Rosie the Riveter Day

Yesterday was one of those days that turned out to be more special than one could have expected.
I am a member of the International Questers, President of Sauk Trail #573.  Our chapter does volunteer work and provides Service hours to historical things and projects.
A couple of weeks ago one of our members read in the local paper that the Willow Run Airport was hosting an event to help raise funds for saving a museum about Rosie the Riveter and the strong female work force in the Bomber Plants during WW1.  Rosie was an iconic figure in the South East Michigan area, I don't know how far her fame stretches but it seems the poster of her with the arm raised and a fist is all over.

The plan was to have at least 250 woman dress as Rosie, wearing the Blue work shirt, work pants rolled up to reveal  red socks, black work shoes and the red and white (lipstick-pattern name) polka dot scarf and have a picture taken for the Guiness Book of Records.  Of our 25 members seven of us decided we would join in the effort to help meet the goal of 250 Rosies.
Hence came the day to go and sadly one of our members had to decline so we had six.  We did not have a clue what we had gotten ourselves in for.  As we arrived at Hangar one we were amazed to a large parking lot full of cars and "Rosie's" everywhere.  We walked toward the building and got in a long line of "Rosie's" waiting to be checked in.

There were Rosie's of all shapes, sizes and ages. It was very cold as we waited in that long line everyone guessing how many were there.

Once inside (where it was blessedly warm) we were inspected to make sure we had the right uniform.

We tucked our pant legs, rolled and twisted our scarves and piled on the rouge and lipstick in Rosie's honor

In the photo above there is Pam Chaffee, Kathy Johnson Bartshe, myself, Louise Rayburn, Peggy Fisher and Linda Trewin down front, all with our arms raised in Can Do fashion.

I think Kathy should have won the prize for best Rosie of the day

This gorgeous car was parked outside just for a back drop, we couldn't resist.

Kathy took the picture below to show how many Rosie's were lined up behind us.  I cropped the picture of me from this photo.

The entire process took about three hours. There were a total of 778 Rosie's, broke that record!

Twenty four "Original Rosie's" were on hand with family members.  The National Anthem was sung and then the crowd broke in to God Bless America, America the Beautiful, and Amazing Grace.

We are are now part of history and it feels good!  

I have never had so many cameras pointed at me in all my life, every where you looked there was a camera.

When it was all done we went to a local restaurant in costume, we were treated as honored guests by staff and customers alike.

A day to remember.