Small Town Festival Memories By: Donna Rabenort
Some of my fondest memories of growing up in Okawville revolve around festivals. The kid year over fifty years ago was punctuated with many fun events. The Lion’s Easter Egg Hunt held in the Community Club Park was the start of “festival season” each year. At the shout of “GO” all of us kids would run helter skelter looking for those valuable prize eggs that were numbered. In all the years growing up, I rarely found one of those prize eggs.
When I grew up, there was a 4th of July picnic in the park and the grand finale was the fireworks display that everyone would watch from the parking lot by the old Community Club Building. Everyone would ooooh and ahhhhh until the last fireworks shell exploded. In August, there was the St. Barbara’s Catholic Church picnic at which we always could see friends and enjoy good food. Then in September, the Wheat Festival was the grand daddy of the summer picnics. There were rides like the Tilt-A-Whirl, Scrambler, and Round Up and games like Pitch a Penny to win a glass. The Cahokia Mounds Dancers would come and a clown would do tricks. On Saturday there always was a Kiddie Parade of mini floats built on little red wagons, and lots of us kids put streamers on our bikes to be in the parade. I remember crying when the Wheat Festival queen was crowned at 10 PM on Sunday night because that meant the Wheat Festival was over for another year.
The Lions Halloween Party started downtown on Hanover Street, and we marched with noisemakers to the Legion Home where we bobbed for apples with quarters in them and pushed peanuts across the floor with our noses. The Okawville Women’s Club hosted a Christmas event at the high school where school groups would come and sing songs. The event closed with everyone singing “Jingle Bells” louder and louder until finally Santa would show up and wave to the crowd. That night we always found our Christmas tree in our yard. Our parents said Santa had dropped it off his sleigh on the way to the high school.
One of my favorite “newer” events is Heritage Days. One funny memory from our kids’ experiences at Heritage Days is one year we found a turtle, which we named Mike, to be in the turtle races. Instead of racing, Turtle Mike decided to bite and hang on to Lance’s finger. Even though Lance shook his arm wildly, the turtle stayed clamped on. Someone (might have been me…) hit the turtle with a whiffle ball bat and sent it flying. Poor Lance, instead of a trophy had a bloody finger!
Bring your kids and grandkids to Heritage Days. Enjoy the Soda Festival, eat the delicious food, soak in the history of the museums, race the turtles, and remember how very lucky we are to grow up and live in a small town like Okawville!