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What is the date of Old Home Day?
The first weekend before the 4th of July
History
The first time Old Home Day
was ever held was on July
31st, 1912. Then again on
August 12th, 1913, then August
20th, in 1914 and 1915, and
then on September 1st, 1919
and so on. From it's very
beginning the purpose was
to welcome our soldiers home from the War. Old
Home Day has always been a welcome home to all.
We work hard all year long
to make sure Old Home Day
is a harmonious event. This
objective entails the elimination
from the days’ activities,
elements that divide our community,
it's citizens and guests into
separate camps. Sadly, politics
does that. Well-meaning persons
of each political party in
strongly supporting their
candidates, all too often
alienate others who just as
strongly support candidates
of the other party. For us
Old Home Day is at least one
day of 365 that preserves
and deserves non-contentious
innocence. Old Home Day has
always been an occasion, which
brings the community together
in the true spirit of “common
unity”.
Facts
At Old Home Day in 1972 a
team of horses broke their
leads and bolted through the
Art show being held on the
Green. Following this incident,
the Old Home Day committee
recognized the extreme personal
liabilities that could accrue
to the individual volunteers
on the OHD committee from
such incidents.
In 1975 the Old Home Day Association
was incorporated as a non-profit
organization for the specific
purpose of celebrating the
tradition known as Old Home
Day. It was then subject to
the IRS rules regarding 501(c)
organizations:
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(Adapted
from IRS Publication
1828 - February 2004)
Section 501(c) organizations
cannot support or oppose
political candidates.
Section 501(c) organization
is not permitted to
allow groups or individuals
to use its facilities
and equipment to campaign
for candidates.
No partisan political
campaign activities,
however minimal, are
allowed. It cannot be
anything that can be
construed as an attempt
to sway the public one
way or the other.
Under the Internal Revenue
Code, all section 501(c)
organizations are absolutely
prohibited from directly
or indirectly participating
in, or intervening in,
any political campaign
on behalf of (or in
opposition to) any candidate
for elective public
office.
Activities with evidence
of bias: (a) favoring
one candidate over another;
(b) opposing a candidate
in some manner; or (c)
have the effect of favoring
a candidate or group
of candidates, will
constitute prohibited
participation.
[Even activities that
encourage people to
vote for or against
a particular candidate
on the basis of nonpartisan
criteria violate the
political campaign prohibition
of section 501(c)] |
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The prohibition is absolute;
there is no de minimis exception
to that rule. Nonprofits
are heavily regulated, and
rightly so, from engaging
in partisan political activities.
As a 501 (c) 3 organization we also are protected from frivolous lawsuits by the Volunteer protections Act of 1997.
In 2004 the OHD Assoc.
was informed by the Board
of Selectmen that holding
OHD on July 4th would be
open to interpretation that
it was an Independence Day
celebration and as such
the town would have to endorse
the inclusion of all political
parties within the venue
of any group that was given
a permit to operate on town
property on that day.
Thus it is clear that if we include politics we loose our non-profit status. With that loss goes the umbrella coverage for all committeemembers that is provided to us under the Volunteer protection Act of 1997. If we were to purchase liability insurance we have been told the premiums would be as much as $3,000 per day. We simply cannot afford that expense.
Thus the loss
of the Old Home Day non-profit
status would mean the
loss of the Old Home Day
Association and its sponsorship of the celebration
of Old Home Day itself.
With visionary wiisdom the founders of Old Home Day never intended that it would be an "Independence Day Celebration." Unavoidably, with political parties involved we would see repeats, to one degree or another, of the divisiveness and
bitter political rhetoric
such as we all too often must
endure. There are
enough politics in any election process to last us
through the time periods in
between. We welcome each other
and greet old friends who
have made a special point
of returning to Carlisle to
enjoy the day and each other.
It is the wrong time and the
wrong place for anything political.
Enjoy this day, vote on another.
Old
Home Day has been working
for 100 years...
it
would be a shame to "nix"
it
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