The first Merna Heritage Days
MERNA - The people in Merna decided they wanted to have an annual celebration. In 1986 the community decided to have a trial run to see how it would go. They ended up having over 70 entries in their parade.
The first official Heritage Days took place the very next year, 1987. Heritage Days celebrated Merna’s 100 years of existence on the same location and paid tribute to the pioneers who saw Merna through to it’s present day existence according to the Custer County Chief archives. The theme was “Heritage Movies” and the parade was led by Governor Kay Orr.
An article in the Custer County Chief by Helen Souders talked about how
Heritage Days and Anselmo-Merna Alumni had become a pleasant memory for those who attended. Howard Gaffney was the 1987 Alumni President. There were 70 entries in the parade which Vicki Caudle chaired. She was helped in lining up the entries by Sue Heffner, Gloria Smith and Deb Chapin.
The East Table Club was the overall winner followed by the So-Sew Club. Other winners were Organization-Jim Downey Family; Business-Reynold’s Livestock; Horse Drawn Rig-Rex and Marvella May; Horse and Rider Under 16-Amy Seda; Horse and Rider Over 16-Lewis Swick; Youth Bicycle-Holly Estes; Youth Novelty-Mac’s Grain; Antique Car-Wayne Wright; Antique Equipment-Steve Hostick.
Judges were Terry Weise, Bette Hardy, Margaret Ann Neal and Phylbert Scott. Doing the announcing was Cheryl Smith of KBBN and Matt Downey.
Gary and Beth Cole were in charge of the Bed Races with the winning team Rusty Arnold, Pat Daowney, Michael Downey and Randy Williams. Kristy Leibhart was the ridder.
Kurt and Dawn Buckwalter were in charge of the Mud Volleyball games with Pat Downey, Micheal Downey, Steve Downey, Rusty Arnold, Randy Williams and Randy Leibhart being on the winning team.
There were also kids races such as tricycle races, bicycle races and foot races ran by Deb Cantrell and assisted by Jim and Deb Chapin.
Approximately one thousand people were fed at the barbecue that year.
Here are a list of the Heritage Days themes from 1996 to the present: 1996-“We’re #1 Because”; 1997-“Hats off to Merna”; 1998-Shoot for the Stars!; 1999-Millennium Madness; 2000-A New Century, New Dreams!; 2001-Fabulous Firsts!; 2002-“Meet Me at the Movies”; 2003-“Hooray for the USA!”; 2004-“Happy Trails Merna”; 2005-Under the Big Top; 2006-Outdoor Adventures!; 2007-Surfing the Sandhills!; 2008-Celebrate Your Heritage!; 2009-Midway Memories; 2010-Fun in Storybook Land; 2011-United We Stand; 2012-Merna’s 125th Anniversary; 2013-“Groovin to the Oldies!”; 2014“Down on the Farm”; 2015-Summertime Fun!; 2016-Our Library “A Century of Reading”; 2017-Faith, Family, Farming… 150 Years of Nebraska “The Good Life”; 2018-Hometown Heroes; 2019-Escape Reality.
The 2020 theme was going to be “Rockin’ the 20’s” but it was cancelled due to COVID-19. They are planning on having a Merna Heritage Days in 2021. The theme has not yet been decided.