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 Those
who were present for the cut included the 2023 Miss Logan County
Fair Queen Ellyn Martinez, Alice Roate and Lexie Groves of the Logan
County Tourism Bureau, Lincoln Alderpersons Wanda Lee Rohlfs, Robin
McClallen and Sam Downs, Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch, Chassidy White
with Lincoln Daily News, Darlene Begolka, Bob Rankin, Rob Harmon
with the Railsplitter Antique Auto Club, Allison Baker with the
Lincoln Park District, Krista Miller with the Oasis Senior Center,
and a large number of festival volunteers and exhibitors.
The ribbon cutting ceremony was led by Nila Smith with Lincoln Daily
News, who opened by saying in was an honor to be able to assist with
the ribbon cutting of a festival that has lasted more than 50 years.
Begolka had asked that the partnering organizations at the festival
be placed front and center with Bob Rankin for the cutting. Each was
called on to speak.
Rob Harmon said that the car club would be hosting a
cruise-in in the afternoon at Postville Park, just down the street
from Postville Courthouse.
Allison Baker said that for the second year, the
Lincoln Park District was offering a play area for youngsters at the
corner of the courthouse lawn.
Krista Miller spoke about the Railsplitter Metric
Century and Family Ride, a bicycle ride organized in partnership
with the Oasis and Lincoln Memorial Hospital.
Rankin spoke about the splitting events. He said that
numbers were up and down, but the annual event was doing well, and
there were going to be several splitting activities over the weekend
including the Professional Split on Sunday afternoon that would be
the grand finale’ of the weekend’s competitions. He said that there
was a need for new members for the festival and that all were
welcome.
Mayor Tracy Welch was called on to speak and said the
Lincoln community was very lucky to have this event. He said that
volunteering and supporting the event was a wonderful thing and he
praised the festival organizers for fostering partnerships with
other local organizations.
Darelene Begolka was the last to speak and said she
was going to share some excerpts from the history of the festival
that is found on the Railsplitting website
History - Abraham
Lincoln National Railsplitting Festival
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This year, the people manning the scissors for the cut were Rankin,
Harmon, Baker and Miller. The group posed for the formal picture,
the at the end of the countdown, the four snipped the ribbon, making
the official start of the festival that would continue through
Sunday evening.
[Nila Smith]
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