Inflation, COVID blunt Reunion crowds

General price inflation and a recent flareup of COVID-19 cases in the region blunted attendance last week at the annual Rattler Reunion for Tucumcari High School alums.

If there was ever a doubt the number of people at the event was lower, those would have been dispelled by Edna Blasingame. A member of THS' Class of 1955, the Amarillo resident has attended every Rattler Reunion since it began in the early 1970s.

"This is the smallest attendance I've ever seen," Blasingame said Saturday night as the Rattler Reunion banquet began in the Tucumcari Convention Center. "I'm sure it's because of COVID, gas prices, inflation and all that. It all plays a part in it."

Reunion Chairman Joe Szaloy on Monday estimated between 250 to 300 attended the event this year. Organizers had hoped for up to 500 attendees or more.

An unexpectedly large crowd of 450 to 500 attended Rattler Reunion in 2021 after the event was canceled the previous year due to the pandemic.

Szaloy concurred with Blasingame's reasoning for the lower crowds this year - namely, the resurgence of a COVID-19 variant and the rising cost of fuel and accommodations for potential attendees.

"With gasoline being $4 a gallon and diesel being from $4 to $5, it's expensive to travel right now," he said. "There's some people I spoke with on the telephone who couldn't afford to come because they had a family or medical thing they had to attend to in the recent past."

Kathy Segura, who was keeping track of registrations, said about 225 people were registered by Saturday evening. She said at least five alums who planned to attend called to cancel because they contracted COVID-19.

Last year, nearly 340 had registered through Friday.

Segura said other potential participants might have been scared off by a recent surge in the virus. The COVID Act Now had graded Quay County at high risk for community spread of the disease for several weeks until Friday, when it dropped the county to moderate risk.

Jackie Parker Duplantis said about 100 people attended the annual pancake breakfast on Saturday morning, which she deemed a low number compared to previous years.

Chase Waters, owner of Del's Restaurant that catered the banquet and the annual Golden Rattler Luncheon, said 82 of 110 tickets were sold for the latter event. More than 140 attended last year.

Attendance wasn't all bad. Reunion Chairman Joe Szaloy said the annual barbecue on Friday night, served by the Logan High School Class of 2023, was almost a sellout.

The Reunion's lower numbers probably won't dissuade the city's Lodgers Tax Advisory Board from providing future aid to the event. Reunion organizers keep detailed numbers each year, including critical data about lodging stays. The board provided more than $6,000 for the event this year.

During the Saturday banquet, one of the biggest ovations was a salute to veterans, current military personnel, first responders, law enforcement officers and health workers.

A moment of silence was observed for deceased alumni and THS staff, plus a prayer for alums who could not attend.

Loud applause erupted when Szaloy thanked the high school's football and volleyball players as they scurried to help Del's employees serve plates of food, refill drinks and bus tables.

Not long after that, the ceremonial passing of the hatchet was given to the Class of 1993, which will help organize the Golden Rattler Luncheon and other events next year.

Lendra Hailey, a teacher or counselor at Tucumcari for more than 10 years, served as the banquet's guest speaker.

"Once you're in Tucumcari, you never forget it," she said. "The people are amazing; the students are amazing. Thank you for the many blessings you bestowed in me."

The annual Parade of Classes proceeded down Route 66 on Saturday morning. Those riding on floats frequently found themselves the target of thrown water balloons from other alumni standing by the side of the road. They retaliated with their own water balloons or large squirt guns.

Nona Sours Gemmer, a member of the Class of 1985, and Robin Carter, Class of 1974, were among a group of about a half-dozen alums who filled 400 water balloons for the occasion as they waited for the floats to pass by at the corner of Route 66 and Seventh Street. Gemmer said the water-fight tradition during the parade dates back at least 20 years.

Linda Coats, a member of the Class of 1971 who now lives in Missouri, said on Friday evening she returned to Tucumcari for the first time since 2019.

"Everything is different. I kept saying, 'Did I live here at one time?'" she said, laughing. "But people are just as friendly as they were."

Blasingame admitted she was a bit disappointed with the smallness of this year's Rattler Reunion crowds. But she said she still had a good time, adding the Golden Rattler Luncheon was "wonderful." She said the weekend also gave her the chance to visit nieces who live in town.

Blasingame said she doesn't anticipate her streak of 50-plus consecutive Rattler Reunions will end anytime soon.

"I've always made an effort to be here. This is a priority," she said.

She attended Rattler Reunion even after the death of her husband in 2015.

"I was there the next year, and people were surprised that I was here. I said, 'Of course I'm here. Why wouldn't I be here?'"