Kahoka’s Bicentennial Spirit Echoes 50 Years Later

KAHOKA — Fifty years ago, Kahoka did more than celebrate America’s 200th birthday.

It rang bells. It raised the flag. It fired up the barbecue pits. It filled the square with antique cars, beards, bonnets, bluegrass music, speeches, games, fireworks and a hometown pride that still feels familiar today.

Now, as the nation prepares to mark its 250th anniversary in 2026, Kahoka can look back to July 4, 1976, as a reminder of how deeply patriotism has always run through Clark County.

The 1976 Bicentennial celebration began with a schedule packed from early afternoon until after dark. Bells rang from 1 to 1:30 p.m., and anyone with a bell was invited to take part. Mayor Gene Daniel cut the ribbon, Boy Scouts raised the flag and led the Pledge of Allegiance, Kevin Spence played “The Star-Spangled Banner” on trumpet, and the Rev. Kalmer Knudson gave the invocation. Bicentennial Chairman Gary Gordy, Chamber President Bill Holliday and Extension Chairman Kenneth Gray welcomed the crowd.

It was a day built around both country and community.

The Kahoka Jaycees hosted “Almost Anything Goes” games. There were beard contests, a Bi- Belle contest, a Bi-Beau contest, a puppet show, an Eastern Star Bicentennial dedication service and an “Anything on Wheels” antique parade around the square. The Chamber of Commerce prepared a free beef barbecue, the Sally Mountain Bluegrass Show performed, Don French gave an aerobatic flying demonstration, and the night ended with fireworks.

The crowd was estimated at 2,500 to 3,000 people, many dressed in Colonial costumes, for what the Kahoka Gazette-Herald later called a “gala and festive celebration” blessed by beautiful weather.

For those who were there, the day must have felt like a living postcard of small-town America. For those looking back now, it reads like a love letter to the country — and to Kahoka.

The celebration honored the Revolution, but it also honored the people who kept local history alive. At Sever Library, the Clark County Historical Society displayed antiques and early county memorabilia, including a cord bed more than 100 years old, an old Presbyterian Church communion set from the 1800s, photographs, newspapers, books, dolls, an 1877 American flag, old guns, muskets, a cannonball and mold, furniture and family heirlooms.

There was fun, too — plenty of it.

Men competed in beard categories such as neatest, prospector’s, handlebar mustache and most unusual. Zella Kerr of Luray was named Bi-Belle, with Roberta Davis and Nettie Mohr as runners-up. Hilborn Higbee won the Bi-Beau contest, with Merle Graham and Art Brightwell as runners-up. A special mention went to Anna Danker, a Bi-Belle contestant whose birthday was July 4. She was 96 and had spent her entire life in Clark County.

The “Anything on Wheels” parade was a rolling tribute to American ingenuity. It included an old fire-fighting machine from Revere, antique farm equipment, vintage cars, tractors, trucks, a Wells Fargo Pony Express stagecoach, a 1910 mail cart and a 1910 farm buggy. Three people on roller skates brought up the end of the parade.

Even supper became part of the memory. About 2,200 people enjoyed barbecued beef, coleslaw, baked beans and cheese prepared by the Chamber of Commerce. One of the men helping cook the meat was 80 years old and from Colony.

The day carried on into the evening with bluegrass music, square dancing, a ball game between men over 45 and the girls’ softball team, fire department water fights and a fireworks finale that included the American flag. The Gazette- Herald summed it up simply: “All in all, it was a spectacular and exciting day.”

The patriotic mood of 1976 also filled the pages of the local newspaper. Bicentennial ads from local businesses leaned heavily into American history. Kahoka Cheese Co. sponsored an ad recalling the Boston Massacre, while Walker Furniture featured “1777: The Stars and Stripes unfurl,” telling the story of replacing the Union Jack with 13 stars on a field of blue and closing with the words, “Long may she wave.”

That phrase still fits.

Perhaps the most meaningful part of Kahoka’s Bicentennial observance came 10 days later, on July 14, 1976, when a time capsule was buried on the lawn of Sever Library. Street Commissioner Frank Evermon operated the city backhoe for the first scoop of dirt. The capsule included the July 1, 1976, Bicentennial issue of the Kahoka Gazette- Herald. Young city employees lowered the capsule into what the newspaper called its “50-year grave,” and Bicentennial Chairman Gary Gordy shoveled the first dirt over it. A monument was to designate July 14, 2026, as the opening date.

That date no longer feels distant.

The people of 1976 buried more than newspaper pages and keepsakes. They buried a message to the future. They wanted those who came after them to know that in Kahoka, America’s 200th birthday mattered. It mattered enough to close the streets, cook for the crowd, preserve the past, dress the part, fly the flag and gather as neighbors.

This feature is the first in a short series looking back at Kahoka’s milestone celebrations. Next week, The Media will look even farther back — to the nation’s Centennial in 1876 and the Sesquicentennial in 1926 — to see how Clark County marked America’s 100th and 150th birthdays.

As the country turns toward its 250th birthday, Kahoka has a chance to remember not only the founding of America, but also the generation that celebrated it here in 1976.

They gave the community a day to remember.

Now, 50 years later, it is almost time to open the capsule — and the memories.