick of some sort (no cards), or an animal sound produced in an ingenious way. Kids and adults also played softball and croquet and Scrabble.
Every family brought a dish for the main course plus dessert, usually pie. For women who married into the family, deciding what to make and bring to the Hendrickson picnic was a challenge because it had better be good. I made my first lemon meringue pie for a July 4 picnic and it was well received.
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