Excerpted stories in Crawford County newspaper archives 100 Years Ago March 22, 1924 More than 1,500 people were drawn to Gerard today by the county spelling bee in which more than 600 contestants entered this morning." Mrs. Atha McFarland of Girard was winner of the Old Folks’ Division contest, spelling 34 words after the other contestants had been eliminated. In all 420 words were spelled by this division.