The Lacona Celebration 2022, Eight Man Football, Small Town Girls, and Identity
"Episode" one
I went to the Lacona Celebration on Saturday. Lacona is about a half-hour drive from home, and 2020 census records show it has 345 residents. Here is a fascinating history of Lacona that includes a hanging, the Great Lacona Fire of 1887, and a body found stuffed in a box in a railroad car.
Also, one tantalizing tidbit from 1872:
“A mineral spring was discovered 2 ½ miles north of Lacona in a timber lot along Wolf Creek. It was believed that the water possessed great medicinal and healing properties. In a short time invalids came from surrounding counties in all directions erecting tents near the spring while others send wagons with barrels.”
I just have to find this spot, and when I do, I’m going to jump in.
I walked up to the park where all the festivities were going on and saw this boulder on a slab with no plaque, inscription, whatever. It was below a flagpole, and it was huge! Why put a lighted boulder in the park for no reason? I decided to look for someone who could tell me what was going on with the “Lacona Celebration” and the boulder.
I asked around, and everyone told me to talk with Jolene Schurman. She is the Lacona Celebration Committee president, and I found her at the food building.
Jolene is delightful, and she greeted me like we were old friends. Jolene knows how rural America works, and while both Republican and Democratic parties pay millions of dollars to beltway consultants to tell us how to talk to rural Americans and how to appeal to rural voters, they would be better off bringing Jolene on board as a consultant. They would learn more from Jolene after a couple of beers than from a beltway consultant in a lifetime. And they should pay her.
To Jolene, it’s all about community, values, and working together to solve problems. She told me how the Lacona Celebration happens and why they do what they do.
People, especially women like Jolene, hold our country together.
Here, listen to Jolene tell the story, please.
If you listened, you know I asked Jolene about the boulder, and she introduced me to the American Legion guys who were making it happen.
VFW members Ed Hoch and Chet Butler told me about the boulder, what they are trying to do with it, and what the Legion does for the community. Ed is upper left, and Chet is lower right.
There are great guys, and I won’t speak for them when you can hear their voices. Please listen.
Behind the boulder was this wonderful mural of town—the Cenex station, agricultural facilities, cattle, sewage treatment plants, and much more. Note how exaggerated in size Highway G76 (Main Street) is. Highways always loom large in our rural communities, being a conduit to other and different worlds if we seek it, and if things go wrong, a lifeline home.
If you look closely, there is a message and lyrics at the top of the mural. It says:
“Friday Night Football, top dog around Here…
Sweet tea from a mason jar, ‘hey who’s that at the bar..?”
Fire flies come out when the Sun goes down
“who’s that new family I’ve been seeing Around..?”
Give Me A Sunday Morning full of Grace,
A Simple Life and I’ll be Okay,
here in our small town,
Lacona Iowa
USA!
We can see the values of the community and much of rural America in this short verse.
Lacona is in the Southeast Warren School District, and, appropriately named, most of the people in the Southeastern part of the County go to the school. The Southeast Warren School District covers approximately 153 square miles, about twice the size of Washington, D.C.
The High School is located in the nearby unincorporated town of Liberty Center, and most students come from Lacona, Milo, and Liberty Center. Its eight-man football team didn’t do so bad last year, going 5-4 overall and 5-1 in the conference, finishing second. About 70 schools in Iowa play eight-man football, with most of them having 120 or fewer students. Southeast Warren had 110 students last year.
Football is an integral part of American culture, and it’s hard to imagine a high school without a football team and the associated activities. Friday night football is indeed “top dog,” and here is a sweet little rabbit hole to go down on the origins of “top dog.”
Elements of this poem can be seen in many country music songs, and it’s an anthem for small town life.
“hey, who’s that down at the bar…” and “who’s that new family I’ve been seeing Around..?”
These words speak to the intimacy of small town life and the forces that pull people together or drive them elsewhere. If you grow up in a small town, people probably know who your first kiss was with and most everyone you have ever had intimate relations with. They know who drinks too much, who does drugs, and whose marriages are in trouble. They know how much you make by the make, model, and year of the vehicle you drive. They know your parents, kids, and grandkids, and may be related to you.
While that might seem like too much information, those same people will bring a hot dish over if someone in the family is sick, watch your kids in an emergency, pull you out of a ditch on an icy morning, offer you a shoulder to cry on when you need it, and much, much more. In many ways, a small town can be a large support group.
I figured that “sweet tea from a mason jar” would be in many country western songs, but I was wrong. Kellie Pickler, a former contestant on American Idol from Albemarle, North Carolina (population 16,073), in her lovely song “Small Town Girl.”
Here are a few lines that correspond with the themes in the poem on the Lacona mural.
I grew up where I could see the stars
Drinking sweet tea from a Mason jar
Dogwood trees like leaves through the pine
People on the porch watching fireflies
And driving 'round the Wal-Mart on a Friday night
Here she is singing “Small Town Girl.” Please listen.
She had me at “Chevy truck.”
The all-knowing Google says, “an anthem is a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause.”
Small Town Girl is a lovely anthem.
As an aside, Mason jars used to be a sign of rural living, even poverty, but I see now that they are hip.
And a Walmart? The nearest ones from Lacona are all about a 25-minute drive away in Indianola, Knoxville, or Chariton. I suspect the people of Lacona would love to have a Walmart in town.
Sweet tea really isn’t an Iowa thing. Most of us drink it unsweetened. Google Trends of searches show that sweet tea is a Southern thing. Iowa ranks 33.
As you can see above, however, Google shows interest in sweet tea has grown since 2004, with interesting, systematically consistent peaks and valleys. As might be expected, the peaks are summer months, and the valleys are winter months.
The last five lines on the mural are nearly identical to those from Small Town USA, the country singer and songwriter Justin Moore’s first number one hit in 2009 on Billboard’s Hot County Songs chart. Moore is from Poyen, Arkansas (population 263).
Here are Moore’s lyrics:
Give me a Sunday morning that's full of grace
A simple life and I'll be okay
Here in small town USA
And the mural’s:
Give Me A Sunday Morning full of Grace,
A Simple Life and I’ll be Okay,
here in our small town,
Lacona Iowa
USA!
Above is Moore singing the song. Please listen and look at the imagery.
Even I know the song! Not only do I know the song, I like it and identify with it. “Small Town USA,” like “Small Town Girl,” is an anthem.
I asked a friend about Moore.
“He’s just like us,” she said. “Just a regular guy from a small town--I saw him in concert at the Bridge View Center in Ottumwa.”
Some critics didn’t like it.
According to Wikipedia, “Dan Milliken of Country Universe gave the song a D+ grade, saying that it was "written solely to appeal to a demographic of people who also live in small towns and can relate to surface-level ideas… Without further development, the ideas just sound really, really clichéd." Karlie Justus of Engine 145 gave it a "thumbs down" review, criticizing the lyrics for lacking details that were specific to a rural lifestyle.”
All I can say to Dan Milliken and Karlie Justice is they can kiss my ass.
These are GREAT songs because they reflect and speak to our identity—the role of faith, family, love of country, and much more.
At various times in my life, I’ve lived in big cities and in rural parts of Iowa, Oregon, California, New Mexico, and Arizona. Many rural people in those states have more in common with each other than those who live in their own state capitals. This is especially true about lifestyles, less so with values.
These songs are all about identity. About embracing who you are and where you come from, even if it’s a small town.
I’m going to stop here for now. There’s much more to learn from the 2022 Lacona Celebration, so expect more “episodes.” And thanks to Jolene Schurman and the Lacona Celebration Committee for welcoming us to town!
I’m honored to be a part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative and thrilled that the Iowa Capital Dispatch features some of our work. The Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nationwide effort to bring thoughtful and honest reporting to everyone.