News
Trekking to the party of the year
Scott Wagar
07/03/2012
Willow City held its quasquicentennial over the weekend and celebrated its birthday with a parade, school reunions, dances and so much more.
The 125th anniversary of the city brought close to 1,000 people to Willow City, who celebrated in many different ways.
HORSE AND WAGON:
For Melvin Atkinson, he traveled 162 miles from Hazen to Willow City in a covered wagon with a team of horses for his hometown celebration.
“These past 10 days have been the best time of my life in the last 40 years,” said Atkinson, who graduated from Willow City High School in 1952. “It's been a fun time.”
Atkinson stated that he first made the decision to come to the quasquicentennial by horse and covered wagon to honor his great-grandparents, who settled in Willow City in the late 1800s.
“My family came here in 1887,” Atkinson said. “My great-grandfather came first and brought his family here in the spring of 1888. He had to go to Brandon to pick up his wife, three daughters and his son, and he did it through a team of horses and a wagon. I thought to myself that if my great-grandfather could do it, I bet I could do it.”
The covered wagon he brought to Willow City was built by Atkinson utilizing other wagons parts.
“The wagon is an International,” Atkinson said. “The iron parts came from old wagons.”
During his trip, he carried feed, hay and water for his two painted horses, called Schlitz and Bud, which were lent out to Atkinson for his journey to Willow City through a friend. The horses traveled around 25 miles a day and each drank around 15 gallons of water per day.
Atkinson's only form of communication came from his cell phone, which he kept charged through a homemade cigarette lighter from a car which was hooked up to battery inside his wagon.
During the celebration, Atkinson said his sojourn to Willow City’s celebration was a pleasant experience.
“It's been a good time,” he said.
ZEOLA:
For Zeola Feuerhelm, her trip from California to Willow City was a time of remembrance for her, because Feuerhelm was the oldest individual at the celebration this weekend at 104 years old.
Feuerhelm was born in Willow City on Dec. 8, 1907, and came to Willow City this past week to see the place where she grew up with her daughter through a cross country trip in an RV.
During her stay, she enjoyed speaking with the locals in Willow City’s Backwoods Cafe, taking in the events and being a member of the parade.
TEXANS
Another interesting group which came to celebrate Willow City’s quasquicentennial were 11 residents from Willow City’s sister city, Willow City, Texas.
“We have been enjoying our time here,” said Dudley Althaus, a longtime resident of Willow City, Texas. “Everybody is so friendly here in Willow City, N.D., and they have shown us a great time and taken us around the area so we can see what North Dakota is all about. The Willow City residents are a great group of people.”
During their trip to North Dakota, The Willow City Texans were given the opportunity to tour local farms, visit Lake Metigoshe, Mystical Horizons, the International Peace Garden, Canada and the geographical center of North America in Rugby, N.D.
Willow City’s sister city in Texas is similar in many ways to its North Dakota counterpart.
“Willow City, Texas, is where the English speaking people met with the German speaking people shortly after the American Civil War,” Althaus said. “Willow City was first called Willow, but was moved 10 miles near a creek and was renamed Willow City. The town is an hour and ten minutes west of Austin, Texas, and during its history the entire city was washed away in a flood, but rebuilt. Its school lost its roof in a storm, but was placed back on the school with wire, and that wire is still keeping that roof on today.”
During the pinnacle of the town’s population, Willow City, Texas, had 175 residents. Today, 12 people live in Willow City with around 50 individuals living around the area. The town also has a post office and a volunteer fire department.
The residents from Texas were invited to Willow City 125th anniversary through Jack and Sonia Kana of Willow City, N.D., who did some research and discovered Willow City, Texas, was the only other Willow City town in the United States.
With the discovery, the Kana’s invited the Texan town to Willow City and 11 of them accepted the invitation.
“It sounded great,” Althaus said about the invitations. “And, everybody in this group is adventurous.”
Althaus, who is a world renown auctioneer and is in the Texas and International Hall of Fame, was the auctioneer for Willow City’s opening ceremony where he auctioned off a number of interesting items.
During the celebration, Willow City had all-school reunions where over 400 alumni came to see old classmates from Willow City High School and Notre Dame Academy.
Other activities included a parade, a petting zoo, kid’s games, community and school meals, demolition derby, horse show, three street dances and church services.