Memories revived – memories made – good times on Saturday at Hartsburg’s 150th

 

[June 22, 2021] 

With high winds and rain in the early morning hours on Saturday, June 19, events for the day at Hartsburg 150th started out with some uncertainty. However, bad weather soon cleared, and the sunny day brought many people to downtown Hartsburg.

Six teams compete in Backyard Barbeque Contest

Morning events started with a Backyard Barbeque contest with most teams cooking chicken and ribs in offset smokers or ugly drum smokers.

The six teams participating in the contest included: Sugar Creek BBQ, Brian and Duane BBQ, Firehouse 51, Smoked out, Bro in Law BBQ and Wahab and Son.

Many teams use their own special blend of rubs and spice but like to keep the specific recipes a secret. For instance, Corey Neikirk of Smoked Out said his team uses a homemade rub he makes but would not reveal how he makes it.

Duane Petty is also very secretive about his recipe but said there is a specific timeline he follows when working with the meat.

For Dave Eyrse of Sugar Creek BBQ, “the sweet is in the meat.”

Cale Dahm of Firehouse 51 said he is glad to be doing a BBQ contest again after not doing any since 2019 and is glad to see everybody.

Omar and Sam of Bro-in-Law BBQ said they were here to have fun and bring their take on BBQ to the competition.

John Wahab of Wahab and Son was making ribs and said doing it as a family makes it special.

After the meats had cooked for over four hours, a group of judges evaluated the meats based on appearance, taste and tenderness.

First, second and third place winners in each category received trophies donated by Sarah Lessen in memory of her husband Dale. Shelby Lessen handed out trophies to the winners along with cash prizes of $125 for first place, $100 for second place and $75 for third place.

Placing first for chicken was Brian and Duane BBQ, followed by Sugar Creek BBQ in second place and Firehouse 51 in third place.

Placing first for ribs was Firehouse 51 followed by Brian and Duane BBQ in second place and Bro-in-Law BBQ in third place.



Reserve champions were Brian and Duane



and grand champions were Firehouse 51.

Parade winds through Hartsburg

In the late morning, a parade with over 50 entries started at the 100-year-old Hartsburg Emden School and wound through town.





The parade was led by the color guard followed by Grand Marshalls Bill Lessen, Irma Leesman, Gerald Lolling and Ruth Aper.



Next in line were the newly crowned Hartsburg royalty Queen Faith Sanders, Little Miss Hartsburg Laney Coers and Little Mr. Hartsburg Presley Payne.

The 2020 Logan County Fair Royalty Queen Faith Doerr, Junior Miss Grace Nagrocki and Little Miss Aubrey Rogers followed behind them in a convertible donated by Jim Xamis Ford Lincoln.

Among the other entries were several fire trucks from Hartsburg and surrounding areas and various tractors from different years driven by area farmers.



The Cross family represented several generations of farming that began in the area in 1870.

Special entries included a 1931 Model A Kevin Zinser had previously driven in the 100th and 125th celebrations.  

A 1961 Plymouth Fury driven by Donald Ahrends in the 125th celebration parade. They were joined by several other classic cars.



Former paperboy Roger Bruns rode a 1960 bike he bought with money earned from his paper route around Hartsburg.



Groups participating included the FFA, Emden Historical Society members, the Hartem volleyball teams and several Logan County elected officials.



A couple of the floats represented families with long-time ties to Hartsburg. Rocking Through the Years held descendants of Rudy and Wanda Lolling and the local Budweiser man Doug Ritterbush.

Area businesses with entries included Hartsburg Grain Company, Rohlfs Implement, Greenhaven Animal Clinic, Tracy Olson Insurance Agency and Ag Land FS.



Jeff and Becky Hanlin of Big Horse Power Farms rounded out entries in their horse and carriage with their horses’ hooves decorated with red, white and blue paint.

Kiddie Tractor Pull has big turnout



Next up for the day was the kiddie tractor pull. With 63 entrants, the organizers said it was the biggest turnout they had seen.

There were three weight classes: light weight for kids 44 pounds or under, middle weight for kids less than 63 pounds and heavy weight for kids less than 100 pounds.

As the kids strived to pull the weighted sleds with their tractor, the audience motivated them with cheers that included you can do it, push and keep going fast.



The light weight class pulled 16 pounds of weights in the sled behind their tractor. A few were able to do a full pull over 35 feet.

Those in the middle weight class pulled 41 pounds of weights in the sled behind their tractor and though there were no full pulls, one entrant pulled the sled 26.6 feet.

The heavy weight class pulled over 50 pounds of weights in the sled behind their tractor. Three were able to do a full pull and when they had weight added for repull could still do a full pull. When all the remaining weights were added to equal 75 pounds, Brantley Conrady was the only one who did a full pull.



The top three participants from each weight class received trophies.

Many kids involved in the tractor pull said they really enjoyed it.

Food vendors selling a variety of food and drinks were Udderly Delicious, Pizza Guy’s Wood Fired Pizzas and Cheesed Out. At lunch time, each vendor had long lines.

As the day heated up, many bought snow cones and cold drinks from the Hartem Junior Class. Additionally, the Little Brown Cow Dairy run by Terry and Bob Hoerbert was selling pints of milk throughout the day.

In the evening, the Hartem volleyball girls sold Avanti’s sandwiches and chips.

The evening entertainment was provided by the musical group Brushville with local talent Joe Garcia opening for them.

Though there were activities going on throughout the day, for many people, the chance to visit with family and friends was part of the excitement.

Lisa Conrady, who has lived in the area all her life, said it was great to catch up with family and friends, some of whom she had not seen in over a year.

Lisa Wrage of Emden said it is good to see so many from the community. Events like the Hartsburg celebration give the Wrages hope for the future of small rural communities with generations of family growing up there.

[Angela Reiners]