NORTHFIELD - Why does the first DJJD button read “3^rd Annual”? In 1948, the Northfield Jaycees decided to dedicate one day of their Fall Festival to defeating Jesse James and his gang. This day would include a western theme and re-enactments of the infamous bank raid. Although this was the Jaycees 3^rd year having the Fall Festival, it was the first ever mention of a Jesse James Day. The 1948 button featured a “deputy” star along with period art work, hand drawn font and the words “Jesse James Day”. For years to follow, the “Fall Festival” and “Jesse James” wording would be promoted together on buttons until the “Jesse James” part grew and the “Defeat” was added years later, eventually knocking the “Fall Festival” right off the button. This year will commemorate the 60^th year since Northfield began to celebrate the defeat of the most notorious gang of bank robbers to wield a firearm this side of the river.

I have been a die-hard fan of the celebration since I was a young kid and have collected buttons just as long. I’ve grown to consider myself a DJJD button expert. In 2008, I was set on pitching my button idea and having it come to fruition. Currently, as a DJJD committee member I knew who I needed to sell my 2008 button concept to: The committee General Chairman Brad Ness, the “gang” re-enactment leader and 2007 Joseph Lee Heywood award recipient, Chip Demann and Northfield Historical Society Executive Director Hayes Scriven. I’ve always wanted to do a “flash back” button. The 1948 button was always one of my favorite antique button because of its small hand-drawn art and font. I was also especially fond of its “deputy” star layout. So, I visited Hayes this past November, we took the original 1948 out of the display case and captured a high resolution scan of it. I then had my friend R. Jeff Smith, a Photoshop Pro render a version of the old button, changing the celebration name, adding an "s" to "day", replicating the art, removing "Jaycees", making it the 60th annual, changing the date and adding the current year to 1948. While trying to copy the old type font exactly, we were unable to find anything to match. After consulting with a type-face/font expert, we learned that the entire original button was hand drawn. Including the letters and numbers. So, much to my disappointment, we had to settle for a "close-enough" font instead the identical type-face.

Eleven thousand of this years button will be printed at Engage Print this week along with the standard numbering system in black ink. We will also print around 400 buttons with "Royalty" on them instead of the numbers. Guess what event these are used for? Because the initial white paper had yellowed over the years, I chose to print on a slightly off white paper, so as to look identical to the original. Much attention to detail was taken to make this button appear identical to the original, even the small imperfections that can be seen up close.

In the world of collecting DJJD buttons, 1948 is a rare find. Ironically, the night I was to introduce my prototype to Brad, Hayes and Chip at the December committee meeting, my dream came true. I became the proud owner of my very own 1948 button, thanks to the genius they call eBay. My design was well accepted and I was given the green light on my design for the 2nd year in a row. To procure a 1948 button and to be named the designer of the 2008 DJJD button all in one day was the honor of a life time.

On Saturday September 6th, 2008, the most heavily attended day of the festival, I will walk around town only to look at all the people wearing my button-child. Thousands of attendees will not even realizes the significance of that $4 collectable. Heck, if it were any prior year and I saw anyone wearing a button with a red star, I would be jealous with envy at their 1948 gem. This year, everyone will be wearing a gem.