Mondamin holds 19th Heritage Days
By Lee Zion, Editor
Harrison County Times-Reporter
Saturday started cold, dark and rainy. Even an hour before the parade began, it looked like the sun would never come. But what a difference an hour makes. Organizers delayed the start of the Heritage Day parade by half an hour, from 10:30 to 11 a.m. And by the time the parade began, the sun put in an appearance, said Donella Pauli, one of the organizers.
Dozens of people came out to watch the emergency vehicles, horses, antique tractors, Shriners cars and more make their way down Maple Street. There were more entries this year, she said.
Rowyn Clark took first in the youth division, followed by the West Harrison Sports Organization.
Chad Wilson won in the car category for the antique pickup “Grandpa Bud’s Old Blue.” The grandfather had passed away a few month earlier, so the family entered his vehicle in tribute.
The award for best tractor went to Gale Rife. Pauli did not have the type of tractor, other than that it was an Allis-Chalmers.
In the golf cart division, the winner was “We the People,” by Holly Mortenson, followed by Kelley Cousins, by Ella Kelley.
The last category was floats. Randy’s Wagon Rides won, followed by Loess Hills Lancers 4-H Club. Third place was the Rock and Roll Cowboys, by Dustin and Kelsie Rife.
Jerry Thomas, a longtime supporter of Heritage Days, was named as the grand marshall.
After the parade, people came out for the Heritage Day celebration. People lined up for face painting, or jumped in bouncy houses, or took carriage rides.
New this year was a trivia contest, which was added for adults, considering the events at the park were for children. Five teams entered, with as many as five people per team.
The winner was “The Church Ladies and Wyatt,” featuring Jeena and Wyatt Hall, Sonja Jarosz, and Susan Tallon.
Levi Flint and Dennis McCandless won the horseshoe contest.
Next year, Pauli hopes to include more events for adults.
This is the 19th year of the event, and the third or fourth year the event has been organized by the Mondamin Community Partners. In addition to Pauli, the other four members are Zeta Proskocil, Maggie Rains, Lacey Rife and Mary Seago.
“We probably had more people that came to the park and participated in the games and the things that were available,” she said. “Despite the day starting out a little crazy.”
The day did lose some of the vendors because of the rain. But the silent auction, for baked goods, did well and was easier to manage than in previous years. In fact, it brought in more money, Pauli said.
Overall, the event was a success.
“The kids love to have their face painted. They love the kiddie train and the dunk tank. There were just lines at every one of the activities we had this year,” she said.
Pauli thanked the volunteers.
“We as a committee plan everything,” she said. “But it takes a huge number of community members to volunteer to work, selling raffle tickets, working in the silent auction, organizing the parade. It takes so many volunteers, and we are very, very, very thankful that people around here ... you ask them; you almost always get a ‘Yes. I’ll help. Sure.’”
