Every year we wonder how much longer our parish in St. Joseph will be able to maintain its large Fourth of July festival. My husband Steve is one of the chairs of the Joeburger Stand, one of the most popular stands (probably just behind the beer tent!) at the festival.
I read in the local paper that the festival requires 1,200 volunteers– and that the parish has 1,100 families. Steve, who has lived here for nearly 30 years, laments that the parish is “in decline.” I have been here 5 years and counter that there are an awful lot of babies being baptized! Unfortunately, as most Catholics know, this doesn’t mean we’re getting active new families into the parish. It just means people want their children to be baptized. Like many things Catholic, it’s becoming a mark of cultural heritage more than a dedication to a life of religious practice.
Our festival is always on July 3-4, and at some point we got ownership of the 4th of July parade that goes along with it. The parade has always drawn thousands of people from the surrounding area. In 2007, the 150th anniversary of the parish, we added a major free concert on July 3rd. That has been popular as well and has continued. The problem with getting volunteers is that it is also a major tradition in Minnesota to go to the cabin for the 4th. Not all of those 1,100 families are around, even if they were willing to volunteer.
This was a phenomenal year for our festival. The weather was gorgeous, in the 70s and 80s with a breeze from the south. The concert featured a group of guys from two popular local bands, The Fabulous Armadillos and Collective Unconscious, playing a tribute to the Eagles. Do not underestimate the love men of all ages have for the music of the Eagles. When this group performed the tribute at a local theater last year, they sold out three shows in a half hour.
And for good reason. These are an amazing group of musicians and it was really fun to watch them. They seemed to enjoy it as much as the crowd. Jeff Engholm, who also owns the local coffee shop and food co-op with his wife Stacy, was infectious, jumping and rocking out. And Paul “Stretch” Diethelm made his guitar talk on “Those Shoes” and sing on everything else.
It is estimated that 18,000-20,000 people attended the concert, and we sold 4,000 Joeburgers in five hours. This is no small feat. And though, yes, there was a line the whole time, they were not discouraged, because the line moved.
The line moved because the volunteers are hard-working and dedicated and because that stand has a great system and works like a well-oiled machine. Among the positions are bun wrappers and bun unwrappers, each cashier with their runner (usually a child or teen) to fill the orders. But the heroic ones are the guys on the grills and fries.
Man, those guys work a grill. And the french fry guy has to keep cranking out those fries, salting them, scooping them, getting them out there. And it is hot by those grills.
The real secret to the St. Joseph festival is the older folks (men and women). A group of men, many in their 60s or older, show up year after year starting on the 1st to assemble the stands. They are the ones who show up and stand over hot grills for hours. At the end of the night they scrape down and clean those grills. Then they help take down the stands and haul out equipment.
These guys are the heart of our community, the heart of our parish, hardworking men who don’t care much about holidays or vacations– as long as they get some fishing and hunting in the rest of the season. And although there are men and women like them who also volunteer, their numbers are smaller. They volunteer if they can (and feel guilty if they can’t), but we wonder about the future.
So far, there have always been people who step up. They do it for the parish and they do it for the community. They do it because it is what they do and they’re needed– and they even enjoy it, no matter how exhausted they are for days afterward.
There are many signs, though, that society is changing irreversibly toward the individual and away from a community ethic. I know that I am willing to work 6 hours, two shifts, but it will make me miserable beyond measure if I have to clean greasy pots and pans or be there three days in a row… I am by no means heroic or driven very far beyond my comfort zone by my dedication to the parish and the community.
As I sat on my screen porch and watched the fireworks on the night of the 3rd, I felt very happy and satisfied. What a lovely evening. The large crowd was incredibly mellow, and everyone had a great time. Many burgers were sold and the stand functioned well. The next day promised good weather as well. But I wondered what the future holds. How long will we have this festival? How long will small towns be able to have fireworks displays like this? (I donated my $2 at the grocery store to help pay for them.)
I want to believe that when the time comes, there will be people– in the community and in the parish– who will value these traditions enough to make it happen. I keep insisting that it is about the time of life– young families go to the cabin and it’s always fallen to the older men and women to do the bulk of the volunteering. I know that my husband, for one, will be among the group setting up and taking down the stands, and I can spot a others, though not as grizzled and not wearing baseball caps, who will be out there with him.