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Despite pandemic social restrictions, the Fourth of July in Luverne was a festive holiday amid sunny weather and casual community activities.
In addition to the usual Davis Lake Triathlon and fireworks at The Lake, the day included a Freedom Loop Challenge and free golf cart rides on the Luverne Loop trail and an evening outdoor concert on the lawn of the Courthouse Square.
Luverne Area Chamber Director Jane Wildung Lanphere said she was pleased with how the holiday unfolded.
“I heard very good comments about the day at The Lake and thank everyone who worked on it to make it a success,” she said.
She credited Dave Duffy and the family and friends of Mike and Traci Davis for activities at Tthe Lake, which included food vendors, free use of kayaks and general water games.
“I made a pact with the city that if we could have fireworks I wouldn't plan or host anything at The Lake,” Lanphere said. “The social distancing stuff was a challenge to think of things.”
Dozens of people boarded golf carts to enjoy the Luverne Loop Trail Saturday afternoon.
“We had rave reviews from the golf cart rides. We counted over 117 people on cart rides during the day so that went really well,” Lanphere said.
“So many people have never been able to see the sites along the trail. Many of them asked us to do it every year and see how things change — and they told us to charge for it.”
The Freedom Loop Challenge invited individuals and families to ride the Luverne Loop path from June 26 through July 4 and answer challenge questions along the way. Free T-shirts were available to the first 200 people to sign up, and Lanphere said most of them were given away.
“The adults and children that did that really enjoyed the challenge,” she said. “We had lots of comments about the questions. I had the students that work for the Gallery on Saturday make up the questions.”
Weather cooperated perfectly for the July 4 holiday, which included a “Songs of America” outdoor concert at the Courthouse Square by Ron and Jane Cote and their son, Wyatt.
“I was really surprised by the number of people at the courthouse for the concert,” Lanphere said. “I counted over 140 and most of them were people that I had never seen at the events at The Lake.”
She also praised fireworks technicians Jonathon Kurtz and Seth Miller for their role in the fireworks display. “They did an awesome job,” Lanphere said. “We were blessed to have the fireworks themselves paid for by NextEra Energy.”
The CVB paid for the technicians, tax and insurance. NextEra, which is building the Walleye Wind Farm in Rock County, provided a grant of $6,000 to cover the cost of fireworks.