Junction Days 2018 a success

Red Oak’s 2018 Junction Days celebration is in the books.

Fountain Square Park was once again filled with hundreds of visitors and participants watching and taking part in a wide variety of events. Red Oak Chamber and Industry director Susie Bormann said a large amount of planning goes into coordinating the celebration.

“It’s really fun to see it all come together. We actually started working on things last August, and in January, it was kind of hard to believe all the little pieces would come together, and it has. I’ve heard the comment it’s like a train. It’s coming, jump on. There were countless volunteers to help out. This is truly a community event,” Bormann said.

Some light sprinkles over the weekend did nothing to dampen the large crowds.

“After the parade, I saw people lined up 10 to 20 people deep at different vendors participating in the BBQ contest waiting for food. It was so nice to see the park full of people, and they’re having a great time. They have truly come home to Red Oak.”

Despite the brief showers, Bormann said the weather couldn’t have been better.

“We’ve truly been blessed. Thursday night was beautiful weather, Friday was perfect, and it was perfect for the weekend, and the sprinkles were gone in time for the beverage garden and dance Saturday night,” commented Bormann.

One of the new events this year was the Shady Tree BBQ contest. Bormann said the event was very popular among the attendees.

“The BBQ contest drew close to 20 contestants, including people from outside of the area, including Nebraska and Kansas City. It’s truly bringing people to Red Oak that may not have attended our community event. It’s very exciting because we are bringing people to Red Oak and showing what we have here. Plans are already in place to make the BBQ contest bigger and better next year. It’s been very well-received, and people were excited about it,” said Bormann.