Nichols, Iowa Centennial Book
Nichols - Our Town - 1984
NICHOLS DAY 1980
Nichols, Iowa Centennial Book 1884-1984, pages 96-97
Written by Becky Connell, Journal CorrespondentNichols – The annual Nichols Day was held Saturday with a variety of events throughout the day.
The morning got underway with a six-mile Run for Fun Marathon in which first place was captured by Greg Skopec, Cedar Rapids, with a time of 34.10 minutes. More than 100 people registered, with the oldest being Madeleo Blake, 66, of Letts.
A single elimination, mixed slo-pitch tournament was won by the Odd Couples of West Liberty.
For the first time a queen contest was held. The Nichols Community Club coordinated the event in which there were seven contestants.
Crowned the 1980 Nichols Day Queen was Brenda Blair, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Blair, sponsored by Hester’s Grain & Fertilizer. As queen she will represent the community throughout the year. She received a corsage, crown and banner from the Nichols Community Club. After being crowned she drew names for prizes, threw out the ball for the championship softball game and rode in the parade.
Other contestants were Chris Roth, Charlena Lynch, Paula Kaalberg, Lisa Henrichs, Mandy Costas, Doane Buser and Brenda Blair.
Preliminaries were held Friday night at the Country Inn. Finalists were announced Saturday morning and each answered a question. Linda Albrecht was the announcer for the contest for which the judges were Jane Forte of West Liberty, Julie Buline of Lone Tree and Jerry Murphy of Conesville.
The Nichols Knockers ran their pork roast and beer tent throughout the day; the community club had a hot dog and lemonade stand; and a hillbilly bazaar was held by the community club at the park.
An afternoon parade was held with the best of parade award won by the Nichols Community Club for the second year in a row.
First-place winners from among more than 200 entries in the various parade categories included: commercial floats – Jack Salemink; non-commercial floats – Nichols Christian Church; hitches – Mearl Mebergall of Atalissa; mounts – Dallas Kauffman of Wilton; light horse-drawn vehicles – Marion and Marcella Barnhart of Nichols; bicycles – Gabe Brown; mini-bikes – Darren Menzer of Nichols; clowns and costumes – Mary Carter of Nichols; antique machinery – Ray Meyer of Lone Tree; antique cars (up to 1950) – a 1931 Buick of Kevin Mills; (1950-1966) 1951 Hudson Hornet of Joe Hankins; (1966 up) – 1974 Corvette of Arlo Lessenger. In the afternoon the Nichols Christian Church members held a cake walk at the church, the Catholic church had games at the fire station, there was a dunking booth and the Methodist Youth Fellowship had a lemonade stand.
The Muscatine Miniature Aircraft Association held a glider race with aircraft which were radio controlled. Teams competed from Galesburg, Illinois, Davenport, Muscatine and Waterloo. Davenport won the event with a time of 1 hour, 37 minutes and 30 seconds for the 8 ˝ mile course.
Apropos Junior Federated Club held kids games at the park with 140 children participating. Paint for the games and prizes were donated by area merchants. Sandy Christofferson of Nichols won the contest to guess the number of corn kernels in a jar.
The Methodist Church held its annual ice cream social-supper starting at 4 p.m. The West Liberty Covenant Singers entertained in the park.
Activities concluded with a free street dance. A portion of Main Street was blocked off as a “Touch of Velvet” provided music.~ Photo of Nichols Queen, Court
Brenda Blair (seated), who was crowned queen at the Nichols Day celebration Saturday, is shown with her court which included (standing, from left) Carlena Lynch, Mandy Costas, Paula Kaalberg, Lisa Hinrichs and Chris Rotyh. Absent was Donae Buser. The queen contest was a new event at the celebration, with Miss Blair winning the right to represent the community at various events during the year.
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Page created January 19, 2011 by Lynn McCleary