Amelia Earhart party more poignant this year, say organizers.

by Olivia Bradbury / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

They might have stolen her statue, but they couldn’t make away with the spirit of pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart, whose 128th birthday was celebrated in Pam and Jerome’s Garden on the grounds of the Conception Bay Museum on July 24.
The birthday celebration is held annually during Harbour Grace’s Pirates to Pilots Festival.
The life-sized bronze statue of Earhart which graced an area near the entrance to the town was stolen earlier this year in a crime that remains unsolved.
Museum co-chairperson Brenda Hunt-Stevenson said the theft made this year’s birthday party all the more poignant.
“I think there’s more people here this year because we miss her,” said Hunt-Stevenson. “There wasn’t a day that I drove by up there and I didn’t look and see Amelia. And now to go and just see flowers in her place is sad.”
The annual celebration of Earhart’s birthday, however, lifts spirits, she added, and is a great way to teach the children who show up about the pioneering woman who put Harbour Grace on the map as a centre of aviation history. “It gives people a chance to go out and meet others. It’s a joyous occasion, said Hunt-Stevenson. “It just brings history alive. Having her visit and having her tell her story brings it alive.”
Hunt-Stevenson was referring to the portrayal of Earhart by a local actor every year, this summer by Jessica Pike. As part of this year’s party, Hunt-Stevenson and “Earhart” had a conversation for the visitors to the party.
Diane Lee, the museum’s other co-chairperson, agreed this year’s party was more meaningful. “Obviously. the theft of the statue is very negative and upsetting to people and so on,” said Lee. “Yet, as a result of that, there seems to be an increased energy of people supporting anything to do with Amelia and heritage and so on, so it’s kind of rallied some positive support. And now, this year, I think people are more aware of how important it is to maintain our heritage and our history.”
Amelia Earhart was born in Kansas on July 24, 1897. She is said to have become interested in flight after building homemade rollercoasters with her sister in their yard; riding the rollercoaster felt as though she was flying. During her time working as a nurse’s aide in Toronto during WWI, Earhart cared for many pilots, and she knew that she eventually wanted to be one, too.
Earhart is known for being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She chose Harbour Grace’s airstrip as the takeoff point for her transatlantic flight, arriving in the town on May 20, 1932 and departing that same evening. While she was supposed to land in Paris, France, issues with her plane and weather conditions forced her to land in a cow pasture in Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, she landed successfully and officially became the first woman to complete a solo transatlantic flight.
Earhart and her navigator Frederick Noonan disappeared in July 1937 somewhere in the Pacific while attempting to make more history by circumnavigating the globe in a Lockheed Model 10-E Electra aircraft.
The garden where the party was held is named for Pam and Jerome Lee who worked as curators during the museum’s development before their sudden death in 1974.