Cherry jubilee

George marks Independence Day, 49th birthday

GEORGE — Consider the giant cherry pie.

No, really take a moment to stop and think about it.

Think about what kind of work and effort goes into putting together something that's designed to mark a day which celebrates the independence of our nation and marks the 49th birthday of a small town off of Interstate 90, a town which will see its population increase from 500 residents to about 5,000 in one single day.

What do you put such a pie in?

How many cherries do you need?

Who is responsible for the pie crust lettering?

How do you cover the pie?

What happens when the crusts cut in the shape of the letter "L" go missing?

"There's always a crisis," coordinator Debby Kooy said in a tone suggesting bemusement Tuesday morning, as she and three other members of the George Burkettes worked on getting the pie ready for a noon serving, using other line pieces to put together an L for the word "July" and another for the word "Let," as in "Let Freedom Ring."

The dough shapes were baked in Quincy High School earlier in the week; the tin to hold the 8-foot by 8-foot pie arrived outside George Community Hall a little before 6 a.m., as workers began preparing a pancake breakfast, vendors began setting up booths and early birds hadn't even started arriving for the annual Cherry Bomb Run, just one of the day-long celebration's other festivities.

Chris Young, keeper of the giant pie tin, has been working for the City of George for 11 years as a utility worker, and before that, he worked for three years as a summer employee helping prepare for the July 4 celebration.

"It's one of the biggest events in Grant County," Young said. "We've got people from different towns coming around and enjoy all the activities and the fireworks and the pie and stuff."

Many local businesses put out money for the fireworks display, Young said, also pointing to the live entertainment on stage throughout the day.

"There's a lot of people that put out a lot of effort to get ready for it," he said. "It's not a one-man show; it's the whole community, and farmers and everybody that does it, which is sort of nice to have and see."

It was the first year Young scrubbed out the tin, which is stored in the city shop, and prepared it for the festivities.

"Sometimes rust sets up over it over the summer and winter and stuff, so we have to scrub it out, clean it and then grease it," he said of the 20-year-old tin, noting it gets cleaned after the festivities and then again before. "Then we bring it over and let the girls do what they need to do with it."

Mary Lou Krautscheid, daughter Karla Krautscheid and Glenys Stadelman joined Kooy in preparing the pie about 6:30 a.m., laying down and smoothing out the cherry filling, using 15 5-gallon buckets, which Mary Lou said weighed about 40 pounds each.

Then all four women set about covering the filling with the pieces of crust, cut to form the message "Let Freedom Ring!" and mark the date and the name of the town, as well as a complete-with-intentional-crack Liberty Bell center piece and various pieces in the shape of stars, bells ("Do you want them to ding and dong?" someone asked at one point in setting up those pieces), hatchets, hearts and the nation, reaching a finished product a little before 8 a.m.

"It gives me a real sense of the community," Mary Lou said of her 20 years of involvement. "This is a celebration that we don't want to go away, and if people don't help, it will go away."

Preparations are under way for next year's celebration, she added, which will mark the town's 50th anniversary, to make it a "bigger and better event yet." The community is working to remodel and expand George Community Hall, she said, and attempting to obtain a grant. The remodel would provide outdoor storage space, which would solve one of the hall's biggest challenges: Having to bring in so many things from outside either the night before or the morning of an event.

Karla estimated she has been helping out for about 12 years, noting one of her favorite moments from a previous celebration was when her brother was hypnotized into thinking he was Michael Jackson, something still talked about in the community, she said.

"It's just awesome; I mean, where else can you celebrate?" she said in looking ahead to the 50th anniversary. "My real hope is that we can get a lot of people here, and that will revive a lot of interest in George, and just increase the number of things, activities and stuff around here, kind of revitalize the community."

In the next year leading up to the anniversary, Stadelman would like to see a new restaurant locate in George, noting that longtime establishment Martha's Inn closed earlier this year. And if something did locate, she would like to see it connect to a hotel, she added, in answer to the community's high demand and concerts at the nearby Gorge Amphitheatre.

"I live right here in George, and I don't want to see the tradition die," Stadelman said of her participation. "We certainly need volunteers to keep it going … If we don't have enough members, we can't keep going, and we really want to keep going."