Rodney Rud, Clarence and Sharon Trinka and Lucy Hill ran into each other and started talking about how Webster was losing its ballpark.  They talked about Lee Sanford from the Packing Company, how he had donated some land to Webster for a park.  This land was to be developed in 9 years or Webster would lose it and the 9 years were almost up!  At that point, only one building was put up and there was still no floor or electricity in it.  Time was really running out.

Sharon Trinka and Lucy Hill got a bunch of people together and decided to have a Pot Luck and a festival, invite everyone in the community and see if they could raise some money to help save the land for Webster.  They had a good turn out at that first meeting and a lot of good ideas were spawned from that for the next meeting.

For the next meeting, Marie Rud and Alice Hanson were tasked with writing invitations to all the people in the Webster Phonebook. In addition to the invitations, they also called each of the residents in the phone book about the meeting.  Ads were placed in the paper, Lonsdale's paper gave the group good coverage for this event as well.

The first real meeting started in February, but in May, the park committee came in and said that the Pot Luck in the park was not allowed.  Since the group did not have insurance, if someone got sick the town would be sued.  While disappointed, the group decided that they had come to far to give up and they had to go ahead with the celebration.

The group got some donations from Rud Construction for about $500.00, Marie Rud made a quilt and sold chances, she donated $512.00!  The Air Park donated $125.00 and the N.E.W. Lions donated $100.00 and also put in the electricity and the concrete floor for the main building.

On Sunday, August 30, 1992, after over a year of planning, the very first Webster Harvest Days celebration finally took place along with the dedication of the new, Webster Community Park! 

Prairie Downs Characters from Belle Plaine donated shuttle rides from the Parade route to the park and back as well as Charlie and Elsie Spoor from Faribault.  Everyone on the committee brought charcoal grills and they grilled chicken breasts, hamburgers, hot dogs and brats.  The committee in no way expected the turnout that came so they didn't have near enough food ready and people stood in lines at every grill. 

Lucy Hill decided that her mother had never been in a parade so she decided to put her in one.  She became the first Miss Webster, 1931, the year she moved to Webster.  She wore a crown and road on top of a bunch of hail bails with all her grand children on the lowboy.  This is how the first parade started. 

There were 108 units in that first parade.  In addition to the parade, Dale and Fran Pexa donated the music in the building before the dedication and going on until 6pm in the evening.  Dave Smisek, Bob Pexa and his Dance Line donated entertainment outside after the dedication until 6pm as well.  The committee also hired the Nite Time Buggy Band to play. 

The place was packed, people just did not want to leave!  It was awesome to see such support!  Lee Sanford who donated the land to Webster was the committee's honored guest.  Lee was in the parade and when they got to the park, Lee and Ross Nelson cut the ribbon and did the ceremony dedicating the park.  Senator Tom Neuville was the guest speaker for the dedication and has been in the parade ever since. (to be continued)

Lucy Hill is the only current member of Webster Harvest Days that has been on the committee since it's start in 1991.
MORE TO COME