Starting with a bang
Ceremony opens 2023 Frontier Days
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br> Peter Hill, left, and Mo Hill stand back after lighting the fuse on a half-scale replica of an 1850s French field cannon at the conclusion of Friday evening’s opening ceremony for Frontier Days.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br> Manuela Rodriguez plays Taps during Friday evening’s opening ceremony for Frontier Days.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br> Peter Hill, left, and Mo Hill stand back after lighting the fuse on a half-scale replica of an 1850s French field cannon at the conclusion of Friday evening’s opening ceremony for Frontier Days.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br> Manuela Rodriguez plays Taps during Friday evening’s opening ceremony for Frontier Days.
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Frontier Days 2023 started with a bang -- literally -- Friday evening.
That bang was courtesy of a half-scale replica of an 1850s French field cannon named Thunder. Peter and Mo Hill, leaders of a Minnesota-based historical group called the 3rd Scottish Haggis Militia, fired it with thunderous effect at the conclusion of Friday's opening ceremony for Frontier Days.
"I encourage everyone to partake of the many activities of Frontier Days," said Casey Johnson, who, with his wife Deb, will lead this morning's parade in their role as Frontier Days grand marshals.
Frontier Days, he said, is a time to be enjoyed with family and friends.
He saluted Terry Cook, the chairman of Frontier Days, and his team of volunteers who have spent thousands of hours preparing for this weekend's event.
Another of the ceremony's speakers had experience with cannons that were bigger than Thunder and far more deadly.
Tom Brown, 90, of Fort Dodge, served in the Korean War. He spent all of 1952 in South Korea, serving as a truck driver in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division.
The Korean War, he said, has developed a reputation as the forgotten war. But he said the people who served in that war and their families will never forget ''what they did for the freedom of South Korea and for the freedom of all of us."
The Honor Guard of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1856 presented the colors during the ceremony.
Emma Davis sang the national anthem and "America the Beautiful."
Manuela Rodriquez played Taps and Retreat.
The Ambassadors from the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance held a ribbon cutting.
After the VFW honor guard retired the colors, the Hills fired Thunder.
If you go:
The parade down Central Avenue will begin at 10 a.m. today. There will be activities, entertainment and food at the Fort Museum and Frontier Village from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.