By RONDA GRAFF

As we recover from the hectic yet fun week of McCook’s 2026 Heritage Days, this seems like a great time for a “this, that and the other thing” column, which I haven’t written in a while. 

For starters, it was great to see so many McCook alumni return to their hometown for the festivities and their class reunions. I didn’t get to see all the class reunion floats as I was walking as an inflatable chicken for the McCook Rotary Club parade entry - that will be addressed in a later column.

But I did catch the class of 1981 as it wrapped up its ride down the parade route and they had a great turnout for their reunion. I was especially impressed with whoever dug out their 1981 letterman jacket for the occasion. Or maybe they still wear it everyday. Either way, it was exciting to see so many people excited about being back. 

I met up with several of the classes and there is an ebb and flow to class reunions. The class of 1961 gathered for Heritage Days and was expecting 18 classmates. Unfortunately, they have likely passed into that space where more people have died than are still alive from their class but they still make the effort to get together. Another class - I won’t name names - opted not to do anything. As one classmate told me, “We aren’t any fun.” 

But the other class reunions clearly took in their surroundings, whether it was bowling, taking tours of the YMCA or the high school or just hanging out with classmates. I appreciated working with the organizers to get them materials about McCook and all the great things happening in their hometown. And if you are hosting a class reunion next year, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the McCook Community Foundation Fund or the McCook Chamber and we will hook you up with a goodie bag all about McCook.

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As someone who suffers from FOMO, I tried to take it all in over the past week. 

I stopped by the McCook Community College’s 100th anniversary dinner for a few minutes to present Pam Gaston with the McCook Volunteer of the Month award, adding to the Garey family’s awards for the week. Her mother Gerda served as both Heritage Days royalty and MCC alumni of the year, both well deserved. 

I didn’t stay long because the Heritage Days Oktoberfest was also taking place on the bricks downtown. Chamber director Sarah Schneider and her board and all her volunteers did a great job putting together the evening, as well as the entire weekend. It is no small feat to put that many moving pieces together and with the exception of hearing the polka band play the Chicken Dance three times (all the kids were ecstatic), the evening was beautiful.

On Sunday, my family and I served cotton candy at St. Patrick Church’s annual Fall Festival because the kids had not gotten enough sugar at the parade the previous day. One of the best parts of the day is seeing the MCC student-athletes arrive to help clean up, probably volun-told to be there but still it is great to see them out in the community.

And then we wrapped up the weekend with Beautify McCook’s monthly downtown cleanup, purposely scheduled the day after the parade because the street is traditionally littered with trash. Unfortunately, in between the parade and the cleanup, rain soaked the bricks along Norris Avenue, turning any missed pieces of candy into a sugary mess. As the group of volunteers dug sticky, gooey wrappers and wads of candy from between the bricks, I suggested that the businesses which threw out the candy - especially those small, fruity tootsie-rolls - should have the experience of digging them out of the crevices. The fruitie-tooties now rank up there with cigarette butts for least desirable items we find during the monthly clean-up.

With all that, we weren’t able to make it to the Curtis Fall Festival or the Eustis Garlic Festival, although I considered it.

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And there is no rest for the weary…

The McCook Rotary Club’s youth group, Interact, is hosting a Cars Under the Stars drive-in movie at the Red Willow County Fairgrounds on Saturday, Sept. 26. “Goonies” will be showing with the “gates” opening at 7:30 p.m. and the movie around 8 p.m. 

Another movie is planned for Oct. 16 as part of a softball tournament in McCook. And one more movie is tentatively planned for this fall but we are running out of time. Unfortunately, the movie projector cannot be used when the temperature falls below 50 degrees, so we are limited to when the outdoor theater can be used. But if your business or organization would like to host a drive-in movie, please reach out to Jiles at the fairgrounds or visit mccookfoundation.org for more information.