By Elaine Rassel
While Marcus was celebrating their 85th Community Fair, it was also celebrating the Sesquicentennial anniversary of being “Marcus” for 150 years! What a five days it was!
On South Main Street, there were cars of all kinds being showed. I had never seen some of these before but didn’t have time to check them out as I was on my way to the Hall of Progress for the opening of the SQC.
The Marcus SQC had their kick-off on Wednesday, August 11 with Renea Ogren as MC. Father Murray opened the event with a prayer. Mayor Hansen gave his Proclamation, and then it was the Community Choir singing “The Star Spangled Banner” with Dan Barkel leading them. The men who had grown any sort of beard were next on the agenda to be judged. (At this time, I am still waiting for someone to e-mail to the Marcus News the results of this beard judging and any pictures if they have some.) There were all kinds of beards seen. I do believe Jim Hoefling had the most “hairy” face as it was hard to see his eyes for hair! There were two men who dressed for the occasion_one representing Jesus and the other was Moses (he was in the Saturday parade, also.)
The Charades were back with Mike Hoover, Chuck Nielsen on drums, and Andy Juhl on guitar. They were GOOD! Andy and brother, John also favored us with just the two of them playing.
At last! Time to find out who the SQC King and Queen were! The ten contestants were sitting waiting. King candidates were Ray Drefke, Jim Hoefling, Ab Smith, Ric Collins, and Clark Rainboth. Queen candidates were Julie Sand, Bonnie Means, Bonnie Collins, Sharon Rupp, and Vickie Rainboth. Bonnie Means was dressed as a lady would have been dressed 150 years ago! It was announced who the winners were! King Jim Hoefling and Queen Julie Sand took their place to receive their crowns.
The Community Choir was back to close out the evening by singing two patriotic songs. Now the next four days were Fair days!
Thursday, Little Miss Marcus was chosen from a list of ten candidates: Josie Alesch, Marley Frangione, Kinsley Freeman, Brynleigh Heubrock, Addie Hueser, Kayleigh Kohn, Kylee Olson, Graycen Ruden, Hailey Schmillen and Kallie Stodden. The Little Miss Marcus for 2021 was Kylee Olson and Runner-up was Kayleigh Kohn.
Time to get entries in before 8 p.m. I made it on time! It was quite a trip carrying the entries from the south gate to the fourth building. Maybe next year there could be a couple of places reserved on the road behind the entry building for those having entries for just that time?

Friday was the day any kid that was entering the Kiddie Parade had waited for! This year my two grandchildren (Bensen and Gracelyn) were entered wearing clothes kids wore 150 years ago. There were many others that fit in that category also. Grandchildren of Chuck and Julie Sand were entered as a 3-car train there was a story about this train pertaining to the Sands’ business. They were over-all winners. Other categories were, “What I Want To Be”, “Little Characters”, and “Wheels”. Even though not everyone was a winner, they were ALL WINNERS as they received a packet containing goodies!
There was a singer, Bailey Dorr, that followed this group of youngsters. She had a beautiful voice! Then it was time for the hypnotist, Kellen Marson. He waited an extra few minutes for some “customers”. Most of the audience were adults that wouldn’t want to “come on up front”! He finally got 11 young people and in the end there were just six left. These kids experienced cold, and then extreme heat! Some were even subjected to having a problem with the person sitting next to them. The one boy that was up front was told to go out into the audience and take off sandals or flip flops. It didn’t take him long to find people wearing these. Steve was one that got his sandals thrown off! He quickly retrieved them not knowing if the guy was going to come back and get rid of these shoes! I think most of the young crowd that usually came to see the Hypnotist were playing sand volleyball that was west of the church.
I had time to go through the building to see the entries. Janice Husman had many winning entries in the canning department. There was a male that got first on raspberry and strawberry jams. The flowers were “many”! It was amazing what some people can do with a common house plant. I would say they have a green thumb! The kids had entries that changed vegetables into unbelievable creatures!
There were quite a few garden or crop entries. There was a head of cabbage that would feed a crowd as it was a huge head! The art work of the young people showed quite a few future artists. The photo department had a variety of photos.
There were some very good bakers that were recognized for their baking! In the sewing department, there seemed to be a surplus of quilts! (Maybe this was because they had a year to work on them due to the pandemic?)
John Koffman had his barns, garages, and other buildings on display. What boy wouldn’t want to have one of these?! There was a big project of his that was of what the Sands business looked like when they were in business. It was well done.
The Dinner Bell where the Methodist people serve, seemed to be a busy place. People do eat! It was getting late and I hurried home to see the fireworks that were going off from the road north of town. This year there were professionals that lit up the sky for us. Because the Main Street downtown was blocked off for a street dance, it was better to not shoot them off near the people on these streets. “Joystick” played until almost 1:30 in the morning!
Saturday started out with the 5K fun Run and 1 mile Walk starting at the swimming pool. There was an open car and motorcycle show on the ball field, but there was also the Westernaires performing in the horse arena at 10 a.m. At 1 p.m., it was time to go downtown and find a place to watch the big parade with over 90 entries. I was fortunate to get a list of them from the speaker, Dave Stevenson. There were 20 class floats. The oldest class was from 1946. Tractors, tractors, and more tractors were entered. The Westernaires had their horses in the parade. The parade lasted one hour.
The MMCRU Cheerleaders had a dunking booth that whoever hit the “bell” was delighted to see the cheerleader hit the water! There was a chance to play BINGO if you wanted to. From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., the high school gym was having the All School Reunion. I understand it was a success! At 7 o’clock, the Westernaires had their evening performance. I wanted to take a picture of the “Roman” riding, but the sun was shining so brightly, that it was impossible to take a picture. It finally went down behind the trees at 7:20, the same time the riding I waited for was over! I was on the east side of the horse arena where if I would have been on the west side, I could have seen more. There were people from all over that came to see them perform. While there, I spoke to Jessica Grage who had come from South Dakota. “Rude Band” was playing on Main Street to fill out Saturday.
Sunday, the Knights of Columbus had a pancake breakfast downtown. The tents were not down as the people they were rented from didn’t work on Sunday. In fact, it was Monday at noon, as I was coming back from delivering Meals on Wheels, that they were taking them down. While they were up, at least no one was squealing down Main Street and leaving black marks!
At 10 o’clock, the Horse Arena had an event going on and at the same time, there was a church service at the Hall of Progress with Kate Schlenger leading the worship. The men’s quartet: John Schneider, Dan Barkel, Joe Wilcox, and Matt Botkin sang. Bob Leavitt was the guest speaker. At noon the Cooking School was scheduled with Jackie Grage. There were 45 businesses that helped to sponsor this Cooking School. There was a long table full of what they gave! (I was not a winner!)
After the Cooking School, I went home to get ready for coming out later on. At 4:30 p.m., the Time Capsule was to be buried. However, it was decided to leave the big metal chest at the Historic Society for the next 25 years.
The woodcutter had been busy doing what he does best carving! He had a raccoon, cardinal, farm scene, owl, Iowa State, Royals, a smaller turtle, and Iowa carvings that were up for silent auction. Any of these would have been welcome at a home or business_he does a good job!
At 5 p.m., music was heard north of the food stand. It was the Anthon City Band that came to entertain us. They played 11 songs, three that we could sing along. I did recognize the Sax player. It was David Drefke. I only wish Marcus could have a community band. Maybe it would entice some of the school kids to play in school band. They don’t realize that at age 50 they probably can’t jump a hurdle but can still sing or play an instrument. Music is something that stays with a person!
Steve and I went to get our entries out. This time we could park on the back side of the building and didn’t have a long distance to walk! We were going to get the ice cream offered, but for the second year in a row, they were out of ice cream!
There were so many things offered that I couldn’t get to all of them! This is one Fair that doesn’t cost anything to come to. If you want to buy a $1 ticket and take a chance on it being drawn for $100, you could. These Cash Drawings took place once on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.
The MCDERMOTT FAMILY SHOWS were on the grounds this year. They did offer more rides for older kids. I noticed in the flyer the Fair had that there were White, Red, Blue, and Purple Ribbon sponsors that numbered 75 businesses/people that gave to these! We are very fortunate that we have these businesses/people that the Fair can count on THANK YOU!
Going by early Monday morning, you wouldn’t recognize the Fair grounds. Some of the Carnival was still there, but otherwise, the grounds were empty and quiet and waiting for the next year’s Fair!