Lincoln's 51st Railsplitting Festival starts with a unique ribbon cutting ceremony

 

[September 19, 2022] 

On Saturday morning, the first order of business for the 51st annual Abraham Lincoln National Railsplitting Festival was a ribbon cutting ceremony. The cut was well attended with a large number of festival participants gathering behind the ribbon along with a large percentage of representatives from Lincoln city government.

The cut this year was a unique to the point of being its own historical event at the Railsplitter. Instead of cutting the ribbon with the scissors provided, Heidi Mueller who with help from her dad Bob Rankin and several others, oversees the rail splitting activities at the festival, chose to cut the ribbon with an ax.

When the countdown to the cut occurred Mueller smashed the ax down on the ribbon that was lying on a tree stump sized log. The first whack made a big dent but the ribbon did not cut. But as they say, anything worth doing is worth doing again. The second time, Mueller achieved a clean cut and the ribbon floated away from the stump to the sound of claps and cheers from all those gathered around.

Among the many people included in the line up behind the ribbon was Darlene Begolka, Rankin, Mueller, Postville Courthouse Site Director Denise Martinek, many of the volunteers who help make the festival a success each year, Lincoln Aldermen Kevin Bateman, Sam Downs, Rick Hoefle, Wanda Lee Rohlfs, Tony Zurkammer, City Clerk Peggy Bateman, and Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch.

Helping with the ribbon cut were Lexi Groves with the Logan County Tourism Bureau, and Karen Hargis and Nila Smith with Lincoln Daily News.

Begolka spoke on behalf of the Railsplitting Association thanking the many people who worked so hard to make a successful festival. She also spoke about how the association is growing the event, and said to look for several new additions to the festival this year.

Mayor Tracy Welch thanked the association for all their efforts and praised them for the hard work it has taken to make for a successful festival for 51 years. It was noted that for any festival to have run that long is a remarkable feat that does not often happen.

After the cut, everyone was encouraged to visit all that was available for the Saturday event. Among the fun attractions were tents set up with 1800s era settings. Each tent was staffed with volunteers who were there to demonstrate certain tasks that were commonplace during that time, such as making apple butter over an open fire, growing herbs and other useful plants such as broom corn, which was literally used to make brooms. Speakers shared information about hunting and tanning hides as well as trapping for the fur trade, which was a big money earner back in the day.

The Lincoln Boy Scouts were on hand on the courthouse lawn selling food and there was also a bake sale going on.

On the south side of Fifth Street the Marine Corps League was offering food in the form of freshly grilled tenderloin sandwiches. Inside the VFW vendors offered their wares and there were more food opportunities.

There was one food truck on hand on the side street west of the courthouse where there was also a car show hosted by the Railsplitter Antique Auto Club.

The Lincoln Park District had a play area set up for youngsters that came complete with a large resting spot made of bales of straw covered with blankets for weary parents.
 

Activities at the festival continued into the evening on Saturday, then resumed on Sunday morning with an open air church service and several pioneer lifestyle competitions, such as corn shelling and water boiling. The last events of the festival on Sunday afternoon was the Junior Rail Split and the Professional Rail Split.

LDN will have additional coverage from those events in the Tuesday edition.

[Nila Smith]