Public fails to support celebration

I was on all fours, eyeball to eyeball with my garden weeds. With the expanded “tire” around my stomach, it was difficult to breathe, and I was perspiring profusely, but the weeds had to go. They were taking over the garden.

 

While I was talking at (not to) the weeds, I was thinking about the recently completed Glencoe Days. I may have been thinking too much, because when my wife came home, she noticed there were gaps in the zinneas.

 

You see, we planted two rows this spring, and they were in straight lines. After weeding, there were several “holes” in the lines.

 

“What happened?” my wife asked. “Did you pull some of the zinneas?”

 

“Ah, I don’t think so,” I replied.

 

“Well, where did these zinneas go? she inquired.

 

“Ah, maybe they never came up,” I replied, knowing darn well they were entangled in the weeds, and when the weeds came out with “attitudes,” I may have angrily grasped some zinneas as well.

 

Collateral damage is how I see it.  As hot as it was, I’m surprised any zinneas survived at all, as well as the marigolds on the other side of our garden plot.

 

Anyway, I was lost in thought, too.

 

Glencoe Days seems to be trending in an ominous direction. The one thing that struck me this year, as well as in the past several years, is the lack of local participation by the general public.

 

Don’t get me wrong. There are many dedicated volunteers and organizers who put in endless hours of planning and work to pull off the two-day city celebration. They need to be commended. But the general public seems to have taken an “I don’t care” attitude. They simply are not supporting Glencoe Days as well as in the past.

 

The annual parade is a prime example. This year’s parade had less than 60 units. It used to regularly soar over 100 in its heyday. What was once considered the first parade of the summer in which finding a place to watch along the route was a difficult task, is now only a shadow of itself. In fact, the crowds were so sparse along 16th Street this year that it was tough to find people to accept candy and information sheets.

 

That is sad.

 

The crowds at Oak Leaf Park before and after the parade were equally disappointing.

 

There may be many reasons, but lack of public support is a major one.

 

It seems the two biggest draws this year involved free giveaways. The Seneca Foods free corn feed on Friday night remains popular as does the free T-shirt giveaway during the fun walk/run sponsored by Glencoe Regional Health Services on Saturday morning.

 

But once the events are over, the crowds go home rather than stay in the park to enjoy the rest of the activities. This year’s kiddie tractor pull was over quickly because there were a lot fewer participants, the park vendors were standing around a lot with the sparse crowds in the park, and the large tent, often packed in the past, was nearly vacant during much of Saturday.

 

Glencoe Days may be at a crossroads. Either participation, including new volunteers, picks up, or the event may wither away.

And once gone, it may never come back. The public may want to seriously think about that.

 

Rich Glennie was the editor of The Chronicle for 23 years. He retired Aug. 1, 2014, but still plans to submit an occasional column.