Rolling through history: Beavertown’s joyful end‑of‑war tradition
BEAVERTOWN — George “Tickey” F. Norman stepped into Beavertown’s square on Aug. 15, 1945, carrying the kind of determination that only comes from losing a bet in front of half the town. Japan had just announced its surrender, and the square was already swelling with people cheering, hugging and shouting the news across Main Street. Norman didn’t join the crowd. He walked straight to the patriotically painted barrel waiting for him, the one he had promised to roll eight miles to Middleburg if the war didn’t end by March 17. The barrel glinted in the
