Sadieville In September...

Last Saturday, September 10th, we held 'Sadieville In September' in our little town. Judy Sinclair is our City Commissioner over Parks & Recreation. She took that bull by the horns and created a wonderful day of community spirit. It started at 9am and concluded at 10pm. There were things going on all day long.

Our police officer Bobby Bruner provided donuts and juice at City Hall for the morning. We had the History of Sadieville in the Lodge Building. In City Hall we had 'The Day We Left for Kansas' exhibit, lectures and activities.

We have a rich piece of African American history in Sadieville. When the blacks were freed after the Civil War they were offered land to homestead in Kansas. Many left from our town of Sadieville, Kentucky for Nicodemus, Kansas where they would establish an all black community with the freedom to run their own government. The railroad would eventually by pass the town of Nicodemus. Today it only has a few residents. However, it is a National Historic Site and National Park Service personnel man the town for tours. Through grants and community support we were able to have Angela Bates come from Nicodemus, Kansas to speak to us.  Sheryl Marks, a native of Stamping Ground (another community in our county) also spoke. She is a historian and has connections between Kentucky and Kansas just as Angela does.

We also had a BMX Bike Show. They performed three times during the day (10am, 1pm & 4pm). This was a huge hit with the kids and with the adults. We have a wonderful park with a basketball court on Pike Street and the BMX people used this basketball court for their demonstration. The kids were all given back packs bags with flyers about no smoking, drinking, & drugs. It also contained a water bottle. And, there were 'back stage' passes to meet the BMX guys and get their autographs.

A local car club also provided us with a car show. We had people's choice awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Here are the winners of the car show with their trophies in the order of 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Then there will be pictures of some of the other cars.

The kids had an opportunity to climb into and around the ambulance and fire truck. The police had a finger printing and ID set up so kids could have those things done. The Eagle Creek Baptist Church provided a day full of fun for the little ones. There was face painting, throwing a ball to knock down bottles, balloon popping with darts, tossing a ping pong ball into little containers full of water and a balloon bounce.

We had two great food vendors. One was our local Fat Boys BBQ & the other came a good distance to participate. They had a line all day long for fresh squeezed lemonade and funnel cake. The potato ribbons were much enjoyed by Claude and me at the end of the day.

We also had lots of vendors. Everything from jewelry, to wood carvings, to satellite service, to country ham and bacon, to Tupperware, to crafts, etc., etc., etc.  I was careful and waited till the end of the day to make my purchases.

There is something a bit magical about standing on Main Street with the vendors and having the train go past. We had Main Street blocked off for the day.

The day time festivities ended about 5pm. Vendors started packing up at that time. The Thunder Ridge Bluegrass Band set up for the evening. At 6pm we all brought out our chairs, grabbed something to eat and/or drink from the lemonade vendor and stopped to enjoy this delightful band pick and grin they way from 6pm to 10pm. We didn't stay all the way. My allergy medicine wore off and at 8:30pm Claude said, "I really think we should take you home." I heartily agreed and we pointed that yellow Jeep toward home.

It was a wonderful, very full day. It is fun to watch friends and neighbors visit and enjoy the activities and entertainment. It is fun to watch former residents come and catch up with old friends they haven't seen in a long time. It is fun to watch our local politicians come out to meet the people they represent and it is not even a time to vote for them. It is just great to remember our history while enjoying the fun things to do today. The weather was perfect after the brief shower in the morning as we set up. There were lovely clouds to cover us just a bit and keep us froming being too hot. It just was a great day to enjoy small town America at its best. Makes one very happy to live in such a lovely place.