My grandfather and I had a running joke in which we referred to all faraway places that we might be going to some day as “Timbuctoo.” I wish he were still here so I could tell him that it turns out it is only 20 miles from Marysville. (Yeah, I know we were referring to that other one, Timbuktu in Mali, but you get my drift.) Jet and I went there and to Smart(s)ville on Saturday to the first-ever Pioneer Day.
I learned about the event at the earlier History Day held a few weeks ago at the Yuba Sutter Mall. (I wish as many people would have shown up in Smartsville as at the Mall!) Earlier, I had met Kathy Smith, co-author with Lane Parker of the latest title in Arcadia Publishing’s local history series, Smartsville and Timbuctoo. (You can get a copy at Amicus Books and B. Dalton at the Mall.) Kathy and Lane have a whole website about the two towns and their research project. She is also one of the persons pushing to get the P.O. to put the “S” back in Smartsville.
On Saturday, our local history groups were out there with more interesting displays of our past, along with some of the vendors who show up reliably at most local events. One vendor that I had not seen before was selling home made mustards, Kelly’s Gourmet Mustards of Yuba City. I bought a jar of the green peppercorn one for my brother who is coming to visit next week. He is a good cook and a bit of a mustard connoisseur, if there is such a thing, so it will be cool to be able to put a local variety on the table for him. And it was only $2.50 a jar!
Greetings From Marysville 