Haigler Clebrates 5th Annual Fall Tumbleweed Festival

Tumbleweed Festival
Picture courtesy of Bill Coe

Haigler hosted their 5th annual Fall Tumbleweed Festival on Saturday, October 13. A beautiful, sunny autumn day brought over 150 people throughout the tri-state region of Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado to attend the festival activities. Banners on both sides of town, flags lining the streets, and balloons on museum grounds welcomed all driving Highway 34 (the GoldenRod Hi-Way) to the event.

Garage Sales

Village garage sales had 9 sites and 15 families participating. Lunch was served under the tents on the museum grounds where everyone enjoyed sloppy joes, hot dogs, homemade dill pickles, chips, and drinks. Homemade pies and ice cream were served in the Golden Inn Senior Center. Ladies from the community had baked 24 pies for the event.

Open house at the Country Schoolhouse Museum
and the Haigler Cornerstone Museum.

Other activities throughout the day included treasure hunts, horseshoe pitching, carousel rides on the maypole merry-go-round, and a spook parade for kids of all ages. Open house was held at both the Country Schoolhouse Museum and the Haigler Cornerstone Museum. This was the first year for the Art Show, and the response from area artists and festival goers was fantastic. The tumbleweed contest was great fun; and entries were displayed along a fence on the grounds. Winners were Deb Bush of Haigler, Chris McAfoos of Parks, and Mike David of Parks. Music was provided throughout the afternoon by the Garage Bunch of Burlington, CO—who have been a part of the annual festival for 3 years.

The first year for the Art Show

Haigler’s Tumbleweed Festival is a major fundraiser for the Haigler Museum projects. Coordinator LaNeta Carlock said, “People in our communities have just been wonderful in their support of both financial and artifact donations.” “This year, generous free will donations from attendees and business donations contributed $1,500.  In addition, there were 52 businesses and individuals from our tri-state area that contributed gifts and gift certificates totaling almost $2,000.” “It takes a lot of caring people to make good things happen—and this caring is what keeps our small community alive.”

Maypole Awards, given in recognition of exemplary support and service, were awarded this year to all area newspapers who have been so good to provide continuing news coverage of the Museum projects these past five years. Awardees were: The Benkelman Post and News Chronicle, The Saint Francis Herald, the Wray Gazette, and the McCook Daily Gazette.

Bill Coe Photography