It was thought to be one of the largest crowds ever at the annual Old Fashioned Fourth of July parade on Tuesday, July 4, 2017 in Lennox, with an estimated 18,000 people in the crowd. Todd Shuman, owner of Sunshine Food walks the parade each year with fellow employees handing out 8,000 fudge pops. The crowd was especially appreciative of the cold treats this year as the day’s temperatures were in the 90’s. Shuman said it was the biggest crowd he’s seen.
Mayor Orville Wiebers concurred. “Over 450 were at the church service on Sunday, July 2nd and that was huge again,” he said, “but on the 4th of July — I don’t remember any more people ever! It was just huge and it didn’t matter if construction was going on, they found a way to get in and enjoy it.”
Wiebers said the construction on the end of north Main Street seemed to have little affect overall. He heard comments about how great it was that the parade could go past the Good Samaritan Center on Sixth Ave.
The car show reported 83 entries and the kiddy tractor pull had 169 competitors (details on the tractor pull can be found on page 9). Eric Machmuller from Total Stop Food Stores and representative for the Lennox Commercial Club said that there were 23 craft booths at the arts in the park. A large crowd stayed in the park to enjoy the music and other activities for much of the afternoon.
Machmuller also reported that the Street Dance had a successful night on July 3rd with about 1,150 tickets sold at the gate alone.
He estimates that the Commercial Club will be able to donate around $4,000 divided between the Senior Citizens Center and the Lennox High School Booster Club.
For the past five years, (including this year) Machmuller estimates that the Commercial Club will have donated $28,000 to different community organizations thanks to the Lennox Street Dance. The street dance is successful thanks in large part to the sponsorships from area businesses.
This year’s sponsors included: As Premier Sponsor: Poet Bio-Refining; As Gold Sponsors: Jerrys Auto Sales, Security State Bank, First Financial, Billions Southtown, Plains Commerce Bank, Valley Exchange Bank; As Silver Sponsors: DeCou H & C, Farm Gas Coop, Studio G Salon, Prairie Wind Trailers, Benco Products, Ace Hardware, Pederson Machine, Prairie Performance Diesel, Bolte’s Roll-Off, Scott Bolte Sanitation, Larson Truck Sales, Sioux Steel; Bronze — Beamers Pub, Temple Insurance, Lennox Chiropractic, Del Johnke, Eastern Farmers Coop, Exchange Insurance, New Prairie RV.