Celebrate summer with festive local celebrations

Summer is almost here – a time for family picnics, neighborhood barbecues, vacation adventures and enjoying the warm and sunny weather! It’s also a time when communities around our area get together to celebrate their history and just have some good old-fashioned fun with annual festivals. There are plenty of them right here in Hamilton County, but if you’re willing to drive an hour or two, there are unique and even quirky summer celebrations to be found all around our region.

Hamilton County events
Just about every weekend during the summer months, there’s a party going on somewhere in our county, starting with annual festivals in Hampton and Giltner in early June and running through early August when the Village of Stockham holds its annual Community Barbecue. 
Here’s the list in chronological order:

Booster Days - June 6-8
Booster Days is a three-day family-friendly celebration in Hampton that features activities for all ages including a sand volleyball tournament, games and competitions for all ages
Starting things off on Friday night will be a free Family Fun Night on Main Street from 9-11 p.m. with a DJ and a street dance, snacks, drinks, games and a cash bar for those 21 and over. 
This year’s theme for Sunday’s grand parade at 4 p.m. is “Aloha Hampton,” and two new categories of entries have been added this year. 
The weekend will also feature a pedal tractor pull and an egg drop for the kids, an all-school reunion, ice cream social and more. 
Watch for more details coming soon.

Giltner Daze – June 13-14
Organized around the yearly alumni dinner and dance, Giltner’s annual Giltner Daze is two days of family fun for everyone. 
This year’s event starts on Friday evening with the 13th Giltner Alumni Dinner and Dance at the Community Center, featuring the Gallivant Band. 
Saturday’s events get underway early with an 8 a.m. Fun Run followed by a medieval fighting demonstration at 9:30. The 10 a.m. tractor pull competition for both kids and adults will be followed by a penny dig by the water tower (sponsored by M. Robertshaw Insurance) at 11. 
A bounce house for kids will be set up from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and there will also be spider mountain, mini golf and face painting. 
Starting at noon and running through 4 p.m. is the third annual Giltner Daze Car Show, and the blindfold golf cart challenge begins at 2. 
Other events on Saturday will include corn hole and sand volleyball tournaments.
Fun food offerings will also be available throughout the day at the Community Center (featuring the Lions Club Lunch from 11:30-1:30), at Sit-n-Bull and at various food trucks around town.

A’ROR’N Days - June 26-29
Billed as “the most legendary pirate celebration of the year” is the 2025 edition of A’ROR’N Days. 
“Hoist the Jolly Roger and prepare for swashbucklin’, treasure huntin’ and dancin’ like true buccaneers,” proclaims the A’ROR’N Days official Facebook page. 
Along with this year’s fun pirate theme, will be all the familiar elements of Aurora’s annual downtown celebration that make it an event folks return from out of state to attend every year. During the four-day festival, there will be kids games, a pole vault competition, a fly-in and pancake feed at the airport, Family Night, 5K and 10K runs, a quilt show, music, a fire department water fight, a car show, a poker run, outdoor movies and Saturday’s grand parade. Whoever you aarrrrrrrr, you’re sure to find a treasure chest full of piratey fun at A’ROR’N Days 2025.

Phillips July 3rd Celebration
The Village of Phillips gets its red, white and blue on early with the annual Independence Day celebration held on the evening of July 3 in and near the Phillips Memorial Hall. There’s explosive fun for everyone with a BBQ meal from 6-8 p.m., kids games, bounce houses, a street dance and rootbeer floats. It all gets underway at 6 p.m. and climaxes with the annual fireworks display at 10 p.m.

Hamilton County Fair – July 24-27
This year’s Hamilton County Fair will feature a concert by country music star Aaron Tippin plus livestock shows, a carnival and a fiesta of other family fun. In fact, this year’s theme for the fair is “It’s a family fiesta!” 
Evening events at this year’s fair get underway with the annual Demolition Derby set for 7 p.m. at the grandstand. On Friday evening Tippin will perform his concert presented by Hamilton Telecommunications, at 7 p.m. Saturday’s events will culminate with the return of Figure 8 Racing at 7 p.m. and Sunday’s Family Day will feature mutton busting and steer riding at 4 p.m. 
In addition, there will be carnival rides and concessions, 4-H and FFA livestock shows, ag exhibits and much, much more. Watch for more details.

Stockham BBQ – Aug. 2
The largest crowd to gather annually in the town of Stockham, comes together in August for the village’s annual Community BBQ event. Nearly 400 people enjoy good food (including homemade pie and ice cream), live music and games. Proceeds generally benefit Stockham improvement projects.

Bands on the Bricks
There’s also a dance party on Aurora’s Courthouse Square every Friday night for a period of weeks this summer. Bands on the Bricks, a series of Friday night open air concerts on the cobblestones east of the courthouse, starts July 11 and runs through Aug. 15. Live bands from around the region bring music from multiple family-friendly genres and there’s food and fun for everyone at this weekly street festival.

Nearby summer festivals
*Lone Tree Days is Central City’s annual Independence Day party which this year will be held July 3-6. The celebration includes a “Pack the Pavement” night, the annual Teddy Bear Picnic movie nights, car and motorcycle shows and the annual fireworks display at the fairgrounds. 
*Seward Fourth of July is an annual celebration of the nation’s birthday in the town that bills itself as “Nebraska’s 4th of July City.” The festival includes a parade, historic presentations, craft booths, a car show and a fireworks display. 
*The Nebraska State Fair is located just down the road in Grand Island and caps off summer with 11 fun-filled days of livestock shows, rides, booths and world-class entertainment. This year’s state fair starts on Friday August 22 and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 1. It offers livestock competitions, petting zoos, food vendors, live music, rides and diverse vendor booths, creating a remarkable experience for families, farmers and individuals interested in exploring Nebraska’s vibrant history at the heart of the Midwest. For more information visit www.statefair.org.

Ethnic festivals
Since the mid-19th Century central Nebraska has been home to communities of immigrants from all over the world. Since many of these groups tended to settle together where people spoke their own language, a number of these communities have retained their ethnic customs and identities. 
One of those communities is the town of Stromsburg in nearby Polk County, known as the “Swede Capitol of Nebraska.” For over 60 years, the town has celebrated its Swedish heritage with it’s annual Stromsburg Midsommar Festival, held this year on June 20-22. The festival features the annual Chicken BBQ, sand volleyball and horse shoe tournaments, Swedish dancers, a craft festival and a Taste of Sweden luncheon at the Viking Center where guests can sample Ostkaka, a sort of Swedish cheesecake topped with lingonberries. 
Over in Dannebrog, just 45 miles to the northwest of Aurora, the townsfolk annually celebrate their Danish heritage with a festival held the first weekend in June. During the weekend Grundlovsfest celebration, scheduled for June 7-8 this year, the citizens of Dannebrog commemorate the anniversary of the signing of Denmark’s Free Constitution in 1849 by King Frederik VII. (The word, Grundlov is from a Danish term meaning foundation.) This year’s festival will include Danish foods, vendors, a parade, turtle races, a music jam and a mini golf masters tournament. Other European heritage festivals around the region include the GermanFest in Syracuse, October 10-12; the Wilber Czech Festival, Aug. 1-3 and the “Half way to St. Pat’s Day” Irish Festival, Sept. 20 in Greeley.

Offbeat family festivals
Sometimes if you’re looking for an excuse to have a party, you just have to make up a theme. That seems to have been the case with area summer celebrations like the Kool-aid Days celebration in Hastings set for Aug. 15-17 at the Adams County Fairgrounds. This annual event celebrates Hastings’ historic ties to  the classic American beverage. (Edwin Perkins invented Kool-Aid in Hastings in 1927). Family fun reigns during the festival with special visits from the Kool-Aid Man, a parade, a car show and giant inflatable fun houses.
Other quirky celebrations held throughout the region include the Wayne Chicken Show, July 11-13 and the annual Nebraska Prairie Chicken Festival in Burwell.