Maybee is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a two-day celebration
Maybee – In 1873, Abram Maybee and Joseph Klotz established the Village of Maybee when they registered their land along the newly built Canada Southern Railway in the corner of Exeter Township.
This weekend the village celebrates its 200th anniversary with a two-day celebration. Festivities will take place from 10am to 5pm on Saturday and from 11am to 4pm on Sunday. Most activities will be held in downtown Maybee and most are free.
Saturday and Sunday
Both days will be served by helicopter rides, bounce houses, face painting, food trucks, craft vendors, a village museum (above the village hall), and a photo scavenger hunt with prizes and sales of bicentennial items. T-shirts, glasses and trinkets will be sold. Commemorative bricks for the village hall square will also be sold.
Sellers will offer many items.
“Vendors will be offering a variety of goods, from pumpkins and mums to homemade candles and antique patio ornaments. The food trucks will be offering everything food trucks are known for: elephant ears, shaved ice, barbecue, and Mexican casserole. The event organizers said Maeby’s restaurants will also be open .
Helicopter tours will be offered on Raisin Street. Rides cost $40 for six minutes.
Saturday
The parade will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday and will travel the Joseph, Blue Bush, Main, Mill and Fredericks roads. Participants should meet in the St. Joseph Church parking lot at 9 a.m
Fourteen entries were registered for the show. Monroe County Sheriff Troy Goodnow, who grew up in the village, will lead the sheriff’s patrol. Grand Marshals Louis and Donna Boz will follow a “heritage wagon” of at least 20 lifelong residents of Maybee. The show will also include dancing witches from Lake Erie Hexenbrot, agricultural machinery and the newly crowned Princess Maeby, the Little Princess and the Queen.
Children can participate in a bike decorating contest. Participants should bring their bikes to the St. Joseph Catholic Church parking lot, Joseph and Frederick Streets, at 9 a.m
Other Saturday events include a bake sale, a petting zoo, and a book sale from the Monroe County Library System’s Maybee branch.
Local entertainment will also be provided. Jazz group Just Us will perform from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the Lake Eerie Hexenbrut Witches will dance from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m.
Rock band Pizz will perform from 2:30-3:30pm on the stage at the intersection of Blue Bush and Raisin Streets (roads will be closed).
Uncle Laylee will perform from 5-7pm in the Little Brown Jug parking lot.
Original guitarist and rocker Hunter Brooks and his band will play from 7:30-8:30pm and 9-10pm in the restaurant’s parking lot. Guest artist will be Bridget Grace.
Sunday
An exhibition of antique agricultural machinery is scheduled to be held on Sunday.
Dancers from Peg Harris will perform at 11 a.m. Haja dancers will take the stage from 1 to 2 p.m. The Floral City Harmonizers will perform from 3 to 3 p.m. Old children’s games will be played next to the post office.
Maybee Sesquicentennial organizers have been working to celebrate this weekend and other anniversary events for more than a year.
“This has been a big undertaking for the five to six active members of our committee,” said Sandra Lintner, one of the organizers. “We are also compiling an overview of the 50 years since the 1973 centenary to update the very comprehensive centenary book published at the time.”
In 1873, Abram Maybee and Joseph Klotz officially registered their land along the railroad in the corner of Exeter Township. They surveyed, laid out and sold much land and built many of the first homes and businesses. A post office was also established in 1873.
“Railroads were the lifeblood of the early city of Maybee, shipping lumber, coal, and railroads across the country. By the twentieth century—after much of the land had been cleared for agriculture—cattle, cheese, milk, tomatoes, grains, tiles, and bricks” were shipped from the Maybee warehouse. The last passenger train stopped in the village on April 11, 1932, organizers of the Maibi Bicentenary said.
In the early days, Maybee had her own two-room schoolhouse. The buildings house grades one through four and five through eight. High school students could go to Monroe, Dundee, the airport, Milan, or a parochial school but had to provide their own transportation. At the end of the 1966-67 school year, Maybee Public became part of the Monroe Public School District. The old school building was converted into apartments and remains apartments today.
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Most of the downtown buildings date back to before 1900. The Country Auto Sales, Little Brown Jug, Next Door Lounge, Lane’s Pizza, JJ Construction buildings and several homes are at least 120 years old.
Since 1900, Maybee has offered baseball and softball programs. The Monroe County Library System opened a branch in Maybee in 1938. The former Maybee Hotel had 20 rooms, a bar, and an upstairs ballroom.
In 1973, Maybee celebrated its 100th anniversary all summer long. Proceeds created Maybee Community Park which contains ball fields, tennis courts, a basketball hoop, two pavilions, playground equipment and picnic areas. The centennial celebration kicked off Downtown Maybee Day, which has been celebrated for more than 50 years.
