Ramona: Labor Day fun leaves streets quiet and empty
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
Ramona streets are strangely quiet around Labor Day — folks often use the three-day weekend to take a trip, head to the lake, or visit another town's celebration.
Labor Day parade in Burdick is an institution and I spotted many Ramona folks in the audience as Pat, Mom, Tooltime Tim, and I cruised down the parade route dressed as scarecrows.
We weren't sure if Mom would join us in the parade — especially when she learned she'd have to dress as a scarecrow and let Pat paint her face. She kept throwing in excuses like "I don't have any old clothes to wear." And Pat would respond, "Folks are only seeing you from the neck up so I'll give you an old shirt and hat to wear."
"I don't know about letting you paint my face," said Mom hesitantly. "Ah, it will wash off," assured Pat. "You'd better paint her face white instead of orange," I interjected, just in case the paint doesn't come off easily.
As we drove down Burdick's Main Street I could hear little kids' responding to Mom waving out her window. "Oh, she looks scary!" said one little girl.
After the parade we got in line for homemade ice cream and I saw Raschelle Jirak and her brother, Elias. "Say hi to Jess," urged Raschelle, and Elias took one look at me dressed as a scarecrow and I thought he would break out in a howl like he did at Easter when he saw Tooltime Tim as a giant Easter Bunny. But alas, Elias didn't let out a peep — he just frowned and scurried off in the opposite direction! An excellent strategy for getting away from things unpleasant.
When I talked with Orvell Brunner this week she said they hadn't done much since Labor Day weekend. "The family was home and our son-in-law Bernie — who's the chef in the family — barbecued some Brunner beef for the family. And Tanner and Bernie also ran in the Burdick Fun Run," said Orvell.
David Staatz's family was at Herington Lake on Labor Day weekend. It's an annual affair and the Staatz siblings bring their families to the lake to just hang out together.
Jim Thompson and his brood also were at Herington Lake. The kids were so eager to tell me every detail. "We slept in a huge tent," said Cassy with enthusiasm. "And Dad brought the barbecue to the lake on our trailer," added Terren. "Our uncle Ron and his family was there, too," interjected Dallen. And along for the lakeside fun was family friend Kim Young and her son, Nathan, also from Ramona. Ben Thompson brought his buddy Caleb, another Ramonaite and the whole crew had a weekend of barbecuing, swimming, and playing.
Often Caleb and Ben are seen cruising Ramona streets in Caleb's red car, with throbbing music providing a thumping background as they check the streets for any excitement. As a result Caleb has earned the nickname "Thumper" around town. You can often feel him coming down the street before you see him. But with Caleb and Ben at Herington Lake the streets were strangely quiet.
Warren and Paula Fike spent the weekend in Colorado attending their nephew Toby's wedding. "We stayed with Duane's family while in Colorado," said Paula. Duane is Warren's younger brother and the groom's father.
The Fikes were supposed to be on their way to Mobile, Ala., for Warren's annual Navy reunion but the event was canceled due to Hurricane Katrina.
On Sunday the Fikes were in Marion for the Mueller-Friedly reunion on Paula's side of the family. "We also stopped to see Naomi in the hospital," said Paula. Naomi Fike has been in St. Luke Hospital for a week or more and she hopes to return to Marion Manor this week, where she's undergoing physical therapy.
The senior center was a hoppin' place Sunday evening — I could tell because there were cars everywhere. It was the monthly game night and attending were Al and Darlene Sondergard, Lauren and Orvell Brunner, Steve and Myrna Eskeldson, Fred and Marguerite Utech, Bob and Rita Brady, and from Tampa Walt and Iona Dietrich.
Usually Reign and Marlene Anduss are part of this crew but they were with Marlene's brother Sunday. "My sister-in-law suddenly died this weekend," said Marlene. The funeral is this week so various family members are arriving for the family gathering.
This Thursday is the monthly senior center luncheon in Ramona and on Friday commodities will be distributed from 1 to 4 p.m. at the center.
On Saturday, Pat, Tooltime Tim, and I took our scarecrow float to Hope for their Heritage Days parade. Mom wouldn't go along on this parade so we asked Tony Meyer to fill the vacancy up front in Tim's truck.
Tony looked darn cute with his orange-painted face and a jaunty hat perched on his head. The Fikes were along the parade route and so were David and Jane Staatz and their daughter Emily. Jane was working Saturday at Papa Ts since she is the cook there. But she stepped out of the kitchen long enough to take in the parade.
We're taking our scarecrow float to several of the area parades to advertise Ramona's upcoming event — Scarecrows on Parade — that happens in October. But the scarecrows won't be happening just in Ramona, as they have for the past four years. This year we're being joined by Lincolnville, Tampa, Burdick, and Lost Springs. The more the merrier. See Rowena Plett's article in this week's Marion County Record for details about the event.
This Saturday Jeannie Weber, Art Stroda, Mayor Pat Wick, and myself will be in the Ramona park at 10 a.m. to hold a scarecrow workshop, sharing ideas and secrets with kids and adults who want to put up a display in their yard. (If the weather's bad, we'll be in the former barbershop downtown.)
This has been a dream of mine since last October when Jeannie, who's terrific at forming scarecrow faces, put up several clever scarecrows around Ramona. My sister, Pat, is talented at making scarecrows funny and I just imagined what fun it would be to get the kids and adults together to make scarecrows and start putting them up all over town.
We're all collecting supplies and materials, but if you have things to contribute, bring them to the workshop. Art Stroda is bringing scraps of 2x4s for scarecrow frames but if you have any of these supplies, bring them along. An old shovel, rake or broom can also be the spine of a scarecrow, and with the broom, the broom bristles can serve as a face. Pool floaties can work as great arms and legs or stuff pantyhose to make the limbs.
For faces, Jeannie Weber uses a cloth bag or nylons stuffed with quilt stuffing. We sometimes use plastic pumpkin heads or a plastic bag stuffed with newspaper or hay. For hair, yarn or old mop heads are terrific. Newspaper cut in strips, raffia, hay, twigs or old cheerleading pompons also work great.
Props make the scarecrows delightful. Last year Jeannie had a scarecrow mother pushing a scarecrow baby in a stroller. I got out my water skis and had a skiing scarecrow. Your imagination is the limit.
And that's the news from Ramona where we're making reasons for you to drive through town and a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
