Changes sought for HHS alumni celebration, Glory Days parade

This Memorial Day weekend, when Holton High School gradu­ates of the past gather for the an­nual Glory Days alumni activities and HHS Alumni Banquet, there will be some changes in the way things are handled — at least on the night of the banquet.

According to Erin Ludvicek Carlson, president of the HHS Alumni Association, changes are being made to get more of “the younger generation” of Wildcat alumni — and more of Jackson County — to participate.

Changes are being made to draw more recent HHS graduates to this year’s Alumni Banquet, which will feature guest speakers and enter­tainment, as well as a post-banquet reception for all HHS alumni, re­gardless of their class’ graduation year. The banquet is set for Satur­day, May 23 in the HHS gym.

Carlson also noted that this year’s Glory Days activity changes are being extended to the annual alumni parade, set for 11 a.m. that same day. This year, graduates of all Jackson County high schools past and present — whether it’s Holton, Royal Valley or Jackson Heights, or now-defunct schools in the county’s smaller towns — are being invited to participate in the parade.

The main focus, for now, is boosting attendance at the HHS alumni banquet, said Carlson, a member of the HHS class of 2001. She said some changes in the ban­quet’s program had been suggested by some of her fellow graduates.

“Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there would be more than 600 people at­tending the alumni banquet every year,” she said. “Last year was the smallest, because there were only about 175 attendees. It seems that everyone who’s been attending re­cently have been the older genera­tion, and not so many of the younger alumni have ever been in­terested in attending.”

This year, the banquet program and post-banquet activities are be­ing expanded in hopes of drawing more of a crowd of alumni to their alma mater to the alumni banquet at HHS. The winner of the annual Alumnus of the Year award will be announced, Carlson said, but there will be more to it than just dinner and an award.

“We wanted to get an interesting speaker and some entertainment to help make it more of an enjoyable evening,” she said.

But as Carlson noted, drawing more of a younger crowd of alumni to the banquet isn’t the only reason for wanting to boost attendance. Holton, she said, is one of a few towns that still have an alumni as­sociation, and the alumni banquet has been a tradition here for more than 100 years — and without the support of alumni, that tradition could be in danger.

“It’s a very interesting tradition that we have, and it’s something that we don’t want to fall apart,” Carlson said.

For this and future banquet pro­grams, Carlson said she would like to put a spotlight on HHS alumni who have excelled in their adult years. This year, the spotlight will be on guest speaker Chad Bon­trager, a member of the HHS class of 2000 who now serves as deputy secretary — or, as Carlson put it, “second-in-command” — of the Kansas Department of Agriculture.

“He’s a very charismatic and outgoing speaker,” she said of Bontrager. “He always was in high school… He’s got some interesting stories to listen to.”

Carlson also noted that she and the other members of the Alumni Association board of directors — fellow 2001 graduate and vice president Kim Clark Mitchell and 2003 graduate and secretary Matt Wilson — have been appealing to local businesses and alumni for sponsorships to keep the annual banquet and activities going.

“Ticket sales are the associa­tion’s sole means of funding for these events,” she said. “But we’ve had a lot of good feedback so far.”

The banquet will be followed by an opportunity for all HHS gradu­ates to gather at the Reichart Vine­yard — the former Campbell Win­ery — east of Holton, where Carl­son said a “less formal” event will be held with a “beer garden” and music provided by the Micah Halton Band. The vineyard is “not officially open for business yet, but we talked them into letting us be their first customers,” she said.

“They have a gorgeous set-up out there,” Carlson said of the Reichart Vineyard, where the event will be open to graduates age 21 and older. Alumni banquet at­tendees will be admitted to the event at no charge, while those who don’t will be asked for a $5 dona­tion, she added.

Earlier in the day, alumni and other visitors to the area will be in­volved in Glory Days activities on Holton’s Town Square, and the an­nual alumni parade will be held at 11 a.m.

“Anyone from a Jackson County school, and that includes Royal Valley and Jackson Heights and all the smaller schools that are no longer there, who’s having a class reunion is invited to participate,” Carlson said. “They can get their class­mates together, decorate a trailer or a pickup, or just walk as a group in the parade.”

Alumni banquet tickets are being sold for $25 each at the main branch offices of Denison State Bank, Farmers State Bank and Holton National Bank, as well as online. For more information, e-mail Carlson at erincarl­son3@gmail.com or Mitchell at kimclarkmitchell@gmail.com