Crow River Millpond

by Mary Barrick
Darwin, MN

Up early and help mom with the wash, my job was to make sure that the ringer spit the clothes into moms wicker basket and not rap around the hard yellow ringers of the Maytag washer. All the work-jeans of the family washed once a week hung in garrison-like rows on the 25 wire clotheslines. It looked like the family had six boys, not three girls and three boys; we all worked in the field of our farm alike. On summer washdays, Mondays, we eagerly awaited the rewards of our toil, a trip to the millpond downtown Hutchinson. There were three boys bikes and six kids, so the younger ones sat on the bar behind the handle bars.

All afternoon we would swim, dive and walk across the top of the Crow River dam. Supervision was by the older siblings. The freedom was endless and the cool muddy water with the high platform swimming dock, with diving boards at staggering heights make the day so fine. We took breaks from the water in the cool shade of the field stone bath house, the mason jar that mom would always send with tepid, very sweet cool-aid, leaving all of us with large red lips. Walking the bikes home in the afternoon feeling cooler and so very tired, recounting the day and already planning the next Monday at the Millpond.

I think the Crow River is still running through Hutch, I know all the rest has changed, the children are all adults now and cool-aid has been replaced by Gatorade.