This Fourth of July, the Emporia street fair was one of the hottest tickets in town. Maybe literally.
Despite temperatures in the mid-to-high 80s, Emporians came downtown in droves to help celebrate the city’s 150th anniversary. At times, it seemed as if everyone in town either had a booth on Mechanic Street or was visiting one.
“It’s been great,” said Gayle Whitsitt, as she paused for a few moments in the air-conditioned gallery of the Emporia Arts Council. “This city knows how to throw a party once every 150 years.”
No kidding. Anybody who was bored Wednesday only had themselves to blame. Everything in or around town seemed to be on display: a beer garden, a smokehouse, games, activities and plenty of music ranging from bagpipers to rock ’n roll.
Sesquicentennial co-chair Evora Wheeler said this morning that both the event and the weather well exceeded expectations.
“On Tuesday, they kept saying ‘chance of thunderstorms,’” Wheeler said. “We all thought ‘Oh, no,’ but at our Tuesday meeting we said rain or shine, we’re going to do this. And we got ‘shine.’”
Perhaps the single most popular tent belonged to St. Catherine’s. Even on a hot day, nobody was going to miss the sisters’ tacos. The line at times stretched through the parking lot and continually replenished itself.
“We worked all week cooking — that’s how we keep our church going,” Cecilia Torres said while taking money from one customer after another. “In the wintertime, we rest.”
Children, meanwhile, kept heading over to the Emporia firefighters, who were offering the chance to do target shooting with a fire hose. Children flocked to spray the hose — but even more flocked to stand behind the targets and get caught by the water jet.
“That’s a side benefit I hadn’t thought of,” Fire Chief Jack Taylor said, laughing.
“That’s a great idea,” a woman passing by said to the man with her.
“Getting wet on a day like this?” he answered. “Perfect.”
Air-conditioning would have been perfect, too. Unfortunately, the Lyon County Museum didn’t have it. Sewing machines, record players and old dresses, yes. But the cool-air system quit just in time for the fair.
“It was working sporadically this morning, then finally gave up around 9:30 a.m.,” Rita Scribner said as strategically placed fans tried to move the air around. “I think it was waiting for the thermometer across the street to hit 88.”
But still the crowds kept coming. They might complain about the heat, but no one was about to be driven off by it.
“Bubbles is so hot that she’s melting beyond belief,” said Barb Rourk, made up as Bubbles the clown for a day of twisting balloon animals. “But we have a good crowd and we’re having fun. We’re making all kinds of strange animals here.
“What would you like?” she asked a young boy at the front of the line.
“A purple alligator.”
“See?” Rourk said, laughing. “Purple alligators!”
Like the celebration itself, the fair was divided into “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” “Tomorrow” was the children’s activities, “Today” was given over to civic groups and businesses, while “Yesterday” was a mini-United Nations in places, representing the Welsh, the Latinos, the Germans and more.
“You really see all the diversity and how we can all come together,” said Lynn Smith, director of the local Girl Scouts, which initiated several of the booths.
“I grew up in Kansas City and you just don’t see this kind of camaraderie, people working together,” she added, looking at the flow of people around her. “When Anglos are playing Mexican bingo, we’re getting there.”
Not every booth was a beehive of activity. Lisa Volland, a wreath maker from Topeka who grew up in Emporia, admitted that fall is usually a better season for wreath sales. But she wasn’t about to miss this.
“It’s nice to sit out and see everything, everyone I knew growing up,” she said from her shaded tent. “Everyone seems to be in fairly good spirits. Everyone’s grateful it’s not raining even if it is a little hot.”
The most grateful people on that score may have been the Civil War re-enactors. The only thing worse than a hot wool uniform, after all, is a wet wool uniform. But their spirits stayed high as their “recruiting sergeant” called out his pitch to the crowd.
“Thirteen dollars a month!” he bellowed out. “See the South, all expenses paid! Get a free outfit of clothes and a free rifle! Put down the rebellion!”
Back at the children’s section, 10-year-old Jennifer Lambert carefully drew curlicues and decorations on an eyepatch of white construction paper. Silver glitter and some red-and-blue yarn to hold it on soon finished things up.
“She could stand here for hours if we let her,” her mom Dana Lambert said.
More than one person said they wouldn’t mind seeing something like this again. And several were pleased to see that it had been such a success.
“I really like seeing all the people out here,” said teenager Aaron Schopper, who performed selections from a parody of Shakespeare around midday. “I was worried about the turnout and the apathy level of Emporia. But this turned out pretty well.”
“It took a lot of volunteers to carry this off,” Wheeler said, looking back at all the events. “And we’re so grateful for every one of them.”