2004 Year in Review

Morrison Fest 2004

Morrison Fest 2004 was packed with activities for all ages.

The day started with the Girl Scout’s 5K Spirit Run at Rockwood State Park.

A large group gathered at Morrison Community Hospital to honor Drs. Ike and Dick Vandermyde, which finished with a group photo shoot of those in attendance.

Keith Wiersema headed the Soap Box Derby that was held on Madison Street with 16 participants racing down the hill to the finish line.

The Pluck A Duck drawings were held every half hour from 10 a.m. until the final grand prize drawing which was held at 8 p.m. Participants could buy yellow rubber ducks and place them in the duck pond in hopes of being “plucked” for a prize, sponsored by various businesses.

50/50 Raffle tickets were also sold throughout the day. With the winner receiving half of the total. The other half goes toward a high school scholarship fund sponsored by the Morrison Chamber of Commerce.

Whiteside County Fairgrounds was the site for a Native Indian display, which consisted of true Sac Indians in authentic clothing along with an actual teepee. If you were the brave type you could visit Arnie and Mitch Drolema’s inflatable haunted house. Energetic children could jump and bounce around in the Dyno Jump or on the lighter side could participate in games and crafts sponsored by Morrison Community Youth Projects, Girl Scouts and Whiteside County 4-H.

If you were hungry you could feast yourself on pork chops, barbeques, hot dogs and brats, corn on the cob and an all time favorite – funnel cakes.

Morrison Fire Department sponsored a firefighters water fight at Waterworks Park with four different departments attending from around the area. Individual firefighters met up against each other with fire hoses in arms to show their skills at directing the water flow to a barrel hanging from a cable to the other team’s side.

Jennifer’s Dance Studio entertained the afternoon’s audience with dancers demonstrating their talents in Irish jigs and modern dancing and a group of Appalachian Mountain dancers showed their precision and speed during a clogging routine to “Rocky Top Tennessee.”

Main Street was donned with cars Saturday evening for the Classic Car Show, which was organized by Ron and Todd Weimer of Morrison.

The Karaoke contest was the final event of the day that drew in 10 contestants singing their hearts out for a chance at winning $250.

For photos of the day’s events see Photo Album

Bob Vaughn would like to add the following thank you to all involved.

The Morrison Chamber of Commerce wishes to thank all of the visitors and participants of this year’s Morrisonfest activities for making all of the events successful. Several new features were added including the Girl Scout 5K Spirit Run, Native Americans, and we enjoyed bringing back the classic car show and the soap box derby races. Mixed in were an extremely spooky inflatable haunted house, lots of kids’ games by Morrison Community Youth Project and the 4-H. The brats, corn on the husk, pork chops, sno-cones and funnel cakes reminded us how close the Fair is and we enjoyed it all with sodas or a brew later in the evening while listening to the Karaoke contest.

None of this is possible without good hearted and dedicated volunteers, chamber members and business participation. Thank you to the City of Morrison for all your help and understanding, the Fair Board who allows use of their buildings and all of these great businesses: Lindsey Harkness Chevrolet, K & R Greenhouse, Farmers Elevator, The Coffee Garden, Radio Shack, Rockwood Marina, Girl Scouts, Briar Patch, Maria’s Pizza, Lion and the Lamb, Edward Jones, Happy Joes Pizza, Morrison Auto Supply, Fusion Fitness, Hardees, Superwash, Fat Boys Bar and Grill, Forest Inn, Casa Gomez, Shell Oil, Subway, Asylum of Mad Dreams, Sullivan’s, Hunter Body Shop, New Millennium Yellow Pages, Becks Convenience Stores, John A. Miller, D.C., Tegeler’s Amish Furniture, Morrison True Value, Fitzgerald Pharmacy, Mainstreet Market, Ken Kophamer Realty and Workman’s Plumbing Heating and Cooling, Mickley Insurance and thecity1.com.

A special thanks to the Morrison Fire Department who raced to the scene of a non-fire and filled our Pluck A Duck tank. Thank you to Community State Bank, Advantage One Credit Union, Wells Fargo Bank, Morrison Community Federal Credit Union, Metrobank and Sterling Federal Bank for selling a best ever 1300 Pluck A Ducks! A round of applause goes to Lindsay Harkness Chevrolet for donating that great grand prize, a Weber grill.

The final round of applause goes however to a person who attended and was a contestant in the Karaoke contest. Kevin Belsey sang his heart out trying to win that big money and he made it to the final round where he placed 3rd. Immediately after receiving his check, Kevin endorsed it back to the Morrison Chamber of Commerce and simply said, “Please add this to the chamber’s MHS Scholarship Fund, I had a great time!” Kevin had it right and we thank him for reminding us again that Morrisonfest 2004 was for our kids.

by Dawn Zuidema, theCity1.com
July 21, 2004