Lincoln Heritage Days
getting bigger and better      

[MAY 21, 2005]  Lincoln Heritage Days will be celebrated once again over the Fourth of July. Only this year it has been expanded to four days of celebration. A full line of events is being planned by the committee to cover the entire holiday weekend, from Friday, July 1, running through Monday, July 4.

Heritage Days committee spokesman Chuck Conzo said that this event is moving toward a big celebration for Abraham Lincoln on his 200th birthday in 2009.

Expansion of the event has a twofold purpose. First, it will draw people to Lincoln to stay a few days. It is also intended to raise funds for the big 2009 celebration.

Mayor Beth Davis said that as this is the oldest city named for Abraham Lincoln, people are watching to see how we will celebrate his birthday. A main goal of having the bigger Heritage Days celebration is to gather money so we will be able to have a big 2009 celebration.

Lincoln Heritage Day events include:

• Evening car cruise-in
• Downtown garage sale
• Watermelon feed
• Two nights of two bands on the streets
• Wristbands for alcohol on the streets will be sold again
• Fourth of July parade
• Christian rock band performance
• Fireworks

Highlights

Streets will be blocked off downtown on Friday, Saturday and Monday for various events.

The Railsplitter Antique Auto Club will host a car cruise-in on Friday evening.

Both Friday and Saturday nights the streets of Lincoln will once again come alive with band music. Performances are scheduled from 5 to 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. to midnight. People purchasing wristbands will be able to carry alcohol on the streets.

Immanuel Lutheran Church will supply alternative music with a free Christian rock band performance at the church.

A parade is scheduled for Monday morning. It will run from Scully Park to the high school on Wyatt Avenue.

A full lineup of the usual fun Fourth of July activities at the Lincoln Park District will take place beginning in the afternoon. And fireworks at dusk will close the holiday celebration.

Details of these and other events will be posted in Lincoln Daily News as they become available.

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Life Sentence, No Parole

If we tried to invent the cruelest punishment for dogs, we probably couldn't come up with anything worse than "solitary confinement" on a chain or in a kennel.

Dogs are pack animals who crave the companionship of others.  Scratches behind the ears, games of fetch, or even just walks around the block mean the world to them.  Curling up at your feet while you watch TV is their idea of heaven.

Many dogs left to fend for themselves at the end of a chain fall prey to attacks by other animals or cruel people, and many others are injured or hanged or choke as a result of getting entangled or caught in their tether.

If you have a backyard dog, please, bring him or her inside.  They don't want much--just you.

A public service announcement from Lincoln Daily News and helpinganimals.com