Summer festivals inevitably draw annual themes. Some years the committee finds a more fitting moniker than others. Towns often start with a reference to local history, such as Chadron’s Fur Trade Days or Gering’s Oregon Trail Days. Alliance has given a nod to its past in general since 1980 with Heritage Days. This past week the local July celebration encouraged participants to “BEE Buzzing on the Butte”.
How Heritage Days attracts hundreds of people downtown and to various activities elsewhere does call to mind honey bees gathering at a hive that will only exist temporarily. Not all the bees visit for the same reason. Depending on the time of day, sidewalk sales, food vendors and carnival rides bring the crowds. Personally, my first time downtown for Heritage Days was with my family to find our favorite food truck fare and watch our children transition from the kiddie rides in the parking lot to the big kid rides on Box Butte. We chose a mild day as storms stayed away last Wednesday. Crowds grew as the sun set and others arrived for Frazier Shows Carnival’s wristband night. Our son liked most of the same rides as his older sister though neither was able to try the Zipper despite standing in line for over half an hour. Because somebody got sick on their final choice of the night, each chose a different attraction to ride again before walking back to the car.
On a couple other occasions I returned downtown to empty trash cans. Keep Alliance Beautiful continued its litter prevention assistance at Heritage Days as the celebration returned to a full schedule for 2021. KAB’s colorful barrels joined the city’s trash receptacles to accommodate the influx of people and their waste. Promoting recycling would be ideal, however the main goal is to keep the Butte as clean and litter-free as possible.
At times, over the years, KAB has enlisted volunteers to empty trash cans and/or pick up stray litter. One of the first summers I remember having fun at the carnival was because my brothers and I picked up trash in exchange for a sheet of ride tickets.
Hoisting heavy bags takes effort, yet it is gratifying to provide a cleaner setting for people enjoying Heritage Days. I would say our KAB trash detail was among the “worker bees” that may not warrant a second thought. Although, arguably, carnival employees top the list at small-town festivals, fairs and celebrations.
Frazier Shows was on my mind more this summer than previous visits. KAB, working with our landland, relocated the recycling trailers so the carnival could park its mobile homes and many of its vehicles on the lot north of the recycling center. Recyclers simply visited our trailers north of the former Pepsi plant for the week. This way Fraizer employees could stay just a few blocks away while working downtown. I hope the arrangement improved their experience.
Now all the “bees” are gone from the Butte as Alliance returns to an ordinary summer week. Thanks to the Chamber of Commerce, committee members, merchants, carnival, volunteers and everybody who has helped make Heritage Days something to look forward to for more than 40 years.