The celebration at Postville began at 10 a.m. with an
invocation led by the Rev. Simon Taabu of Holy Family Catholic
Church, and area Girl Scouts were asked to lead the Pledge of
Allegiance to the American flag. On hand for the day were
President and first lady Lincoln, portrayed by Gary and Carol
Simpkins.
Throughout the day there were a variety of activities going on,
including a scavenger hunt where visitors were given a list of
questions to answer. The questions were based on Lincoln, and the
answers were found at the courthouse through the numerous displays.
Storyteller Brian "Fox" Ellis was also on hand. In the morning he
took over the upstairs courtroom and told tales of Lincoln as a
young man. Among the stories he told was that of Lincoln's
near-death experience when he was kicked in the head by a horse as a
youth.
Ellis told the story with great enthusiasm and animation, keeping
the courtroom full of guests well-entertained. In the afternoon
Ellis moved the subject to tales of Lincoln's partnership with
William Herndon in a law office.
Also on hand for the noon hours was musician John Sutton, who
entertained the crowd with his special talents.
And of course, no celebration is complete without cake and ice
cream. Members of Lincoln's Logan County Arts and Crafts Guild, with
Nancy Saul and Sue Bidwell acting as hostesses, served up generous
portions of cake, ice cream and punch.
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Geoff Ladd, director of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of
Logan County, was on hand much of the day, enjoying the opportunity
to chat with visitors and the volunteers who were manning various
locations in the courthouse.
He offered praises of the newest site director of the Postville
Courthouse, Stu Churchill, saying it was Churchill's first event as
the official site director and it was very well organized.
Churchill has been a volunteer at the historic site for over 10
years and was selected to take on the director position when Shirley
Bartelmay retired.
In all, the day was a great success, with many periods of time
when folks were nearly shoulder to shoulder in the ground-floor
rooms, visiting, enjoying cake and taking in the history of Abraham
Lincoln.
[By NILA SMITH]
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