Shana Meyer was among a few dozen folks putting the finishing touches on Civic Center Park before this year’s opening on Friday.
Ms Meyer was clearly enjoying herself setting up, surrounded as she was by some old and battered kitchen utensils.
“This is going to be the percussion playground for the kiddos,” she said. “So, we will hang all these up, and they will be able to play the drums to their hearts content.”
We also spoke with Steve Groshong, the Director of Operations for Buchanan County EMS. We asked Steve if they learned anything new last year for the new ambulance service’s first Trails West!
“I’ve been in EMS for 30 years in St Joe, and I’ve been handling this festival as long as it’s been here as far as the EMS side of the house,” Groshong says, “and we learn something every year.”
“Last year we’ve learned how to use the Internet better, being able to watch the weather, and keep tabs on those sorts of things a little bit better than we have in the past. We have some new technology and we’ve got things working a little bit better than they used to.”
Groshong says people will start lining up to get in by about three o’clock, and, in his words, “we when they open the gates, the herd will come in.”
The gates open at five p.m. Friday at Civic Center Park, next to City Hall in downtown St Joseph.
