Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1904-07-08
4 GRAND CELEBRATION
That is What We Had in Every
Sense of the Word
. GRAND STREET CARNIVAL
The Finest Ever in the West. Splendid
Fireworks.
The 4th of July 1904 has gone in

The 4th of July 1904 has gone in
to history and the past, and with it
one Of the largest and best celebra-
tfons ever pulled off in Great Bend.
When the. gentle drops of rain were
heard falling during the night, and
when the sky in the morning was
overcast with clouds, there were ex-
pressions of disappointment on the
faces of che hustling fire laddies and
our citizens generally, but old Sol
soon came. out of hiding, the mud be-
gan to dry up, and the business of
celebrating began to pick up.
AS usual the little boys and some
big ones TOO, woke up everybody and
rent the air with their fire crackers
and toy pistols of all sizes. Strange
as it may seem, this sort of work was
continued more or less all day and
night. The business houses and
residences were decorated nicely, and
everybody was on hand to make the
visitors have a good time. It is esti-
mated thatathere were 5000 visitors in
the city and all of them seemed to en-
Joy themselves to the limit. The reg
ular train from Hoisington brought
oyer about two coach loads, and
special in the afternoon brought in
three more. In addition there were
a great many who drove over, and we
assure our Hoisington friends that
Great Bend fully appreciates the big
crowd sent over, and at the proper
time. will reciprocate. There were
about Is many country people as
could be expected, but the number
from Ellinwood was surprisingly
small, there being very few, when we
had a right to expect a great many.
For some reason or other Ellinwood
odoes not usually send big crowds to
Great Bend celebrations. The crowd
was very orderly, and the number of
police court cases was small.
The parade was the first thing do
iagsand was one of the best of its
kind that has been seen in central or
western Kansas. Every turnout was
well gotten up and displayed excellent
ideas of the originators.
9 The Epperson w. o. w. band led
the Sway, followed by Mayor E. w.
Moses, and Chief. Stoke of the fire de-
partnent in a carriage. Then, came
the new auto bus of VIM, Bush, with
other city officers. Next came the
fren1en with their new chemical en-
CINE, carrying little Miss Wemergren,
and then one of the hose carts carry
ing Zoe McMuilen's daughter.
srhe first float in line was one
gotten up by IA young ladies, and
represented Columbia. with the IS
colonies grouped about her in the
shape of star. This float deserves
especial mention from the fact that
the young ladies took great interest
in getting up something attractive..and
original, and they succeeded to the
extent of receiving generous applause
from all the spectators. The foa.
was in white, the harness was wrappe
in white and the girls were all dressed
in white. Marion Russell represent
ing Uncle Sam drove, and Elsie Wood
was Columbia. The others were
Alice Russell, Frances Cole, Pearl
Emfey, Margaret Osmond, Hazel
Harris, Ida Patterson, Maude Gano,
Opal Baker, Floy Baker, Elsie Breeden,
Novma Mering, Anna Sutherland and
Edna Griffith. The girls are to be
congratulated on their successful and
pretty turnout.
Next came Great Bend camp No
26, w. 0. w. with nicely decorated
float representing the camp open ant
in session. The float was accom-
panied by four outriders.
The DEMOCRAT and RusrLER wa.
next, with a large representation o
the Two Bills in the center, and ou