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Big names, big fun slated for festival
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · August 03, 2011
A month ago, Terry Branstads office confirmed to the Hoover Presidential Library Association that the Iowa governor would take part in Hoover’s Hometown Days.
On Friday, his office cemented those intentions to the citizens in an updated release of the governors public schedule: 10 a.m. Aug. 6.
That’s the time the Mayors Parade starts to roll.
At the same time that press release went out from Des Moines, the Hoovers Hometown Days committee toiled through a lunchtime meeting some 120 miles east of Iowas capitol, right here in West Branch, at the offices of the Hoover Association.
But like the governors participation, a lot of the big stuff had already fallen into place. Whats left are the details.
The event runs from 8 p.m. to midnight Friday, Aug. 5, then 10 a.m. to midnight Saturday, Aug. 6. The theme is “Going Green — Sustainable Living: A Lifestyle Using Earths Natural Resources Responsibly.”
Branstad is not the only public figure visiting this weekend:
• Simon Estes, an Iowa-born operatic bass-baritone who has sung for Presidents Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon and Barack Obama as well as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.
• Lynda Johnson Robb, the daughter of President Lyndon Johnson, has Robb has worked at McCalls and edited the Ladies Home Journal. Her husband, Charles “Chuck” Robb (the two married in the White House) is a former governor and former U.S. Senator of Virginia. President Johnson visited the Hoover Library not long after the 186 acres around it was named a national park.
• Clifton Truman Daniels, grandson of Harry S Truman, recently authored a book, “Dear Harry, Love Bess,” a collection of love letters between the President and his wife.
• Margaret Hoover, the great-granddaughter of West Branch native President Hoover, a political commentator who often appears on Fox News, and has authored her own book, “American Individualism,” based upon a speech Hoover once gave.
Music will add to the atmosphere of the event with bandstands set up by the fire station and the Hoover Library.
Loaded, a country rock band, will start things off on Friday at the fire station. Just For Fun takes the stage outside the Hoover Library on Saturday afternoon, followed by Touch Of Fun, a barbershop quartet, and the Eastern Iowa Brass Band.
Back at the fire station, Dale Thomas and the Bandera Boys, a local 50s rock band, will entertain the dinner crowd and 8 Seconds will perform before and after the fireworks.
The fireworks are expected to be an even bigger display than last year as the city, Hoover Association and donations have pitched in together. Those wishing to hear the synchronized music should sit around the fire station. Otherwise, seating will be available in the Village Green and Loop Road in the National Historic Site.
And among the very long list of activities this weekend, organizers point to Village Green most of all — not only are the inflatable rides — like the big slide, Bungee trampoline, human bowling and more — back, but Acciona Windpower paid for everything, meaning all the rides are free to the public.
“There will be a ton of activities on the Village Green,” West Branch Parks and Recreation Director Melissa Russell said. “Hopefully we will attract a lot of people.”
She added that “human bowling,” which is new, is “pretty cool.” Participants get inside a steel-framed ball and roll themselves toward the pins.
This is the first time in years the citys annual celebration and the Hoover Presidential Library-Museum Association’s annual birthday bash for the former president have been combined, and organizers say that has allowed them to pool their resources, from money to volunteers, together to make the event bigger and better.
“It is most exciting,” Hoover Association Executive Director Becky Allgood said, “how we really have come together. Everybody who has a stake in Hometown Days and Hooverfest has come together to make this a really wonderful event for all ages.”
Russell agreed.
“We have been able to put the donations into one bigger pile,” she said.
This year’s Hoovers Hometown Days is doubling as the kickoff for next year’s event, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the Library-Museum.
Of all the small towns in Iowa, West Branch is unique because it has a presidential library, Allgood said.
“All of our special guests have something to do with our presidents,” she said. “It’s a wonderful thing we’re able to boast about here and make it happen.”
Only 44 people have been president in America’s history, Allgood notes.
“That’s a small club,” she said, “and it was the presidents’ idea to put (their libraries) in their back yards instead of Washington D.C. They are peppered all over the United States. So many of them have come from humble beginnings. And we happen to have one in our back yard right here.”
Russell said the city is bringing back the soapbox derby as well. She expects it start out small, but said there will be some soapbox cars on hand for people to try out, in hopes they will build their own car next year.
“I think it can build,” she said.
The soapbox derby costs $10 per family no matter how many people ride.
The Mayor’s Parade has moved its staging area to Pedersen Valley to make way for the Team Fergalicious 5K Road Race, which will be taking over at Hoover Elementary.
As of last count, some 35 groups have entered floats in the parade, not including fire trucks, police cars and tractors.
“Its going to be a pretty wild parade,” Allgood said.
The mayor and council members will ride in a small train in the parade. That same train will be at Town Hall afterward and people can take rides for $3 each starting at 1 p.m. The train will take riders on a 10-minute tour.
More than 110 exhibitors, from food vendors to crafters, will be spread throughout the National Historic Site.
“Thats the most we’ve ever had,” Allgood said, noting that the highest number before was in the 60s. “We have way surpassed that.”
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