So even though the heat will be scorching, I’ll be keeping cool near the kids’ water fights and duck races at the Pilger pool.
If you’re less inclined to get wet, there are lots of other activities on offer this weekend. A full list of events can be found on the Pilger page of this week’s News-Chronicle, or you can go to www.pilgerq125.com.
Pilger’s motto is “the town too tough to die,” and while it’s an apt description of the village today, it’s also a tribute to the pioneer spirit needed 125 years ago when it was established.
Over the past few months, I worked a weekly feature for the Q125 that detailed Pilger’s history. The accounts that resonated most with me were those of Pilger’s founding fathers and mothers, often told by their children.
Life wasn’t easy 125 years ago. Settlers new to Stanton County built rudimentary shelters and learned how to navigate life in a lonely prairie. Neighbors were few and far between, and medical assistance even sparser. One long-time Pilger resident told about when one of his siblings was bitten by a snake. Driving in an ambulance to a hospital emergency room was a reality that existed decades in the future, so the family relied on the expertise of a Native American who knew how to extract the venom and treat the wound.
Another local historian remembered how her mother got tired of walking over a mile to get water from the stream, so she got out the shovel and dug a well closer to the homestead. Considering this hardy woman probably had a houseful of children to feed, clothe and protect, it’s difficult to imagine summoning the energy to do it.
That’s why Pilger — and all other small, rural towns — have celebrations like the one this weekend, to commemorate the sacrifices of their founders and to remember the toughness it took to survive in the early days.
But it takes toughness to continue the existence of a town, and that’s also what Pilger will celebrate.
It’s tempting for outsiders to look at small towns and dismiss them as insignificant simply because their numbers are few. That’s a mistake, because so much pride beats in the hearts of those who love their communities. It’s evidenced by the amount of work and planning that goes into creating a Q125 event; I know the committee has been at work for at least a year.
And it’s not just during celebrations that you can see that early pioneer spirit at work. During village board meetings and Sunday church services, at adult swim at the pool and at the annual sweet corn feed, the residents of Pilger are actively supporting their community and keeping it going.
I’m from a Nebraska town so small, it makes Pilger look like a metropolis, so I know a thing or two about hometown pride.
Pilger isn’t my hometown, but I’ll help celebrate this weekend like it is.
I invite you to join me in the town too tough to die — happy birthday, Pilger.
On the Lighter Side
Published July 18, 2012
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