News

Firework Free Family Fun At Stuhr Museum On The Fourth

Posted: 2:31 PM Jul 4, 2012
Reporter: Rudy Mezzy

Firework Free Family Fun At Stuhr Museum On The Fourth - Rudy Mezzy Reports

As they do every year on America's birthday, the Stuhr Museum in Grand Island likes to celebrate in Railroad Town like it's 1892!

Kay Cynova, Stuhr Museum's Director of Historical Interpretation, says, "The Fourth of July is a uniquely American holiday and it is different in Railroad Town because we kind of pull out all the stops. We have all these activities going on plus our regular activities as well."

Director of Marketing, Mike Bockoven, notes, "We celebrate the Fourth of July as it was celebrated in 1892. That's this part of town, Railroad Town. We have parades, games on the green, patriotic speeches, a live band concert, pie eating contests, all that sort of thing that has historical precedent."

And for one of their biggest events of the year, the Stuhr Museum makes sure to inflect some historical value in their celebrations.

"There's a real focus on patriotism," says Bockoven, "there's a real focus on community and that's what you see with the games and the speeches and that sort of thing. It's fun, but it's also meaningful and it's been a pretty big event for us."

During the day, when fireworks aren't the main focus, Stuhr maintains a tradition from when the daytime held most of the celebration.

Cynova says fireworks were not always the face of the holiday, "Doing a program is a community tradition that dates back to the nineteenth century. A lot of communities would vie to get as many people as possible to come to their community for the Fourth. They would start advertising and promoting it in their local newspapers in May and June. So, they tried to get as many people as possible to these programs, so it was a big deal! It was almost a contest to see who could have the biggest program."