Locals, visitors enjoy hometown fun
Despite the rain that had poured down Saturday morning, Giltner residents and visitors from all over were enjoying all that Giltner Daze had to offer on Saturday.
Starting off the morning strong, 25-30 runners participated in the Giltner FFA Fun Run, with the money raised going towards Giltner High School’s FFA chapter.
“Even with the morning rain, Giltner FFA had great supporters at the Fun Run,” said Lydia Fitzke, GHS teacher and advisor. “The runners were lucky enough to only run in the rain for the beginning of the Fun Run and were able to end the run with the sun shining through the clouds.”
Also prevailing against the weather was the Brotherhood of the Platte. While their demonstration was delayed to 10:45 a.m., members seized the opportunity to parade through the street and park in full armor. Brotherhood founding member Joel Springer said the delay had given him and his members more time to showcase new demonstrations and allow more sparring time.
“We added some things like a scenario, essentially, where I’m in mostly full plate armor and we did a demonstration where I get to actually use my armor, whereas my opponents had more light armor,” Springer said. “We were demonstrating how when they hit me, more often than not, they were hitting plate armor, so I didn’t have to back down, but when I hit them somewhere where they weren’t armored, they had to tap out for a while.”
Going strong this year was the Giltner Daze annual tractor pull with 40 children competing from age 4 to 12 for both girls and boys. The top three boys and girls in each division have a chance to compete in the Nebraska State Fair tractor pull. Results from the Giltner Daze Tractor Pull will be posted in next week’s ANR.
One of the winners of the tractor pull was Scarlett Consbruck, who won first place in the 7-8 category. Along with enjoying her win and food from the food trucks, she enjoyed the new activities this year, including Battle Bus Mobile Arcade and Zipline Extreme.
“I did the zip line and that was really fun,” Consbruck said. “I went with my friend, Chloe Schelkopf, then I went by myself, and then I went with my friend, Riley Bachman.”
Also enjoying the new activities were friends Eliza Taylor, Livie Schutt and Breslyn Hunnicutt. The group had won second place in the Hornet Hustle Scavenger Hunt.
“Everybody gets in a vehicle or however they want to get around, and there’s a paper with a bunch of things that are at people’s houses, in their yards, and you take a selfie with your group,” Schutt said.
With all three girls enjoying the Zipline Extreme and the scavenger hunt, Taylor commented about the multitude of activities that bring everyone in Giltner together.
“There’s a lot of activities that are a lot of fun and it’s definitely on-going,” Taylor said.
Another family enjoying Giltner Daze was the Martinez Calderon family, which includes Ruth Calderon Trejo and her five children.
“It’s been good,” Calderon Trejo said. “I went a couple of times on the zipline with my kids. They have been at the bouncy house at the arcade, they went out to eat, they looked at the cars, they went to see the knights with the armor and did mini-golf.”
Having lived in Giltner since 2015, the family always tries to make it to Giltner Daze whenever they can to enjoy a fun-filled afternoon.
“This time has been a little bit better,” she said. “It’s not really hot, not super cold and they have a lot of different things this year, which is really nice.”
Members of the Giltner Area Development Corporation (GADC) reported that other activities, such as the Lion Club’s lunch, had received a huge turnout with more than 300 meals served. Seventeen teams competed in the Blind Golf Cart Challenge, with 11 teams having competed in the Hornet Hustle Scavenger Hunt and more than 100 children having played inside the Battle Bus Mobile Arcade.
Giltner Daze Car Show
For the fourth annual Giltner Daze Car Show, 159 cars were registered for this year’s event. Despite the rain, car show organizer Allan Coats was pleased with the turnout.
“I would say it was fantastic,” Coats said. “It was a really good turnout and I like to see more cars, different cars that haven’t been there before and a lot of different faces. We drew cars from a longer distance away.”
Along with the hot rods, mustangs, and trucks parked along Commercial Avenue, drivers arrived in their motorcycles, a race car and a hearse.
Among the new faces that attended the car show was Daniel Wheeler of Boise City, Okla., and Doug Starkey of Columbus, who were eager to see the cars in attendance as well as show off their own. Both Wheeler and Starkey brought a 1967 Ford Fairlane featuring a small-block Ford motor with a 4-speed transmission. Wheeler’s Ford Fairlane is green and Starkey’s is blue.
“It’s probably one of the more laid back shows,” Wheeler said. “I like it.”
“It’s been a great show,” Starkey added later on.
“The group had been to car shows in Newman Grove, Columbus, Missouri Valley and Gresham before attending Giltner. While not able to see what else Giltner Daze had in store, the duo had walked around and were able to see what cars had made their way to the show.
“The cars are beautiful,” he said. “There’s a great selection of cars.”
More than 40 trophies were given to winners at the end of the car show, with some trophies being handmade by Glenn and Cindy Nielsen.
“(Cindy) had some ideas popping around her head and the last couple cool days it’s been nice enough outside they could go out in their shop and they decided to throw them together,” Coats said. “I really didn’t know for sure what to do with them, because it was last minute, but they made those and just called them the Giltner Daze Show Picks. We just picked out a few cars that we thought stood out for some reason.”
A mini show also took place with five trophies being handed out to participants.
Despite the decrease from previous years, Coats expressed pride in seeing and hearing Giltner Daze continue to make a name for itself beyond Giltner.
“It’s a good pat on the back when you hear about your show and nobody knows who you are, but they’re talking about it behind you, when you’re at supper somewhere,” he said. “You are in a different car show and they’re talking about our show.”
The next Giltner Daze and Giltner Daze Car Show will take place on Saturday, June 12, 2027.