I learned silence from the talkative and tolerance from the intolerant and kindness from the unkind. ~ Khalil Gibran

Sometimes, even I know someone else can say something better, especially when it comes to our town.

So, in honor of Saluda’s 137th birthday this February, here’s a centennial flashback from 1981, when then Mayor Cater Leland Jr. made these opening remarks for the birthday celebration:

“This is truly a special day for Saluda, and we welcome all of you here. Saluda is a special place to each one of us, especially the residents, and I’m sure it is to all of our summer visitors and all of the tourists that come in and out throughout the summer months and even in the winter to enjoy the ‘four seasons’ that we have here.

“I would like to tell everyone in Saluda that we feel that Saluda is not just a place to live, but it is a way of life. It is a small peaceful community where everyone can be friendly with their neighbors…where you can say ‘hi’ to everyone up and down the street and everyone always greets you and you’ll feel like one big family. We welcome all of you here today to be a part of this family…we have strived to keep it as it was a hundred years ago.

“Because all of you who have been here over the years know that it hasn’t changed much, and this is the way we like it. We hope that all the people that are here and those who visit with us will strive to keep it that way.

As I’ve said in the past, if we wa”nt the things a big city has, we can always go to the big city and enjoy those things. Then, we know we can come back to Saluda, where it is calm and peaceful, and sit on the porch and feel the breeze, and know that we are in a special place. That is the way we feel about Saluda today, the city fathers and most of the residents feel this way and we hope to keep it this way throughout the next hundred years….and on into the future.”

• Saluda Welcome Table at Saluda Methodist Church is every Tuesday from 5:30-6:45 p.m.

• Saluda Center community potluck and bingo night is Feb. 26 at 6 p.m.

• Learn more about Saluda Community Land Trust by visiting saludaclt.org or calling 828-749-1560. Mark your calendar and save the date for SCLT’s 11th annual meeting on April 25 at 6 p.m. at Saluda Center.

• At Saluda Historic Depot, Saluda Train Tales return on March 16 at 7 p.m. with Harold Williams. Donations to help support Saluda Historic Depot can be sent to P.O. Box 990, Saluda, NC 28773 or on the HistoricSaluda.org website. Visit saludahistoricdepot.com for more information.

• At Saluda Library, where they’re always glad to see you, teens have their own space on the bottom floor of the library thanks to a grant from Polk County Community Foundation. 

• Feb. 26 is Box Top Collection week at Saluda School. Specially marked hot-pink box tops are worth 10 cents each for the school; money is used to purchase books for the “Books Are Really Fun” program; each student gets to choose and keep three to five free books.

Happy February Birthday to: Wylie Rauschenbach, Wesley Pace, Biddie Dawson, Ginny Jones, Jenna Igoe, Suzanne Igoe, Pam Thompson, Catherine Raymond, Eva McCray, Ellen Rogers, Margaret Miller, Paul London, Ward Sandahl, Bill Klippel, Pat Bares, Dwight Smith, Ingrid Sandahl, Fred Baisden, Duane Bateman, Ragan Thompson, Laura Williams, and Susan McMasters and Mark Gardner.

Thank you for reading this column dear readers; as ever, the goal is to make you feel like you’re enjoying small town life in a friendly mountain town called Saluda. Feel free to contact me at bbardos@gmail.com, 828-749-1153, or visit bonniebardosart.com.