Author Archives: maryjane

Every small town has a story …

But not every town’s story is quite as

cozy

as this one:

The Red Flannel Story of Cedar Springs, Michigan.

Population 3,543 (give or take).

Rumor has it, the Cedar Springs red flannel saga began during the winter of 1936.

And, yes, it was “the worst winter in years.”

Big snow, temps well below—you get the idea.

Granted, the country was mired in the midst of the Great Depression, and winters then must have felt colder than ever.

It is said that a writer from the New York Sun newspaper set out on a quest to find a traditional flannel union suit to help him weather the weather. His search stretched from the Atlantic coast to Cleveland, but no flannel underthings could be found. (I slept in a cotton red flannel suit complete with drop-seat every night when I lived in a wall tent during the dead of winter while working for the Forest Service in the ’70s.)

Nancy Collins: https://www.facebook.com/nancy.collins.7140

“Here we are in the midst of an old-fashioned winter,” he groused, “and there are no red flannels in the USA to go with it.”

None?

We’ll see about that.

When the Clipper Girls read the reporter’s rant, their blood ran hot …

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