POMEROY–Pioneer Day, set for June 13, will celebrate the Blachly family as 2020 Honored Pioneers.

Susan Morrow is working on the history of the Blachly family, this year’s Honored Pioneers. Community of the Past will focus on Ilia.

Honored graduates will be from the classes of 1944 and 1945. Music will be provided by Vickie Bowles Evans. Numerous class reunions are planned that weekend.

Fast-approaching spring events were also topics at the Garfield County Pioneer Association meeting February 25, 2020.

This year’s Spring Tour will be of the Mayview area. Due to the wealth of history, which includes two pioneer cemeteries, six schoolhouses, Grange hall and more, and the time at each site plus driving time, the group decided to split the tour into two parts over two years. The anticipated date for this year’s tour is Saturday, May 9.

Gary Bye gave an update on the Ruark Cemetery, also known as the Old Chapel Cemetery (not to be confused with Chapel Hill Cemetery). It derived its name of Ruark because the land was donated by John Ruark, but there are no Ruarks buried there. The Old Chapel name came from the old Chapel Schoolhouse, (which doubled as a church in pioneer days) that was located there from about 1880 to 1900, but no longer exists.

Bye said three high school students, Brooke Ames, Mason Blachly and Jack Lyle, have been working on weekends, cleaning and clearing the cemetery as their community service project. There is no direct access to the cemetery, so tour participants will need to walk to the site, although some vehicles might be able to be driven through Bye’s field if conditions are dry enough at that time.