The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Some alumni at the Mt. Vernon High reunion wore their school sweaters. From left, Lynn "Babe" White ('59) of Hermiston, Cecil Sharp ('69) of Mt. Vernon, Darlene Muzzy ('58) of John Day, and Arlita Arnett ('58) of Mt. Vernon.

MT. VERNON – Festivities galore were on tap for the comeback of the Cinnabar Mountain Rendezvous May 29 and 30.

The Mt. Vernon get-together took a 15-year hiatus, but re-emerged with a bang.

A parade Saturday morning started with the boom of a cannon as onlookers lined the main street. Several colorful entries celebrated the theme, “Back again in 2010.”

Graduates of Mt. Vernon High School flocked to Clyde Holliday State Park for a reunion after the parade for a barbecue and potluck, plus lots of visiting.

“It’s a homecoming,” said former MVHS teacher Merrill McKern of Eugene.

The 90-year-old WWII Navy veteran taught math and social studies at the school in the ’40s and early ’50s and is also a member of the MVHS class of ’38.

“He showed me baseball,” said Elvin Webb of Mt. Vernon, a 1949 graduate. He also recalls McKern taking a group of students to Eugene to a professional football game.

Arlita Arnett, a Mt. Vernon native who graduated with the class of ’58, reminisced about what the girls used to wear to school: “You had to wear a dress, no pants,” she said.

“We could only wear jeans on Friday,” her classmate Darlene Muzzy chimed in.

She added that the pants were worn with rolled up cuffs, and with the socks rolled down.

Muzzy also recalled how difficult it was, on the days they wore dresses, to squeeze into the desk due to the many layers of gathered net slips under their poodle skirts.

Another tradition: wearing a boyfriend’s class ring on a chain.

Cecil Sharp of Mt. Vernon, from the class of ’69, visited with Muzzy, who was his grade school teacher in Mt. Vernon.

A laid-off millworker, Sharp said he received his college diploma in the mail that day for applied science and welding from Treasure Valley Community College.

Joining the party were Shelley (Williams) Wiggins, Sam (McCumber) Eggert, Bill Harrison and Lyssa McKrola who belonged to the last class to attend Mt. Vernon High School when the doors closed in 1991.

Saturday evening a dance was held at the community hall, and Sunday had a crowd out for games in the park, including scavengers hunts, a tug-o-war, ax throwing and a frying pan toss.