Parade, tractor pull, craft fair among the attractions

The Crawford County town that proudly claims it is the “Middle of Nowhere” is set for a big celebration June 29 and 30.

Ricketts will be celebrating its 125th anniversary with events that promise a lot of fun and entertainment for everyone.

One of the organizers, Jan Wessel, said planning by the Ricketts Community Club began 15 months ago.

Through the course of meetings, people brought their ideas to a series of meetings over the months to work out the details.

The quasquicentennial will open with a flag raising conducted by the Soldier Valley American Legion Riders in front of the fire station at 9 a.m. on June 29.

The day continues with a 9 a.m.-2 p.m. craft show at the community center, the parade at 10 a.m., kids’ activities from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. east of the post office, a silent auction at noon at the shelter house in the park, a tractor pull put on by the Iowa Western Pullers at noon on the Community Club grounds at the south end of town, kids’ games at noon at the shelter house, a kiddie tractor pull at 2:30 p.m. along Railroad Street one block east of the gas station, and music by Mix Music Productions at 7 p.m. at the shelter house in the park. 

All-day Saturday activities are the Crawford County Cattlemen grilling hamburgers and steak sandwiches, food vendors by the park, an antique farm display, a dunk tank and a beer garden.

Sunday starts with church in the park at 10 a.m., followed by a Staley’s chicken dinner from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The last scheduled event is a cornhole contest at the park at 2 p.m. on June 30, while the beer garden, food vendors and an antique farm display will be available throughout the day.

For people coming to the quasquicentennial celebration, parking will be on the east side of town and at the community club.

The parade lineup will be on the west side of town and starts at 8:30 a.m. At 10 a.m., the parade will head through the middle of town on L51.

A unique attraction for kids will be a foam cannon, something that Jan Wessel had planned on for some time.

“Knowing that the celebration was coming up, I was keeping an eye on county fair attractions, and a couple of times I heard about a foam cannon at the Monona County Fair, so we made a point to head there last summer. The kids really enjoyed it,” said Jan.

A number of bouncy houses will be coming in as well as mini golf.

The celebration will have an old-time carnival-style shooting gallery for people of all ages.

A craft show at the community center will be filled with 20 vendors, plus a big line-up of silent auction items. Jan said members of the committee went to neighboring towns like Mapleton, Ute, Charter Oak and Denison and received many generous donations and a lot of gift certificates.

Organizers hope that local elected officials will be willing to take a turn in the dunk tank.

T-shirts and souvenirs will be for sale, all with the Ricketts signature line, “The Middle of Nowhere.”

For more information about the events, call Jan Wessel at 712-854-0864 or Verdean Gierstorf at 712-269-4308.

For more information about the tractor pull, contact Bruce Paulsen at 712-269-2406. 

Ricketts is the second of four communities to celebrate its quasquicentennial this year. Boyer’s celebration was on May 31 and June 1. Kiron’s celebration is scheduled for August 23, 24 and 25. And Schleswig will celebrate its 125th anniversary September 13, 14 and 15.

What the four towns have in common is a branch of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad commonly called the Punkin’ Vine for its sprawling route of tracks.

An item in the Denison Review of May 9, 1899, noted town lots for sale along the Chicago & Northwestern Railway and said that the Western Town Lot Company would sell on the C.&N.W. Railway in Crawford County, Town Lots at the Town of Ricketts on May 10, 1899, and at the town of Schleswig (Hohenzollern) May 11, 1899. “These towns will have a railroad soon and are good openings for all kinds of business and professions,” the article stated.

A headline in the Golden Jubilee edition of the Denison Bulletin from November 23, 1923, says “Town of Ricketts Shows Prosperity on Every Hand.” 

The article’s opening paragraph noted that Ricketts was located on the Sioux City branch of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and was the “most pretentious and thriving of the small towns of the county.”

The article lists “numerous splendid business establishments,” the Green Bay Lumber Co., Mundt & Baak automobile dealers, Mueller Brothers general store, A.F. Baak general store, the Farmers Savings Bank, Nye-Scheider Grain Co., Schroeder & Schreiber hardware, Jerry Cerveny barber shop, Max Wulf blacksmith, Crawford County Telephone Company (owned locally), H.A. Moltmann billiard parlor, Carl Grell meat market, and the Ricketts Opera house, where movies were shown on Saturdays and Sundays. 

Ricketts was also the headquarters of the Aid Association for Lutherans, with a membership of 55.

The article continued that Ricketts had its own water works system, electric lights and paved sidewalks. The power at that time was coming from Charter Oak but the article said that Ricketts would soon be served by the Iowa Light, Heat and Power Company as soon as the high-power lines were completed.

Also featured in the article was a paragraph about an independent school with about 30 pupils.

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