Keota Fun Days energizes town

A Keota police pickup truck, lights flashing, eases down Broadway Avenue trailed by a flag-bearing military detail. An armada of fire and EMS vehicles follows, kicking off the Keota Fun Days Grand Parade.

Hundreds of people lined a stretch of Broadway Avenue in Keota for the annual celebration of the town and a homecoming for many that grew up there.

The parade, the flagship event of the two-day celebration, featured dozens of vehicles and floats, including tractors, classic cars, news vans, and floats exhibiting the local baseball and softball teams and the town pool advocates.

Children scurried to get candy thrown by people in the floats, and some people used water guns to spray the crowd on the nearly 90-degree day.

“To me it’s got a local flavor,” Keota resident Steve Klein said. “And that’s kind of what small communities are about.”

Keota Fun Days has been a mainstay of the community for nearly 150 years. Residents said it's a unique event that brings the whole town together and brings Keota natives back from far away places for the weekend.

“The big thing about the whole thing is the fact that people come back to the town they know, they love, and they’ve got some deep roots here,” Keota resident Duane Sprouse said.

Sprouse, 71, has lived in Keota since 1972. He was an ag teacher and then moved into ag business. He’s contributed to Keota Fun Days and seen it change over the decades.

In 1973, Keota’s 100th anniversary, Sprouse played drums in the centennial band in the parade. The band returned to the parade for several years after.

Sprouse said he and his wife only planned to stay for five years, and they’re now nearing 50 years in the town. Some of his children have moved back to Keota, too.

“It gets its hooks in you,” he said. “After a while you can’t give it up.”

At 1 p.m. on Saturday, the bean bags tournament commenced, and bean bags flew across the sky as 20 boards were set up in a sectioned-off space.

Thirty-two teams signed up for the double-elimination tournament, and the top four winners were given a cash prize.

The bags tournament is one of the most popular events of Fun Days. Isaac Altenhofen, 45, and his teammate were out after the second round, losing two games. Still, he said he had fun playing in the tournament.

“The No. 1 for it is, the men and women enjoy it equally, so it’s for everybody, and even some high school kids,” he said. “It’s just a sport that everybody can play.”

The events included a fun run in the morning, a kids’ parade, an ice cream social, and inflatable bouncy houses for kids. It concluded with a Kalona High School alumni reunion at Wooden Wheel Vineyards at 6 p.m.

Just next to the bags tournament was a dunk tank, set up by the Keota Pool Advocates as part of an effort to raise money for a new pool.

People paid $5 for a chance to dunk a rotating cast of people, including Steve Klein and the homecoming king and queen from Keota High School’s Class of 2021.

Bailey Sieren was the homecoming queen and graduated from Keota High School in May. She took a turn in the dunk tank, while residents and friends tried to hit a target to knock her into the water.

“It was fun, it cooled me off,” she said. “At first I was a little scared.”

Keota’s pool has been out of service for a few years, and the Keota Pool Advocates hope to build a new one by 2022.

“I think it would be awesome for Keota,” Sieren said on the prospect of a new pool. “It’ll be a lot of fun to have kids have a pool here.”