Small Town 4th of July
Tekamah is a town of 2,000 people on the edge of the Missouri River surrounded by farmland. I grew up there (Graduated 1986). Several years after moving away, I found myself returning, not for family holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas, but the 4th of July. Independence Day was made for small towns, full of picnics and children and parades and fire works. Big cities have impersonal events, such as fireworks performed by professional companies that get paid large sums of money and parades that feature groups or organizations that have political or social agendas. My small town enjoy a more innocent holiday and treated it like a family reunion.
For me, the day would start with the Liberty Run, a 5K run/walk through the town. The race started at 8 a.m., so I had to get up early to make the 45 minute drive from Omaha. It started in the middle of downtown Main Street and went a mile east on County Road Gh (M Street) and back, then over to City Park and back downtown. There was also a 2-mile fun run to the edge of town and back that my mom would walk. One of my high school coaches was a volunteer timer at the event and I knew it just killed her to see me run those three miles every year because I use to whine and complain when she made me run that far in high school. For someone who quit high school track rather than run two miles, I’ve come a long way. (I now run a hilly 5-mile loop in my neighborhood at least once a week.) For regular runners like myself, the best part of racing was the finish when we feasted on bagels, bananas, yogurt, orange juice and maybe a fruit bar or two. However, I couldn’t linger long because I had to get cleaned up for the next big event.
After a quick shower at my parents’ house, we would all take a lawn chair and walk the three blocks back downtown where the Independence Day parade would take place at 10 a.m. The most popular spot to watch was in front of Ronnie’s, the downtown saloon, so those of us who were of age could enjoy an adult beverage on a hot July day. Tekamah held a great parade for its size, lasting over an hour. A color guard of local veterans always started the parade, which everyone observed with respectful silence. They were followed by marching bands, not just from my high school, but nearby towns who didn’t have their own parade to march in. There were also horse riding groups, banners from county politicians, decorated floats from local businesses and - the best part! - those tiny little cars ridden by the Shriners. It was well known that most of the members partook in a few adult beverages themselves before riding in those cars and when they performed those tight formations and criss-cross maneuvers, we were convinced someone would end up upside-down, but in all the years I went, that never happened.
Almost every parade participant threw handfuls of candy in the street for the kids to collect. Some kids were more aggressive than others at this activity, to the point of having plastic grocery bags that they would fill to the brim by running around and grabbing as many pieces as they could. The trick was to get the pieces out in the middle of the street without getting run over by the next group. Parents would take this opportunity to teach their older children about sharing by having them give pieces to younger siblings or other nearby children too shy to go into the street. However, there was always one pushy kid that wouldn’t share with anyone and would knock other kids out of the way to get more candy.
Once the parade was over, it was time to walk to City Park where the local Jaycees held a benefit BBQ. The line was always a block long by the time we got there, but we didn’t mind because we got to chat with friends, classmates and neighbors we hadn’t seen in a while as we waited. For $4 each we got a plate with the largest beef BBQ sandwich ever (you had to keep two hands on the plate), a heaping spoon of potato salad and another heaping spoon of baked beans, everything made from scratch. Drinks were a choice of lemonade or iced tea. After lunch we would slowly make our way through the picnic tables greeting, chatting and smiling at the babies of whomever we knew, which was pretty much everyone. This caused lunch to last almost two hours if not longer.
At this point in the afternoon, there were several different activities we could participate in and these have varied through the years. When I was a kid, we could ride on top of the fire engines all though town with the whistle blaring. There was a horseshoe tournament at the park, which I had little interest in. Also back in the day, the fire department held a fire hose tug-of-war, which consisted of a large metal barrel hanging from a wire strung across two sections of scaffolding. Then two teams of people on each side would use the water blasts from the hoses to move the barrel across the other team’s line, which was a rag tied at each end of the wire. My mom participated in this once and almost broke her wrist when it got wrapped up in the hose. That was probably why they didn’t have this anymore. Over the years there have been other activities, like the local model airplane club flying their machines and a regional baseball tournament.
After spending at least a few minutes at whatever activity was going on, we would eventually head back to my parents’ house to watch Wimbledon on television. Of course, after that gigantic lunch, there was more napping than tennis watching. Later in the afternoon, it was time to walk one block over to the Burt County Museum for their ice cream social. Along with a $2 donation, we would get a scoop of ice cream. Then we would tour the exhibits in the building, which was a large, white southern-style house with a wrap-around porch that was either willed or donated or something like that to the county when the owner passed away many years ago. On the second floor of the museum was a display that showed every graduating class photo from my high school, going back almost a century. It grew depressing over the years to see my class photo get buried by each successive class, including that of my two younger brothers. Soon I would be one of the old fogies. However, it was also fun to see my step-dad’s photo along with those of several of my friends’ parents in earlier class photos.
Normally it would have been time for dinner at this point in the day, but we were always so full from lunch that we would just make sandwiches or get snacks from the Dairy Queen across the street. Then we would sit on the front step of the house and watch people drive up and down Main Street, mostly just wasting time until the fireworks show.
The fire works didn’t start until 10:00 p.m. They were held at the baseball park also only three blocks away. Once again we would walk, this time over to the ugly green stadium with our lawn chairs. The Jaycees would finance the event and the volunteer fire department deployed the explosives. Most men in town were a member of one or both groups so this was the end of a long, busy day for them. For a town this size, Tekamah had quite a fireworks show, lasting at least a half hour. Some summers, we were lazy and would just sit on the front steps and watch the show, which could be seen from anywhere in town, but it was more fun to go to the park and listen to the ooohs and aaahs of the crowd. Then it was time for me to head back to the big city and the next day’s work grind.
I looked up Tekamah on the internet to see what they were up to this last 4th of July. According to my mom, the Liberty Run was suspended several years ago due to lack of participants. (I should have kept those race t-shirts. They’d be collector’s items by now! I still have one from 1997. Any bids?) Something I forgot about was the 5 a.m. igniting of anvils by the fire department. Yeah, I don’t miss that at all; those gigantic booms use to scare the crap out of me as a child. The BBQ was now sponsored by the Tekamah Area Community Club. The Museum had grown with two annex buildings for visitors to tour. They still had the horseshoe tournament and there was a NFPBR rodeo called the Bull-o-rama. Thanks to the Midwest Messenger for this information.
Next July enjoy the holiday by visiting a small town near you and find out what simple pleasures they have to offer.
Tekamah is a town of 2,000 people on the edge of the Missouri River surrounded by farmland. I grew up there (Graduated 1986). Several years after moving away, I found myself returning, not for family holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas, but the 4th of July. Independence Day was made for small towns, full of picnics and children and parades and fire works. Big cities have impersonal events, such as fireworks performed by professional companies that get paid large sums of money and parades that feature groups or organizations that have political or social agendas. My small town enjoy a more innocent holiday and treated it like a family reunion.
For me, the day would start with the Liberty Run, a 5K run/walk through the town. The race started at 8 a.m., so I had to get up early to make the 45 minute drive from Omaha. It started in the middle of downtown Main Street and went a mile east on County Road Gh (M Street) and back, then over to City Park and back downtown. There was also a 2-mile fun run to the edge of town and back that my mom would walk. One of my high school coaches was a volunteer timer at the event and I knew it just killed her to see me run those three miles every year because I use to whine and complain when she made me run that far in high school. For someone who quit high school track rather than run two miles, I’ve come a long way. (I now run a hilly 5-mile loop in my neighborhood at least once a week.) For regular runners like myself, the best part of racing was the finish when we feasted on bagels, bananas, yogurt, orange juice and maybe a fruit bar or two. However, I couldn’t linger long because I had to get cleaned up for the next big event.
After a quick shower at my parents’ house, we would all take a lawn chair and walk the three blocks back downtown where the Independence Day parade would take place at 10 a.m. The most popular spot to watch was in front of Ronnie’s, the downtown saloon, so those of us who were of age could enjoy an adult beverage on a hot July day. Tekamah held a great parade for its size, lasting over an hour. A color guard of local veterans always started the parade, which everyone observed with respectful silence. They were followed by marching bands, not just from my high school, but nearby towns who didn’t have their own parade to march in. There were also horse riding groups, banners from county politicians, decorated floats from local businesses and - the best part! - those tiny little cars ridden by the Shriners. It was well known that most of the members partook in a few adult beverages themselves before riding in those cars and when they performed those tight formations and criss-cross maneuvers, we were convinced someone would end up upside-down, but in all the years I went, that never happened.
Almost every parade participant threw handfuls of candy in the street for the kids to collect. Some kids were more aggressive than others at this activity, to the point of having plastic grocery bags that they would fill to the brim by running around and grabbing as many pieces as they could. The trick was to get the pieces out in the middle of the street without getting run over by the next group. Parents would take this opportunity to teach their older children about sharing by having them give pieces to younger siblings or other nearby children too shy to go into the street. However, there was always one pushy kid that wouldn’t share with anyone and would knock other kids out of the way to get more candy.
Once the parade was over, it was time to walk to City Park where the local Jaycees held a benefit BBQ. The line was always a block long by the time we got there, but we didn’t mind because we got to chat with friends, classmates and neighbors we hadn’t seen in a while as we waited. For $4 each we got a plate with the largest beef BBQ sandwich ever (you had to keep two hands on the plate), a heaping spoon of potato salad and another heaping spoon of baked beans, everything made from scratch. Drinks were a choice of lemonade or iced tea. After lunch we would slowly make our way through the picnic tables greeting, chatting and smiling at the babies of whomever we knew, which was pretty much everyone. This caused lunch to last almost two hours if not longer.
At this point in the afternoon, there were several different activities we could participate in and these have varied through the years. When I was a kid, we could ride on top of the fire engines all though town with the whistle blaring. There was a horseshoe tournament at the park, which I had little interest in. Also back in the day, the fire department held a fire hose tug-of-war, which consisted of a large metal barrel hanging from a wire strung across two sections of scaffolding. Then two teams of people on each side would use the water blasts from the hoses to move the barrel across the other team’s line, which was a rag tied at each end of the wire. My mom participated in this once and almost broke her wrist when it got wrapped up in the hose. That was probably why they didn’t have this anymore. Over the years there have been other activities, like the local model airplane club flying their machines and a regional baseball tournament.
After spending at least a few minutes at whatever activity was going on, we would eventually head back to my parents’ house to watch Wimbledon on television. Of course, after that gigantic lunch, there was more napping than tennis watching. Later in the afternoon, it was time to walk one block over to the Burt County Museum for their ice cream social. Along with a $2 donation, we would get a scoop of ice cream. Then we would tour the exhibits in the building, which was a large, white southern-style house with a wrap-around porch that was either willed or donated or something like that to the county when the owner passed away many years ago. On the second floor of the museum was a display that showed every graduating class photo from my high school, going back almost a century. It grew depressing over the years to see my class photo get buried by each successive class, including that of my two younger brothers. Soon I would be one of the old fogies. However, it was also fun to see my step-dad’s photo along with those of several of my friends’ parents in earlier class photos.
Normally it would have been time for dinner at this point in the day, but we were always so full from lunch that we would just make sandwiches or get snacks from the Dairy Queen across the street. Then we would sit on the front step of the house and watch people drive up and down Main Street, mostly just wasting time until the fireworks show.
The fire works didn’t start until 10:00 p.m. They were held at the baseball park also only three blocks away. Once again we would walk, this time over to the ugly green stadium with our lawn chairs. The Jaycees would finance the event and the volunteer fire department deployed the explosives. Most men in town were a member of one or both groups so this was the end of a long, busy day for them. For a town this size, Tekamah had quite a fireworks show, lasting at least a half hour. Some summers, we were lazy and would just sit on the front steps and watch the show, which could be seen from anywhere in town, but it was more fun to go to the park and listen to the ooohs and aaahs of the crowd. Then it was time for me to head back to the big city and the next day’s work grind.
I looked up Tekamah on the internet to see what they were up to this last 4th of July. According to my mom, the Liberty Run was suspended several years ago due to lack of participants. (I should have kept those race t-shirts. They’d be collector’s items by now! I still have one from 1997. Any bids?) Something I forgot about was the 5 a.m. igniting of anvils by the fire department. Yeah, I don’t miss that at all; those gigantic booms use to scare the crap out of me as a child. The BBQ was now sponsored by the Tekamah Area Community Club. The Museum had grown with two annex buildings for visitors to tour. They still had the horseshoe tournament and there was a NFPBR rodeo called the Bull-o-rama. Thanks to the Midwest Messenger for this information.
Next July enjoy the holiday by visiting a small town near you and find out what simple pleasures they have to offer.
The Jaycees don't provide the lunch anymore? I don't even know what the Tekamah Area Community Club is.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Brings back a lot of good memories.
I thought you'd appreciate this one having experienced it yourself! Thanks for the link on your blog, much obliged.
ReplyDelete