Bob Asmussen: On the 4th, tiny Sibley knows how to throw a giant party

Call Sibley the “Little City that Could.”

For 65 years, the Ford County community of 288 has been putting on a Fourth of July celebration that rivals that of much, much bigger places. Thousands are expected to visit on our nation’s 248th birthday.

Don Meyer was there at the beginning. In fact, the now-78-year-old part-time Sibley resident lived the original story.

The event actually predates the official first year, 1959. On previous Fourths, Meyer’s mom, Doris, and dad, Bud, had a gathering on their farm east of Sibley.

“It was a family event that had a few firecrackers,” Meyer said. “In 1957 or ’58, it got to be popular with the neighborhood.”

Of course, there is a “but” coming.

“There were a couple accidental small fires,” Meyer said.

An organization led by Bud Meyer and about a dozen others started the Sibley Sportsmen’s Club, and they decided to move the Fourth of July event into the city. “For the community to enjoy, plus the added safety,” Meyer said.

The first year included a parade, and the fireworks were launched safely at Lake Sibley.

“It was monumental,” Meyer said.

Don’s older brother Dennis drove his dad’s 1946 Indian motorcycle with friend John Stein, who was on a Harley.

Don has two other brothers, Daniel and Randy. Randy still lives in the area.

The community bought in, and the annual celebration remains a point of pride.

“It’s their thing. It’s their day,” Meyer said.

Oodles of folks are willing to pitch in.

“We still live in a world of good people and volunteers and people that want to have fun and help one another,” Meyer said.

More than six decades later, the Fourth in Sibley is a well-oiled machine.

“After all those years, they’ve got a good act together,” Meyer said.

The tasks during the event are divided up organically. And everything gets done.

“In the modern world of corporate structure, you don’t work that way,” Meyer said.

Fortunately, there have been no memorable mishaps during Sibley’s first 64 Fourths.

“These towns have a ton of people with common sense,” Meyer said. “Even messing with fireworks can be pretty serious, but the group that puts the fireworks on, the seniority there is probably 20, 30, 40 years. They are real serious about their jobs. They adhere to state regulations and they all belong to the fire department.”

Strong reputation

Other communities in the area celebrate the Fourth. Meyer hears the same comment over and over.

“Yeah, but it’s not like Sibley.”

It is more than just a one-day event. Five years ago, a group of volunteers got together to rehab the downtown.

One of the helpers said he had been attending the Fourth of July celebration most of his life “and would like to give back.”

What started out as replacing a few windows turned into tearing up the concrete and refacing the buildings.

“Every day, there was somebody new showing up or a check showing up in the mail,” Meyer said.

Now living in Minooka, 69 miles from Sibley, Meyer returns each summer for the Fourth of July festivities. His family home is on the parade route and a perfect place for viewing the action. He expects anywhere from 20 to 50 guests on the big day.

“I’ve remained very active in participating as my whole family has,” Meyer said.

Meyer returns to his hometown with his wife of 46 years, Joni. Their daughter Carissa and son-in-law travel from their home in Chicago.

“People visit and just stop out of the blue and say ‘How are you doing?’” Meyer said. “One neighbor brings over a Busch Light in a golf cart and he only lives 50 feet away. To them (his daughter and son-in-law), this is storybook stuff.”

Meyer has friends coming from Michigan and New York for this year’s celebration. The out-of-towners appreciate the experience.

“They are in awe of how something can be so simple,” Meyer said. “And so calm and fun.”

The event brings past residents to town.

“There’s a surprising number of people who were raised here in Sibley who seem to enjoy coming back after all these years,” Meyer said. “We just can’t believe we can spin the clock back to 1950.”

Meyer, Melvin-Sibley High School class of 1963, was part of a car and tractor show his schoolmates started in 1998 that coincided with the Fourth of July celebration. The event ended after about a decade.

This year, Meyer will ride an old farm wagon in the parade.

Different Melvin-Sibley classes schedule their reunions during the week of the Fourth. This time, it will be 1964 and ’74 getting together. Melvin-Sibley closed in the early 1990s.

How do they do that?

The Sibley Fourth of July celebration doesn’t happen by accident. A six-person committee helps with the planning.

Meetings start in February and continue monthly until the event. A fundraiser was held in September.

Cyndi Wurmnest, a teacher at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Elementary School, has been a part of the committee for about 10 years and is currently the secretary.

She is in charge of the food booths, entertainment and kids games.

“We change the activities every year,” Wurmnest said.

The day starts at 7:30 a.m. with a breakfast, followed by a fishing derby at 8:30 a.m.

The parade kicks off at 11:30 on Sciota Street. It will include firetrucks, floats, bikes and animals.

The number of entries range from 30 to 50.

Wurmest and husband Ben grew up in Sibley. They both attended Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley High School. They moved to rural Sibley a few years ago, where they live with daughters Mary, 3, and Olivia, 3 months.

“She’ll get her first Fourth of July this year,” Wurmnest said.

Cyndi attended the Fourth of July event growing up, working with food booths for her church or helping with face painting as a GCMS cheerleader.

It was part of her childhood and remains that way for families both in the community and beyond. Visitors are expected from as far away as Arizona.

A family from Springfield will be selling its kettle corn for the first time.

Food trucks are being added for the first time, coming from Forrest and Champaign.

The band Train Wreck will perform. Fireworks start at dusk (about 9 p.m.).

Current forecasts call for temperatures in the high 70s and a 70 percent chance of rain. If the event is rained out, the fireworks show will be Friday.

The event is funded by donations and fundraisers. All the activities are free. The only thing you have to pay for is food.

Sibley resident Merlin Tjarks orders the fireworks and lines up volunteers to help with the show.