MARQUETTE ‹ It had been 20 years since Sherri Taylor had set foot inside the old Marquette school building, and seeing it not filled with students, books and teachers was strange, to say the least.
But after seeing its potential, Taylor is confident the building ‹ now known as the Marquette Events Center ‹ can help bring interest back to the town of just under 300.
"We've been without anything going on here for so long that people don't really stop and think, ŒHey, we have this nice facility ‹ how can we use it?'" Taylor said.
Taylor and a few other Marquette residents are starting next Saturday, May 10 with the town's first Hot Rods and Harleys event.
The daylong festival will feature "something for everybody," Taylor said ‹ dozens of classic cars and motorcycles (not just Harleys), along with kids' activities, trail rides, food, raffles, bingo and live music and dancing.
The event is a fundraiser for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for the area, based on the idea of Ken Bertrand of Riverside, Calif., the old school building's owner.
Money raised will go toward a new committee through the Hamilton County Legion and VFW clubs that will distribute it to Iraq and Afghanistan vets for anything from housing assistance to car repair to counseling, Taylor said.
Other vendors will also be raising money in part for their own causes, such as a local 4-H club's trip to Washington, D.C., and the Marquette Volunteer Fire Department's proposed new fire barn.
"It kind of helps everybody," said Taylor, the publicity chairwoman of the group putting on the festival. "Besides what we're doing, everyone else is being helped along the way." Taylor emphasized that the event is geared toward families.
The day will also include tournaments for basketball, pool and horseshoes, as well as nature hikes at nearby Griffith Prairie, a remote-control airplane show, book signings by two Nebraska authors and a free teen dance in the evening.
Taylor said she hopes the event can become an annual one, though it might be moved into June in future years. She hopes it can demonstrate that worthwhile things do happen in Marquette.
"We're trying to show everybody else that it's possible," she said.
"Everybody around here's been doing good things and making it work."
