VESTA - Proud owners of vintage cars and tractors came, the Lucan Community Band came to play and the smell of barbecue chicken filled the air of the little town of Vesta on Friday night.
This year the residents of Vesta combined the 4-year-old River Daze festival with V-esta Daze and a vintage car show to bring young and old together.
"We call it 'Anything With Wheels,'" said Joanna Krause, treasurer of the River Daze committee. "If it has wheels, bring it."
Article Photos
Photo by Steve Browne
Michael Gladitsch brought his parade vehicle to “Anything with Wheels,” at V-esta Daze on Friday. The body and frame of the vehicle are handmade, the motor is a lawn mower engine.
Arden Bendiy brought his 1951 Ford F5 truck.
"I bought it on auction a few years ago and redid it," Bendiy said. "It's only got 31,000 miles on it."
Michael Gladitsch brought something that stood out even among the vintage tractors, cars and Harley Davidson motorcycles. It was a car-shaped object but appeared to be made of wood.
"It's a parade vehicle," Gladitsch said. "I got the old parade vehicle from my cousin about three years ago, but the body was shot. The frame is handmade, my cousin bought a lawn mower engine for it brand new."
V-esta Daze started sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s, nobody seemed quite sure.
"It started with Wally Anderson at the old feed mill," said Harlan Lemke, the town's self-described "hair butcher" since the 1970s. "Originally it was to raise money for the fire department, and after a while they got the idea to do a fundraiser every year. We used to have politicians come every year. A Democrat would speak one night, and a Republican the other night."
The feed mill is gone now, but Ted Suss, DFL candidate for Minnesota State Senate District 16 showed up, as did Republican House Rep. Chris Swedzinski of Ghent who is running for re-election.
Lynn Krause has been acting mayor of Vesta since the sitting mayor had to step down because of family health issues.
"It's very important to our community, and it's part of what keeps it together," Krause said. "We used to have a street dance for younger folks and a chicken feed for the older. That's the important thing, to bring everybody together, no matter what age."