All across Wyoming, this has been an All-American year!
What a wonderful time to celebrate our country's 250th birthday.
Here in the Cowboy State, the political season doesn't really get serious until the July 4 weekend. And last weekend's celebrations were a doozy in places like Lander, Dubois, Gillette, Cheyenne, Buffalo, Casper, Jackson and Cody.
We missed our first July 4 celebration in 56 years last year because of some of my wife Nancy's medical issues in Texas.
This year we were officially back, and we more than made up for it.
No town in America blows itself up quite like Lander does, with literally thousands of households shooting off fireworks. From a distance it looks like the "bombing of Baghdad." Surely this must be a war zone?
The festivities also include a huge parade with 104 entries and the oldest paid rodeo on earth. Sorry, Cheyenne. We've got you by one year.
Here Come the Politicians
July 4 officially kicks off the summer political season in Wyoming, and this year was no exception. In fact, everything seemed bigger because it was the nation's 250th birthday — our semiquincentennial.
In most places, those July 4th celebrations were blessed with perfect weather. Here in Lander, the sky was crystal blue without a cloud, there was almost no wind, temperatures were comfortable, and humidity was low. It was about as perfect as Wyoming gets.
After the morning parade, watched by an estimated 12,000 people according to the highly respected Fox News All-Stars Coffee Group, thousands gathered in Lander City Park beneath its magnificent century-old cottonwood trees.
The Rotary Club's famous buffalo barbecue served nearly 1,100 meals. That's a lot of buffalo.
Mayor's Race Heating Up
Despite more than 100 parade entries, Lander's parade was missing one thing — the local high school band. In my mind, this is so unfortunate. A hometown parade ought to have its hometown band.
We did, however, have Wyoming's finest bagpipe band along with a group of crazy unicyclists who spun, circled, balanced, and entertained everyone along the parade route.
Three candidates are seeking to become Lander's next mayor: Missy White, Michelle Motherway, and Alan McOmie. This could end up being one of the state's most interesting local races.
Statewide candidates were spread around Wyoming. Gubernatorial candidate Brent Bien rode on a float, while two candidates for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Steve Harshman and Chad Auer, were also campaigning.
Reid Rasner was the only candidate for U.S. House that I saw, along with Sam Mead, who is running for the U.S. Senate.
If I missed some candidates, I apologize. It was a busy day.
Bloody Mary Tradition
Scott Meier was serving Bloody Marys next to Tom Cox, Charlie Krebs and Tony McRae. Those fellows have been doing this for years, along with the late Dave Kellogg. They have developed a pretty good eye for judging just how big the July 4 crowd is each year.
Some of my favorite people served as parade marshals this year, including former mayors Del McOmie, Mick Wolfe and Jerry Heckert. Gary Barney was another marshal and looked pretty snazzy cruising the parade route in his little red convertible.
Remembering the Bicentennial
My former advertising manager from about 50 years ago, Steve Woody, wrote about Lander's July 4 celebration in his own column this week.
He recalled going up and down Main Street selling advertising for our Pioneer Days Edition, which featured a full-color cover illustration. That may not sound like much today, but back then it was a huge deal.
That was during America's Bicentennial celebration in 1976, and here's how Steve remembers it:
"So that July 4, the Bicentennial, the Journal published a special section about Lander's history, 'Pioneer Days,' with the headline 'Let's Go!' and a full-color reproduction, a big deal then.
"Ole Buster here went door-to-door through Lander's business community selling advertising tied to the Bicentennial. (It's called 'synergies' these days.) Few advertisers — and citizens — could resist the combination of a parade, patriotism, a rodeo and a concert by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at the fairgrounds. Fireworks, too. Good memories, indeed."
Steve later became publisher of newspapers in Wheatland and Sheridan before retiring to Montrose, Colorado.
Meanwhile, Up in Buffalo
Columnist Jim Hicks had this report from Buffalo:
"Election years are a bonus for parades. Candidates work hard on their entries. The Fourth of July Parade might have lasted only 39 minutes, but it drew a huge crowd.
"One of the best entries featured Father DeSmet on horseback leading a float noting that the Catholic Church has been preaching the Gospel in the area for some 175 years.
"One of the biggest successes of the weekend was the showing of the 70-minute documentary about the Hole-in-the-Wall. People had to be turned away from the first showing because every seat was filled.
"Kudos also to the members of the American Legion who took time for a serious part of the celebration by reading the Declaration of Independence and explaining the history of some of our nation's earliest flags."
As I looked around Wyoming over the holiday weekend, it struck me that nobody celebrates America's birthday quite like small-town Wyoming.
Whether it was a rodeo in Lander, a parade in Buffalo, fireworks in Casper, celebrations in Cody, Jackson, Cheyenne or Gillette, thousands of people gathered to wave the flag, cheer the marching bands, enjoy a barbecue and remember what makes this country special.
After 250 years, that's still something worth celebrating.
Bill can be reached at bill@cowboystatedaily.com
